Hocking and Caluag win collegiate dual slalom titles

The 2012 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships concluded Sunday at the Angel Fire Resort in Angel Fire, New Mexico, with the dual slalom competition and the omnium awards. The riders battled a dusty course on an otherwise beautiful say with sunny, cloudless skies and comfortably mild temperatures.

The dual slalom course stretched only a quarter of a mile and dropped riders 100 feet of elevation.

Division I men dual slalom

Bryce Hocking (Marian University) defeated the defending Division I men's national champion Joey Schusler (University of Colorado-Boulder) to win the Stars-and-Stripes jersey.

Schusler won the first of two runs by 0.35 seconds. Hocking made up the difference in the second heat to ascend to the top step of the podium.

The winner of Saturday's Division I men's downhill national champion, John Swanguen (Lindsey Wilson College), qualified with the fourth-fastest time and looked strong heading into the semifinals against Schusler.

Schusler beat Swanguen to force Swanguen into the contest for the bronze against Logan Collins (Lindsey Wilson College). Swanguen won as Collins was unable to compete in the contest for bronze.

Division I women dual slalom

Stephanie Caluag (Lindsey Wilson College) upset Crystal Kalogris (Marian University), who won the Division II women's national title in this event in 2011, in the final heat to win the Division I women's national championship.

Jill Behlen (University of Wyoming), who qualified with the sixth-best time, managed to advance to the bronze-medal round. In that round, Behlen defeated Madison Pitts (Lindenwood University) to secure the bronze medal.

Division II men dual slalom

Paul Mayes (Michigan Technological University) repeated as the Division II men's national champion after he defeated Owen Tulip (Western State Colorado University) in the final.

Mayes crashed during the qualifying runs in the morning and was seeded 24th. He strung together clean rides through the ensuing rounds and advanced to the final where he defeated Tulip.

Mac Banner (Brevard College) won the bronze medal after he slipped past Scott Hoenisch (United States Air Force Academy) in the contest for third place.

Division II women dual slalom

Essence Barton (California Lutheran University) earned her third consecutive collegiate national championship in the dual slalom when she defeated Ariana Altier (University of California-Chico) in the final round.

"I can't even explain it," Barton said. "This year has been so challenging racing Ariana Altier this year. We've been going back and forth all year. She beat me in downhill this weekend. Right when I got to the bottom of downhill, I knew I got second. I said, 'I'm going up to slalom and practicing.' It's so nice to have that competition. It feels so good to have that back and forth in a good competitive spirit. To win for the third time in my third year of college, it blows my mind."

Barton qualified with the best time during the morning qualifying runs, while Altier posted the second-best time. The top two seeds advanced through the 13-rider tournament.

Elisa Otter (Union College-Ky.) defeated Allison Jones (Warren Wilson College) in the ride for the bronze medal.

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