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US Collegiate championships - NE
USA, May 11-14, 2006
Stage 1 - May 11: Team time trial
Team time trial opens collegiate nationals
The 2006 USA Cycling Collegiate Road Championships kicked off in Lawrence, Kansas on Thursday as student-athletes from colleges and universities around the country opened the three-day competition with the team time trial event.
After solid performances by the squads from Fort Lewis College and the University of California-Davis, the two teams sit tied atop the leaderboard in the division I overall omnium standings. Each team earned first and third-place finishes in the championship's opening event - the 14-mile race against the clock.
Defending men's division I team time trial champion Fort Lewis College successfully defended its 2005 win as the foursome of Troy Wells, John Hayes, Matt Schriver and Chris Kuhl clocked a time of 33 minutes, 4.2 seconds. The Durango, Colorado-based institution further solidified its place in the standings with a third place effort from its women's contingent as Onowa Pelham, Stephanie Swan, Laura Danley and Molly Hummbel turned in a time of 40:53.5.
The UC-Davis team mirrored the success of Fort Lewis College on day one as the women's team of Amanda Siegle, Marissa McAdler, Linnea Nasman, and Amy Mackay captured the win with a time of 40:25.7. Conversely, the UC-Davis men's team earned a third-place finish as Tyler Dibble, Adam Switters, Jesse Moore and Shawn Rosenthal posted a time of 43:14.9.
The collective efforts of the division I leaders left both squads with 155 points.
All competitors faced difficult conditions on a windy course that began with a tailwind-aided flat section, but quickly turned treacherous thanks to a long stretch of rolling terrain and significant climbs into a headwind.
"I think we didn't want to start too fast and kill our legs, so we didn't just throw it out and go from the gun," explained Fort Lewis' Hayes of his team's tactics. "We started easy, but then you've got a lot of headwind through the rest of the course and we just ramped it up through there."
Like Fort Lewis, UC-Davis employed the same strategies and relied heavily on teamwork to secure the win.
"We had lots of short pulls and just tried to keep the pace steady and strong," explained Mackay. "It was fast, we were smooth. We were really organized and communicated the whole time. I think that's what got us through. We were a little nervous after yesterday because we came out on the course and it was pretty gusty, but we knew we'd have the whole road and we knew how to ride with each other."
Defending overall team champion, University of Colorado at Boulder, placed second in the men's division I team time trial while the Witchita Falls, Texas-based Midwestern State University earned the silver medal in women's division I event.
In division II action, Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N.C. and Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington are also tied in the overall team omnium standings after first and second place performances from each school.
The Lees-McRae squad of Scott Jackson, Brent Bookwalter, Luke Winger, and Ed Burress, earned the win in the men's event with a time of 34:15.0 while its women's foursome of Clara Beard, Rebecca Conklin, Monique Hein and Kristi Henne placed second with a time of 41:32.8.
Whitman College reversed positions as its women's team of Kate Ceronsky, Laura Valaas, Rebecca Jenson, and Mara Abbott captured the top step on the podium in 40:25.5 and its men's team of Chris Thomas, Sam Bell, Sam Johnson, and Brandon Weil clocked a time of 35:09.1 to place second.
Western Washington University and MIT earned third place finishes in the men's division II team time trials respectively.
Both Lees-McRae and Whitman College earned 161 points to take a share of the overall division II omnium lead.
Next on the agenda for the 397 athletes representing 88 institutions is a 56.4-mile road race for the women and an 84.6-mile road race for the men.
Saturday's road race and Sunday's criterium are also factored into the overall omnium standings that will ultimately determine the division I and II overall team champions.
Results
Men Division 1 1 Fort Lewis College 33.04 2 Univ Of Colorado 0.38 3 UC Davis 1.11 4 U Of Wisc-Madison 1.13 5 CSU Rams Cycling 1.41 6 Indiana University 1.42 7 UC Berkeley 2.04 8 Cal Poly Slo 2.13 9 Univ Of New Hamp 2.29 10 Stanford 2.35 11 Marion College 2.49 12 Univ Of Florida 2.54 13 Ohio State 2.56 14 WSU 3.16 15 Midwestern State 3.23 16 Upenn Cycling 3.23 17 US Naval Academy 3.48 18 KU Cycling 3.54 19 Penn State 4.07 20 UCSB 4.08 DNF Auburn Flyers Men Division 2 1 Lees-Mcrae Cycling 34.15 2 Whitman College 0.54 3 WWU Cycling 1.02 4 Princeton University 1.27 5 Colorado College 1.42 6 MIT 1.50 7 Cumberland University 2.12 8 Depauw U Cycling 2.26 9 Univ Of Denver 2.41 10 Appalachian State 4.11 11 Dartmouth College 4.23 12 Bucknell Cycling 4.47 13 USAF Academy 4.52 14 Mesa State College 4.56 15 Army 6.33 Women Division 1 1 UC Davis 40.26 2 Midwestern State 0.14 3 Fort Lewis College 0.28 4 Univ Of Florida 1.24 5 Indiana University 1.36 6 UC Berkeley 1.49 7 Univ Of Colorado 2.13 8 CSU Rams Cycling 2.20 9 Univ Of New Hampshire 3.01 10 Penn State 3.08 11 Ohio State 4.47 12 Upenn Cycling 5.52 13 UCSB 6.02 14 Maryland Collegiate 6.47 15 U Of Wisc-Madison 6.49 16 KU Cycling 10.53 Women Division 2 1 Whitman College 40.25 2 Lees-Mcrae Cycling 1.07 3 MIT 1.58 4 Depauw U Cycling 2.10 5 WWU Cycling 4.17 6 Colorado College 4.38 7 Tufts University 4.51 8 Dartmouth College 5.35 9 Bucknell Cycling 6.12 10 Princeton Univ 6.31 11 Army 7.43 12 Usaf Academy 11.50
