Grotts, Catlin take wins for Fort Lewis College in cross country

The men's and women's cross country races opened the 2011 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships Friday at the Angel Fire Bike Park in Angel Fire, New Mexico.

Inclement weather two days prior to the start of the event left eight inches of snow behind forcing the riders to contend with muddy and icy sections of the cross country course.

Division 1

Fort Lewis College dominated the men's and women's races as Howard Grotts and Lauren Catlin won for the Skyhawks. The men from Fort Lewis College posted the top three spots as two-time defending cross country champion Rotem Ishay and Gregory Carpenter placed second and third, respectively.

Grotts, who became the first American junior to win a World Cup race after winning in Windham, New York, in July, dominated the men's race. He opened a lead eclipsing five minutes heading into the last of three laps. Despite incurring a flat tire during the last lap, Grotts cruised to the finish line in 2:04.44. Ishay completed the course in 2:11.40, three seconds ahead of Carpenter.

"This was awesome. This is the first time I've raced in conditions like this. I was pretty happy with my race," Grotts said. "I came by Rotem on one of the switchbacks. I kept it in a low gear and was spinning a lot. I opened it up and settled in."

In the women's race, Catlin took an early lead and held on to win by 63 seconds over second-place Ashley James (Appalachian State University). The winner of the women's U23 race at the 2011 USA Cycling Cross Country National Championships, Jill Behlen (University of Wyoming), earned the bronze medal.

Division II

The best time among all of the women belonged to the winner of the women's Division II competition. Alexis Skarda (Colorado Mesa University) bested the 25-rider field to earn the Stars-and-Stripes jersey with a time of 1:50.23. Skarda, who has a well-decorated background in running, estimated she spent 60 percent of the time riding her bike uphill, leaving 40 percent to her utilizing those running skills to pushing her bike up the steep climb.

"This is my first year cycling," Skarda said. "I had no idea what the competition was. I was just going to come out here and grind it and see what happens. I was hoping for top three in DII."

Rebecca Gross (University of Denver) was 3:42 behind Skarda in second place and Essence Barton (California Lutheran University) overcame a broken chain to secure the bronze medal.

In the men's competition, Matt Schiff (Humboldt State University) earned his first national championship after finishing the course in 2:20.03. The silver-medalist Sam Chovan (University of Denver) was 15 minutes behind Schiff and only 21 seconds ahead of bronze-medalist Benjamin Senkerik (Ripon College).

The competition continues Saturday, as riders will contest the short track and downhill.

Full Results

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Men Division 1 cross country
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Howard Grotts (Fort Lewis College)2:04:44
2Rotem Ishay (Fort Lewis College)0:06:56
3Gregory Carpenter (Fort Lewis College)0:09:58
4Bradford Perley (Lees-McRae College)0:11:47
5Kerry Werner (Lees-McRae College)0:11:48
6Colton Andersen (Fort Lewis College)0:14:04
7Victor Alber (University of Florida)0:15:31
8Samuel Morrison (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:16:25
9Peter O'Donnell (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:17:28
10Brad Berger (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:21:29
11Todd Latocha (West Virginia University)0:22:36
12Matthew Fox (Colorado State University)0:25:00
13Ezra Mullen (Lees-McRae College)0:25:16
14Dylan Stucki (Fort Lewis College)0:27:09
15Trevor MacLean (Lees-McRae College)0:28:18
16Christopher Convis (California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo)0:31:22
17Kevin Kane (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:32:26
18Keith Wong (Stanford University)0:34:30
19Nathan Petter (Colorado State University)0:36:05
20Clayton Omer (Appalachian State University)0:37:16
21Adam Looney (University of Wyoming)0:37:19
22Nitish Nag (University of California-Berkeley)0:38:28
23Joseph Welsh (Lees-McRae College)0:40:01
24Joseph maloney (University of Wisconsin-Madison)0:41:05
25Nathaniel Williams (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)0:43:02
26James Brown (Lindsey Wilson College)0:43:42
27Joshua Johnson (Marian University)0:44:49
28Todd Whitescarver (Appalachian State University)0:45:42
29Kendal Johnson (California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo)0:46:07
30Cole Kirkpatrick (University of North Texas)0:46:11
31Eric Hartsuyker (University of California-Santa Barbara)0:54:28
32Taylor Ladd (Lindsey Wilson College)0:54:29
33Benjamin Moody (University of Vermont)0:54:38
34Matthew Dooley (Lindsey Wilson College)0:54:43
35Derek Harnden (University of Vermont)0:55:25
36Brian Funk (California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo)0:56:12
37Trevor DeRuise (University of Nevada-Reno)0:57:38
38Daniel Gerow (Marian University)0:58:42
39Shawn Small (Texas A & M University)0:59:32
40Greg DiSanto (University of New Hampshire)0:59:37
41Joseph Yoham (California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo)0:59:39
42Christopher Haga (Texas A & M University)1:00:02
43William Vazquez (Colorado State University)1:00:13
44John Giles (Northern Arizona University)1:00:42
45Levi Grabow (University of Nevada-Reno)1:00:58
46Christian Probst (Virginia Polytechnic University)1:01:13
47Sean Leader (University of Tennessee-Knoxville)1:02:15
48Alder Martz (Marian University)1:05:56
49Douglas Torres (University of New Mexico)1:07:14
50Alexander Meyer (University of Wisconsin-Madison)1:08:08
51Jacob Andersson (Virginia Polytechnic University)1:08:34
52Kevin Bonney (University of Missouri-Columbia)1:10:26
53Taylor Smith (University of New Hampshire)1:11:39
54Nicholas Heine (University of New Mexico)1:12:54
55Cody Ard (Texas State University-San Marcos)1:14:57
56Jordan Kestler (University of California-Berkeley)1:17:11
57Neal Forbes (Marian University)1:17:37
58Will Canup (University of Virginia)1:20:23
59Cody Kukulski (Northern Arizona University)1:21:23
60Andrew DeVierScott (Appalachian State University)1:37:17
61Kyle Johnson (University of Texas-Austin)2:00:07
62Benjamin Silva (Texas A & M University)2:01:11
63Brandon Ewers (Texas State University-San Marcos)2:01:53
64James Minick (University of North Texas)2:03:04
65Scott Pendleton (University of Southern California)2:03:23
66Anthony Brand (Texas State University-San Marcos)2:06:05
67Bryce Mihalevich (University of Missouri-Columbia)2:06:58
68Michael Robinson (University of New Mexico)2:08:20
69Owen Belton (Lindenwood University)2:09:56
70Nicholas Chevalley (Lindenwood University)2:11:05
71Michael Sheehan (Texas State University-San Marcos)2:11:12
72Benjamin Cargill (University of New Hampshire)2:15:25
73John Heine (University of New Mexico)2:15:45
74Peter Deucher (Marian University)2:16:32
75Brandon Quam (University of New Mexico)2:16:38
76Brent Gillespie (University of New Mexico)2:22:01
DNSZeb King (Appalachian State University)Row 76 - Cell 2
DNFDavis Bentley (Lees-McRae College)Row 77 - Cell 2
DNFCody Goettl (Lindenwood University)Row 78 - Cell 2
DNFJames Wittwer (Appalachian State University)Row 79 - Cell 2
DNFAlex Garza (Texas State University-San Marcos)Row 80 - Cell 2
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Women Division 1 cross country
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Lauren Catlin (Fort Lewis College)1:53:31
2Ashley James (Appalachian State University)0:01:03
3Jill Behlen (University of Wyoming)0:02:40
4Deidre York (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:03:54
5Claire Bensard (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:04:59
6Sarah Sturm (Fort Lewis College)0:05:02
7Katie Sodergren (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:08:31
8Erica Zaveta (Lees-McRae College)0:08:36
9Joanna Bechtel (University of California-Berkeley)0:16:17
10Ashlee Wilson (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:16:18
11Abigail Mickey (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:18:15
12Linnea Dixson (University of Wyoming)0:18:32
13Marie Kenney (University of Vermont)0:20:45
14Lindsay Dye (Northern Arizona University)0:23:01
15Katharine Hall (University of California-Berkeley)0:23:10
16Brittany Clawson (Fort Lewis College)0:24:51
17Jennifer Higgins (Colorado State University)0:25:16
18Isabella Oleksy (University of New Hampshire)0:30:36
19Rachel Byus (Lindenwood University)0:33:13
20Ellie Atkins (University of Colorado-Boulder)0:33:21
21Sally Hermansen (California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo)0:33:33
22Kathryn Hicks (California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo)0:33:37
23Kristy Peck (University of Nevada-Reno)0:33:40
24Lisha Herold (Marian University)0:37:41
25Sarah Dixson (University of Wyoming)0:38:15
26Sofia Hamilton (University of California-Berkeley)0:38:27
27Cinthia Lehner (Lees-McRae College)0:39:00
28Sarah Lukas (Lindenwood University)0:43:40
29Anne Cheeney (Fort Lewis College)0:45:29
30Katelyn Spradley (Texas A & M University)0:50:09
31Megan Baab (Lees-McRae College)0:51:49
32Vhasti Schmidt (Lindsey Wilson College)0:51:59
33Brooke Crum (Lindsey Wilson College)0:53:14
34Virginia Solomon (University of Southern California)0:53:59
35yesica mendoza (Lindsey Wilson College)0:56:19
36Shannon Howell (University of Southern California)1:04:49
37Kathryn Chinn (University of New Mexico)1:06:39
DNFAllie Dragoo (Marian University)Row 37 - Cell 2
DNFVictoria Yoham (California Polytechnic-San Luis Obispo)Row 38 - Cell 2
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Men Division 2 cross country
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Matt Schiff (Humboldt State University)2:20:03
2Sam Chovan (University of Denver)0:15:49
3Benjamin Senkerik (Ripon College)0:16:10
4Wesley Lamberson (Union College-KY)0:18:00
5Taylor Schmidt (Colorado School of Mines)0:18:39
6Adam Miller (Colorado College)0:20:53
7Eric Smith (Ripon College)0:23:26
8Drake Lindsey (Union College-KY)0:23:32
9Timothy Jenkinson (Mars Hill College)0:23:38
10Logan Luker (Cumberland University)0:24:23
11Geoffrey Bee (Colorado School of Mines)0:24:53
12Steven Pearl (Humboldt State University)0:29:07
13Joe Schneider (Colorado School of Mines)0:29:32
14Christoph Hurley (Colorado School of Mines)0:30:17
15Owen Tulip (Western State College of Colorado)0:31:10
16Bennett Winn (Union College-KY)0:31:41
17Zebulon Hanley (US Air Force Academy)0:32:26
18Brae Patten (Western State College of Colorado)0:34:14
19zach winn (Union College-KY)0:37:03
20Tanner Hurst (Cumberland University)0:39:21
21Patric Rostel (Colorado Mesa University)0:43:23
22Michael Keith (Mars Hill College)1:37:18
23Dylan Wright (Humboldt State University)1:39:24
24Corey Davis (Mars Hill College)1:40:39
25izzy cohan (Warren Wilson College)1:40:52
26Richard Geng (Colorado Mesa University)1:42:49
27Nicolas Jimenez (Colorado School of Mines)1:45:03
28Kody Adams (Brevard College)1:46:56
29Lewis Gaffney (Brevard College)1:46:57
30Ryan Sullivan (Cumberland University)1:47:28
31R Maitland Jones (Mars Hill College)1:48:42
32Andy Fehrenbach (Ripon College)1:50:30
33Michael Flynn (Warren Wilson College)1:56:13
34Nathan Abel (Humboldt State University)1:59:51
35Keith Marek (Brevard College)2:06:27
36Ben Jackson (Western State College of Colorado)2:06:51
DNFBrad Nelson (Union College-KY)Row 36 - Cell 2
DNFMatt Lyons (University of Denver)Row 37 - Cell 2
DNFmike baird (Union College-KY)Row 38 - Cell 2
DNFKarl Schroeder (US Air Force Academy)Row 39 - Cell 2
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Women Division 2 cross country
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Alexis Skarda (Colorado Mesa University)1:50:23
2Rebecca Gross (University of Denver)0:03:42
3Essence Barton (California Lutheran University)0:22:42
4Elisa Otter (Union College-KY)0:23:07
5Angela Vitulli (Western State College of Colorado)0:26:34
6Eva Wilson (Warren Wilson College)0:26:47
7Maria Esswein (Union College-KY)0:28:23
8Kara Uhl (Union College-KY)0:30:25
9Klara Rossouw (Mars Hill College)0:36:18
10Hannah Madden (Colorado School of Mines)0:49:37
11Syd Schulz (Middlebury College)0:50:07
12Madison Samblanet (Western State College of Colorado)0:55:01
13Catherine Harnden (Union College-KY)0:55:02
14Morganne Endicott (Cumberland University)0:55:19
15Kaydee Raths (Humboldt State University)0:57:32
16Renee DeBruin (Ripon College)0:58:27
17Molly Friedland (Warren Wilson College)0:58:47
17Petra Davis (Montana State University-Bozeman)Row 17 - Cell 2
19Morgan Sykes (Brevard College)0:59:25
20Rosette Reynolds (Ripon College)1:05:27
21Laura Rice (Mars Hill College)1:15:37
22Christina Torquato (Warren Wilson College)1:19:33
23Jenna Emerick (Saint Edward's University)2:05:28
24Christen Boyer (Colorado School of Mines)2:24:56
DNFAlexis Kelley (Western State College of Colorado)Row 24 - Cell 2

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