The Fort Lewis College cycling team finished second in the team omnium competition at the USA Cycling Cyclocross national championships in Connecticut on Thursday and Friday.
FLC and Colorado Mesa dominated the top spots in both the varsity women’s and men’s championships. Mesa, however, led after the individual races and locked up the omnium title by winning the team relay on Friday morning.
The Skyhawks finished second in the team relay to secure second in the omnium race. Milligan University finished third in the team relay to grab the third and final spot on the team omnium podium.
Guy Leshem, George Piepgras, Michaela Thompson and Natalie Quinn raced in the team relay for FLC, with each cyclist competing one lap.
Mesa, however, took the early lead and FLC was also trailing Brevard College midway through the race. FLC and Milligan then made a strong push and both teams passed Brevard.
Mesa ended up winning the race in 33 minutes, 41 seconds. FLC finished second in 35:03, Milligan finished third in 35:28 while Brevard slipped to fourth.
“We got (Brevard) at the end,” said FLC coach Chad Cheeney. “Milligan almost caught us, but our ladies rode super strong.”
Leshem and Piepgras, meanwhile, finished their races strong on Thursday to finish fifth and sixth.
Cheeney said the course was in a bit better condition for the men’s race Thursday evening, compared to the conditions during the women’s race, but said it was “still a super amazing mud bath race.”
“It went back and forth so much more (than the women’s race),” Cheeney said. “It was really slimy and slippery. There were a lot of crashes so it was really entertaining for us to watch.”
The last two laps, Leshem and Piepgras were going back and fourth with a CMU rider in a battle for the final podium spot. Leshem, however, ended up crossing just four seconds ahead of Piepgras to secure the final podium position in 51:11. Piepgras crossed sixth while Jack Spranger of Mesa finished seventh, crossing 19 seconds after Piepgras.
“It was really cool to see Guy take it home,” Cheeney said.
The coach said some of his riders told him that all of the training they did on varying terrain and surfaces really helped them on the championship course.
“It was cool to hear that,” Cheeney said. “We do a lot of weird rides, but it’s just an awesome team.”
And even though Mesa took the top prize, the Skyhawks still had a strong showing to bring home the silver.
“The season went great,” Cheeney said. “This is one of the fastest teams we’ve had depth wise.”
Many of the Skyhawks, and its coaching staff, will continue to race in Connecticut in other categories, with most of the FLC racing in the U23 or singlespeed championships and the team’s staff competing in their age groups.
Cheeney also raced on Friday in the masters men 40-44 competition and finished 16th.