O'Reilly, Higgins take first US titles

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The 2009 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships opened in the velodrome at the Home Depot Center on Wednesday as Cody O’Reilly (Bissell) and Cari Higgins (Proman) were awarded the first-ever elite omnium national titles. In all, three national champions were crowned on the first day of competition inside the country’s only 250-meter indoor velodrome.

Cody, son of former kilo world record holder and Pan American champion Rory O’Reilly, used a balanced attack to take the all-around title. He finished second in the individual pursuit and kilometre time trial, third in the 200-meter time trial and the scratch race and sixth in the points race.

“I have a lot of endurance from all the road racing I’ve been doing and that combined with some speed makes the omnium suit me really well,” stated O’Reilly.

Jacob Duehring (Felt Factory Team) mounted a formidable attack, including a blazing win in the individual pursuit, but had to settle for silver after an eighth-place finish in the points race.

USA Cycling National Development Team rider Daniel Holloway (Felt-Holowesko-Garmin) also had a strong showing, winning both the points race and the kilo, but couldn’t recover from a slow start in the 200-meter time trial.

Higgins nabs women's omnium

After collecting four medals at this year’s Pan American Track Cycling Championships, Higgins began her quest for the Stars-and-Stripes by winning what is to be the first of eight events she will contest at these national championships. The soon-to-be 33-year-old grabbed the sixth national title of her career, placing first in three of the five omnium events.

“This was the most important race for me this week because I feel like on the world level this is where I’m most competitive,” explained Higgins. “I really wanted to show what I can do in this event and the dominance of our entire Proman squad.”

Long-time endurance racer Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Verducci-Breakaway) earned the silver with an all-around strong performance while Heather Jackson grabbed the bronze after winning the points race.

In the only other title awarded on Wednesday, Giddeon Massie (Bike Religion) clocked a time of 18.359 seconds to win the standing 250-meter time trial over David Espinoza (Bike America) and Kelyn Akuna (Veritas Cycling Team).