It was a successful end to the season for the Fort Lewis College cycling program as the Skyhawks soared to a fifth-place finish at the Collegiate Road National Championships in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday-Sunday to finish the collegiate racing season.
Skyhawks competed in team time trial, criterium and a road race in Wisconsin against the top collegiate racers in the country.
“It was really good that we had some people who came out of the woodworks with a young group,” FLC cycling director Ian Burnett said. “We had people who excelled and took some leadership. It was cool to see them complete something that's a challenge.”
FLC had new faces competing in new places at road nationals. None of the women’s team time trial squad returned from last year. Freshman Ezra Brown and sophomore Elliot Thornblade excelled over the weekend, despite not having much road experience, according to Burnett.
Riders had good conditions over the three days in Wisconsin with some cloud coverage, temperatures between 60 and 65 degrees and a little bit of a breeze.
The racing began with the team time trial on Friday in Hubbleton, Wisconsin. The course was a 22.9-mile out-and-back, and the Skyhawks men’s group of senior Samuel Hart, freshman Ezra Brown, junior Johnathan Meyers and Thornblade finished fourth in 47 minutes and 41 seconds. Milligan University won in 46:59.90. Burnett thought a podium for the men was on the cards, but the team felt pretty satisfied with how they competed.
“It had a bunch of out-and-backs on it,” Burnett said about the team time trial course. “So it definitely keyed on some turnarounds, doing a U turn. But then they were also very challenging cross winds that were constantly moving. They're tracking the wind the whole time, trying to figure it all out. We were fortunate. We had a pretty windy spring. So we were pretty prepared to take on something like that.”
On the women’s side, the Skyhawks’ foursome of junior Oona Nelson, sophomore Caroline Haag, sophomore Charolette Lehman and junior Stella Scholz also finished fourth in 56:47.20. Marian University took the win in 52:49.58.
FLC women’s cycling head coach Brittany Cowan said it was difficult for the women because USA Cycling changed its eligibility for collegiate riders to have the necessary points to compete, especially with a shorter season. So, FLC only had four women compete.
Riders competed in the 14.5-mile road race circuit on Saturday in Waterloo, Wisconsin. Thornblade was the top Skyhawk male, finishing fifth in 3:17:08, two seconds behind Tom Scott from Marian in first. Nelson was the top FLC female in 11th in 2:30:03, 7:54 behind Ella Sabo from Colorado Mesa in first.
Burnett described the road course as punchy with a lot of rolling sections. The Skyhawks were surprised with how tired they were after the race.
The national championships wrapped up on Sunday with the 0.9-mile rectangular criterium in Madison, Wisconsin. Brown was the top FLC male finisher in ninth in 1:20:27 with the same time as winner Preston Eye from Piedmont University. On the women’s side, Haag had a strong race for the Skyhawks, finishing fifth in 1:10:20, with the same time as winner Stephanie Lawrence from Marian.
“She was a mountain biker coming in,” Cowan said about Haag. “She’s a sophomore this year, and that’s the cool thing about Fort Lewis is that we let the students choose, they’re able to do all of it, then you find your niche, see what you like and what you’re good at … Last year was her first year racing road and she found out she really liked it.”
Burnett said the hardest challenge for the Skyhawks is finding a place to practice the crits around town. He’s been working with some local businesses to find places to do it on the weekends, and Burnett hopes something is built in the community. In the meantime, FLC’s riders are getting their experience through the races leading up to the national championships.
FLC will lose a few riders, Hart and Adrian Magun and Jake Oleander, to graduation, but should return a strong group for all the national championships next school year.
“We're excited next year that the gravel championships will be included in the omnium part, which will be a nice addition,” Burnett said. “We definitely are excited about that. We’ve got some really strong freshmen coming in. So, we'll set ourselves up to focus on the mountain bike a little bit in our recruiting, since Durango has such strength on the mountain-bike side.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
