The excitement grew as Lees-McRae
prepared to host their second ever home cycling event during this
years spring fling. The event was the final regular season race
before heading to conference finals. The team was full of
anticipation and hopes for a strong finish to the season. Without a
doubt they were not disappointed. The weekend started out with a 17
mile Team Time Trial down HWY 221 from Blowing Rock to McRae Meadows.
Six men teams and three women teams braved the cold morning to have a
go at it. The team of Brent Bookwater, Stuart Lamp, Taylor Tolleson
and Ed Burress took to the line to defend their first place finish
from last weeks race at UGA. The team of Monique Hein, Sarah
McAllister and Katie Getchell came to the line for their first time
together to attempt a TTT event. The women went off first and rode an
amazing race. With Sarah in her first event of the road season and
Katie only in her third race ever, Mo set the pace and by the end of
the race they had caught the University of Florida team that started
two minutes before them, to capture second place. The men had a slow
start but were able to turn it on as they flew down the course. They
took out 40 second from the UGA team that started before them, but
were beat by the University of Florida team by only 9 tenths of a
second, to also take second place.
Saturday afternoon the school hosted a
Criterium around the school campus. Lining up to race for the B men
were, Chris Perham, Gonzalo Escobar, Jesse Hayes, Carson Worts, Kevin
Holldber, Preston Anderson and Danny Marquardt. Gonzalo took off with
a blistering pace for a large breakaway from the get go.
Unfortunately for him he had to pull out of the race. Soon after
Danny took off the front and was never caught. The team did a
spectacular job of holding down the field as Danny lapped the field to
take first place. In the final sprint for second place Carson
finished 4, Kevin finished 5, Preston finished 8, Chris finished 15
and Jesse finished 16. They took four of the top eight places. Next
up were the women with only Monique riding for the Bobcats. Mo rode a
great race letting Stephanie set the pace and pull her around the
course. In the final sprint Mo finished with an impressive second
place. By this time there were many students, faculty parents and
locals gathering for the main event, the A men’s race. Lees-McRae put
9 riders on the line. Chris Saxton, Andy Evans, Wes Shirey, Ed
Burress, Robert Jameson, Stuart Lamp, Taylor Tolleson, Luke Winger and
Bent Bookwater. The team rode strong as several LMC riders shared the
lead. With a six man break getting away and with Luke, Stuart and
Brent involved, the race looked good. Brent turned on his jets and he
also lapped the field for a very impressive victory. In the final
sprint for places Luke finished 6, Robert finished 7, and Ed finished
8 for once again capturing 4 of the top eight places.
After the A men completed their race the
one event everyone had been waiting for was set to begin. Lining up
this time were riders who wanted to help out a local charity and see
what it was like to ride a Criterium course. The start line had Dr.
Bushman, the college’s president, Merritt Yackey and David Browning,
the college’s Vice Presidents and also included Craig McPhail the
schools assistant athletic director. Also on the line on his special
Spiderman bike was Thomas Straughn. Unfortunately the race was cut
short by time and exhaustion and the first across the line was
Wentworth Knipe, a perspective student that would like to come join
the LMC cycling team next year. Most important, fun was had by all
and the cheering for the schools administrators was loud and
supportive.
Sunday brought to us the long awaited
road race. With a short lap of six miles that included around 800
feet of climbing and a Beech mountain finish, it would be the
highlight of the weekend. With the strategies in place and all the
same riders on the line, the hopes were riding high for another sweep
of the day. In the A race Luke started out at an amazing pace with
two other riders. For three laps they blistered the course until Luke
started to cramp and had to pull back to the pack. The other two
riders were able to sustain a three minute lead as they finished their
seventh lap and started up Beech. This is were the team strategies
started to show. Chris, Wes, Luke, Andy and Stu brought to the bottom
of the mountain the team of Ed, Robert, Brent and Taylor. It did not
take long for the riders to swallow up the two lead riders and leave
them in their dust. With Brent leading the way the Bobcats took the
top three spots with Brent, Taylor and Robert, and Luke hanging on for
18, to show their dominance when it comes to mountains. While this was
going on the B men were also working a little team strategies of their
own. Chris Perham took off on a solo break and burned up the course
for 5 laps. Finally on the sixth lap he started to feel the effect of
the climbs as the peloton made their way back up to him. Then once
again at the base of the climb the LMC riders turned on the
afterburners. Leading the way up the mountain to take the win was
Carson with Danny right behind him. Kevin came in hard at 4 with
Gonzalo in 5, Jesse in 11, Preston in 13 and Chris Perham hanging on
for 17. The B men also showed their dominance when it comes to
climbing the “Beech”. Unfortunately for Monique she had some chain
problems and also went down, but was still able to show her strength
and resolve by finishing second. In the women’s B race Katie now in
her fourth race of the season showed some of the future for LMC
women’s cycling by staying with the climbs and finishing 4.
It was an amazing weekend of racing for
Lees-McRae. First in the Men A Crit and Road race, First in the Men B
Crit and Road Race, Second in the Women’s Crit and Road race and
second in the Women and Men’s Team Time Trial. The bobcats rode away
with a team total of 1088 points to solidify their lead in the
conference and stretch their lead to over 1500 points for the
conference title. Coming up second in the race was the University of
Georgia with 757 points, The University of Florida with 584 points,
Cumberland University with 457, Appalachian State with 302, Florida
State with 192, Auburn with 145, Georgia Tech with 113 and The
University of South Carolina with 3.
The Lees-McRae cycling team would like
to especially thank all the faculty and staff who came out to support
the event and all of the community members who cheered on the riders
as they raced around town. The team would like to throw out a very
big thank you for the Banner Elk Police Department for without their
incredible help they event would not have been so safe and well
protected. THANK YOU! Next week the team is off to Cumberland
University for the Conference finals. In May the team will head to
Kansas to represent Lees-McRae and Banner Elk in the collegiate road
nationals
