03/19/05 -
LEES-MCRAE DOMINATES THE VANDERBILT COLLEGIATE CYCLING EVENT
Lees-McRae cycling team takes another
collegiate meet
Saturday, March 19 the Lees-McRae cycling team traveled to Nashville to
compete
in Vanderbilt’s collegiate race. This week the team was almost at full
force. The
entire B team traveled which included Preston Anderson, Gonzalo Escobar,
Jesse
Hayes, Kevin Holldber, Danny Marquardt, Chris Perham and Carson Worts.
Chris
sat out the Saturday road race to rest his sore knee while the rest of
the team raced
in the 42 mile road race. The course included two short climbs, the
second of
which was a stiff climb. Danny, Preston and Kevin laid down an attack
on the first
of two laps as they hit the second climb. This put three Lees-McRae
riders in the
six man break. Gonzalo and Carson were leading out the chase group.
The six
man break was able to stay away and in an exciting final sprint for the
line Preston
captured second place, Danny took fourth place and Kevin finished
sixth. Carson
and Gonzalo finished seventh and eight to once again dominate the top
eight spots
with five Lees-McRae riders. Jesse stayed strong in the race and
completed his first race
as a collegiate B racer in a very impressive fourteenth place. Clara
Beard came to
Nashville to make her second collegiate race for the season. Coming off
her recent
signing by the Diet Cheerwine team she road a strong race. The weather
was cold
with a little rain but that did not deter Clara from finishing in second
place
amongst the A women.
The A squad that traveled to Nashville included Ed Burress, Andy Evans,
Robert
Jameson, Stuart Lamp, Chris Saxton, Wes Shirey and Luke Winger. The
weather
was still cold at noon when they started the 63 mile race. Two riders
made a first
lap break that stayed away until late into the third and final lap.
Robert worked
into a three man chase group that caught the two breakaway riders with
about 8
miles to go. One of the break away riders was able to hang on as they
caught them
and they stayed together for a final sprint at the line. Robert was
able to hang on
for a very impressive fourth place finish. Ed, who has been riding so
strong, was
just a short way behind and finished with an eighth place finish. To
round at very
strong day Luke sprinted home for a twelve place. The Lees-McRae riders
took
fourth, eighth and twelve place in the men’s A race. Second, fourth,
sixth,
seventh, eighth and fourteenth place in the men’s B race. In the
women’s A race
they captured second place. The team total in points after the first
day was 271 to
the second place team of Cumberland who captured 140.
Sunday the team gathered for the Crit around the Vanderbilt campus. To
join those
who raced Saturday was Chris Perham and in her first collegiate road
race was
Katie Getchell. The weather on Sunday was much better than the weather
on
Saturday. Even though it was cool in the morning, the sun came out and
by the
time the B men raced it was warming up. The Men’s B was an outstanding
race
for Lees-McRae. After several short break away attempts, Gonzalo made a
mad
dash out front for a break away that stuck. He was able to expand his
lead to over
one minute and rode away with an outstanding victory. Kevin was able to
win the
sprint of the chase group for second place and Lees-McRae took 6 of the
top 8
spots with Chris in fifth, Carson in sixth, Danny in seventh and Preston
in eighth.
It was the best race finish yet for the season for the men’s B team.
Next was the
women’s group. With Clara fighting it out the whole race for the lead
and Katie
racing in her first collegiate road race, Lees-McRae finished with Clara
in second and Katie in sixth. The A men went off last and it was a very
fast paced event. Lees-McRae was able to cover every break attempt.
Unfortunately during one of the breaks Robert went
down hard and though he avoided any serious injury, he did get a lot of
road rash.
Once again Lees-McRae dominated the race with Stuart coming in first
place, Luke
coming in at sixth place, Ed in twelfth, Wes in thirteenth, Chris in
sixteenth, Robert eighteenth and Andy in twentieth. On Sunday
Lees-McRae finished
first in both the men’s A and B races. In the B race
the men also captured 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th. In the A race the men
also captured 6th, 12th, 13th, 16th,
18th and 20th place. In the Sunday women's race
they captured 2nd and 6th place.
For the weekend Lees-McRae cyclist dominated the team point total with a
total of
271 on Saturday and a total of 308 on Sunday to secure their spot atop
the Div. II
teams in their conference. This week they even scored more points than
any of the
Div. I teams that came to race. The weekend also featured an open race
to any
rider who wanted to participate to raise money for the habitat for
humanity. The
coach for the team, Doug Owen, lined up with a number of others;
including some
Vanderbilt collegiate racers and rode away from the pack to lap the
complete field
and win the 10 lap race with an average speed of over 21 miles per
hour. Total dominance for Sunday was on order as Lees-McRae continues
their assault on the conference on the way to competing at Nationals.
The team will take a well deserved
week off from racing for the Easter break and
resume their schedule the first weekend on April by joining the
Appalachian State
team for their home race. April 9 and 10 they will travel to the
University of
Georgia and the return home for their home race on campus April 16 and
17.
Conference finals are April 23 and 24 and then they will have three
weeks to
prepare for nationals in May at Kansas University.
