Ishay, Sturm bring Fort Lewis College two more wins in short track

The 2011 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships continued Saturday as the riders contested the short track and the downhill races.

The weather remained a factor in the races. The sections of the short track course that were muddy during Friday's cross country races, had frozen overnight, making the course easier to ride in the morning. As the ground thawed, the course became muddy in sections.

Division I

In the short track races, Fort Lewis College flexed its muscles, claiming the top two spots on the men's and women's podiums. In the men's race, Rotem Ishay and Howard Grotts left the field competing for third place. In the end, the silver medalist in Friday's cross country race, Ishay, outlasted the winner of yesterday's race, Grotts, to collect the fifth national title of his collegiate career.

"I started in the front row," said Ishay, who won the short track in 2010. "I figured if I'm in the front row, I want to get a gap in the first few laps. I got a small gap and Howard caught up to me. I figured, 'I'm going to stay in the front and not going to let him pass me,' so every time he tried to pass me, I just gunned it."

In the women's short track, Sarah Sturm (Fort Lewis College), who was disappointed with finishing sixth in Friday's cross country race, simply rode as hard as she could to the finish line to win by 48 seconds over the silver medalist.

"It feels really good. I've never won," Sturm said. "I got sixth yesterday, which was really disappointing because I really wanted to win. I knew I could pass the girl in front of me on the climb and the descent wasn't very technical."

The winner of Friday's cross country race, Lauren Catlin (Fort Lewis College), overcame a difficult start and some mechanical issues to finish second. Catlin and Jill Behlen (University of Wyoming) were dueling on the track until Catlin was able to overtake Behlen with two laps remaining in the race. Behlen held on to third place.

Division II

The University of Denver claimed the top spot in the men's and women's short track races. In the men's race, Matt Lyons won by 28 seconds to claim the first national title of his career. Lyons attacked the field early in the race and stayed away throughout the contest.

"I was thinking before the race what I would try to do," Lyons said. "I was thinking that I would sit in the pack, maybe on the third wheel, but decided on the second lap that it was time to go. Everybody had slowed down on the toughest part of the course, the steepest part, I thought that would be the time to attack, so I went. It's a mental struggle going into the last three laps. People were telling me that the gap was getting smaller, but having that Stars-and-Stripes in front of you really makes you dig hard and deep."

In the women's short track contest, the silver medalist in Friday's cross country race, Rebecca Gross (University of Denver), used her cyclo-cross background to overcome the loosening terrain and win by 28 seconds. Alexis Skarda (Colorado Mesa University), who won Friday's cross country race, earned the silver medal while Eva Wilson (Warren Wilson College) earned the bronze medal.

"I've been racing cyclo-cross a lot in the fall," Gross said. "I'm pretty decent at that. I just put it down at the start and hoped I could hold it. It seemed to work out pretty well."

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