Day 2: Short track, 4x Wrap Up at College Nats

Fort Lewis College and Brevard College posted strong results Saturday at the Colliegiate Mountain Bike National Championships, gaining leads in the Divisions I and II team omnium competitions.

They’ll try to hold onto these leads as the riders head into the downhill Sunday, the final day of competition, at Northstart-at-Tahoe resort in Truckee.

In the Division I women’s short track contest on Saturday, defending national champ Carla Swart (Lees-McRae College) took control from the gun. Improving upon her bronze medal performance from Friday’s cross-country race, Swart took a dominating short track win. Cross country champ Chloe Forsman (University of Arizona) and University of Nevada rider Lizzy English worked together to close the huge gap created by Swart. Eventually, Forsman attacked and tried to catch the leader by herself. Swart’s speed was too much to match though and she soloed over the line for the victory with Forsman coming in for the silver and Sage Wilderman (Fort Lewis College) taking over the bronze medal spot. English moved back to fourth place while Teal Stetson-Lee (Fort Lewis College) rounded out the podium in fifth.

The Division II women’s race was much like the Division I match – with Kay Sherwood of Colorado College taking the win. Lydia Tanner (Montana State University) and Julia Tellman (Brevard College) finished second and third respectively.

In the men’s races, the crowd witnessed a repeat of yesterday’s victories. Both Rotem Ishay (Fort Lewis College) and Stephen Ettinger (Montana State University) added short track national titles to the wins they picked up on the cross country course on Friday.

In Division I, a group of four made the decisive breakaway early in the first lap. That group included Ishay, his Fort Lewis teammate, Trevor Downing, Brad Perley (Lees-McRae College), and Mitchell Peterson (University of Utah). The four shared the lead position for about half way through the race until Ishay picked up the pace with three laps to go and blew the lead group apart. With two laps to go, the Fort Lewis strong man had 15 seconds on Perley and Peterson while Downing was dropped off the back. Increasing his lead on the final lap, Ishay came across the line for a well-deserved second national title of the weekend. Peterson collected the silver while Perley took the bronze. Downing held on for fourth and fifth-place went to the University of Colorado’s Blake Harlan.

As the Division II men started up the first climb of their 30 minute contest, Zach Winn (Union College) set a fast pace at the front. About 10 minutes into the competition however, Stephen Ettinger went on the attack and took over that lead position. Ettinger was chased hard by Brevard College’s Tristan Cowie who overtook second place from the hard-charging Winn. Cowie was unable to reel Ettinger in and the Montana State student added another Stars-and-Stripes jersey to the one he picked up in Friday’s cross country competition. Cowie rode in for second while Winn managed to hold on to his third-place ranking.

4-Cross

Following the short track contests, teams made their way up the mountain to the four-cross venue, which featured a long course with plenty of jumps, inside lines and a small rock garden.

After posting the fastest qualifying time, Emma Millar grabbed another win that helped strengthen Fort Lewis College’s lead in Division I. The 20-year-old breezed through the prelimnary rounds before besting teammate Sage Wilderman and Madison Pitts (Lindsey Wilson College) for the Stars-and-Stripes jersey.

In the Division II women’s race, it was the number two qualifier, Johanne Tuttle, to take the top step of the podium for the division’s team omnium leader, Brevard College. The new national champ beat out Courtney Steen (Colorado School of Mines), Ileana Anderson (Warren Wilson College), and the fastest rider in the qualifying round, Christen Boyer (Colorado School of Mines).

Jon Wilson (University of Nevada-Reno) posted the fastest qualifying run and then went on to dominate the preliminary rounds before making it into the final of the Division I men’s contest. Pitted against Logan Collins (Lindsey Wilson College), Joey Schusler (University of Colorado-Boulder), and Clayton Omer (Lindsey Wilson College), he rode to a convincing win to grab the top step of the podium for the host school. Josef Duller (California Polytechnic) won the heat for fifth place.

In Division II, California Lutheran University student Blake Carney defeated Deider Barrick (Front Range CC-Larimer), Mike Zeek (Mesa State College), and Geoffrey Fryer (East Tennessee State University) in the final.

With days one and two in the books, only the downhill contests remain. Sunday will bring a close to the 2009 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships, and the top schools in each division will earn bragging rights for a year.

Here are the results for Friday and Saturday from the 2009 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships.

FILED UNDER: Race Results