Ishay, Forsman Top of Class at College MTB Nationals

Chloe Forsman of the University of Arizona and Rotem Ishay of Fort Lewis College are the 2009 collegiate cross-country mountain bike national champions.

Thanks to rain that fell earlier in the week, the end-of-summer moon dust that makes up singletrack in the Sierra was not to be found Friday at Northstar-at-Tahoe resort in Truckee, California. Instead a packed, fast track was the order of the day.

And Ishay, a 23-year-old sophomore at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, by way of Israel, took advantage of the fast conditions, blowing up the field and finishing more than seven minutes ahead of Mitchell Peterson of the University of Utah. John Vivolo of Colorado State University placed third.

Forsman, meanwhile, pipped Elizabeth Swart, of the University of Nevada Reno, by less than 25 seconds. Carla Swart from Lees-McCrae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina was third. The trio started the last lap in a bunch but Forsman worked a gap on the climb.

On the day overall, Ishay was by far the dominant rider. Winning the collegiate Stars & Stripes jersey was a “dream come true,” Ishay, a Team Jamis member, said following his win.

“This is the last important race for me this year,” he said. “It’s like a cherry on top of the ice cream.”

Ishay finished eleventh overall in the 2009 USA Cycling Pro Cross Country Tour. Forsman, who races for Team Luna Chix, finished the Pro XCT tenth overall.

In Division II, Montana State University really showed its strength with wins in both the men’s and women’s events.

Lydia Tanner took the first convincing win for the school in the women’s race. She had almost four minutes on her nearest threat, Kay Sherwood (Colorado College), when she soloed in for the win. After Sherwood came through for the silver medal, Julia Tellman (Brevard College) claimed the bronze while Rachel Millsop (Union College) and Johanne Tuttle (Brevard College) rounded out fourth and fifth.

Stephen Ettinger scored a second national title for Montana, finishing the 30-mile contest nearly three minutes faster than the Union College duo of Zach Winn and Greg Gibson. Rolling in for fourth and fifth were Brent Steinberg (Mesa State College) and Tristan Cowie (Brevard College).

Each rider at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships earns points for his or her school based on their final places in each event. With day one complete, Fort Lewis College leads the Division I team omnium with 177 points compared to Lees-McRae’s 167. In Division II, Union College has 158 points but is followed very closely by Montana State with 156.

Racing at Northstar continues on Saturday with 4-cross and short track, with downhill on Sunday. Here are the full Division I and Division II cross-country results.

FILED UNDER: Race Results