The
Lees-McRae cycling team, after winning their third straight
conference title, headed to Lawrence Kansas to compete in the
Collegiate Road Nationals. With the team peaking at just the right
time, they all had high hopes of bringing home a National title for
the Road season to go with the two National titles they have in
Mountain biking. The men's team was riding very strong as was the
women's team, but with only two women qualifying to race they knew
it would be an uphill climb. It was a very stressful trip there
when their trailer come off the hitch on the very bumpy roads in
Kansas. Feeling very blessed when they discovered that not a single
bike was damaged only a couple of wheels, they made the rest of the
way to the race venue.
Friday saw strong
storms with heavy rain as they lined up for the opening Criterium.
Lining up for the women was Monique Hein and Clara Beard. They both
rode so strong and helped to keep the lead group together for the
day and finished so strong with Clara making it to the podium with
third and Monique finishing so strong at tenth. The men lined up
Brent Bookwalter, Taylor Tolleson and Luke Winger for the Crit. It
was a very exciting race as many attacks occurred but none were able
to stay . With the rain, there where so many wrecks that at times
there where riders laid out all along the course. The team had a
scary moment when Brent went down hard on the tarmac. He was able
to get back up and after getting a new wheel jumped back into the
race and quickly went to the front. Luke stayed near the top all
day and helped to cover all the breaks that went out. The finish
was exciting as Bent finished fourth, Taylor sixth and Luke at
seventh. This placed the Men with a first place team finish and the
women with a third place team finish to place them 5 points ahead of
the team from Whitman and had already turned the race into a two
team race for the national title.
Saturday for the
road race the weather turned beautiful, with sunny skies and cooler
temperatures. Again Monique and Clara lined up against the other
teams that were able to line up four riders. They knew they had
their work cut out. It did not help that Clara had been up sick all
night, but they came in confident and ready to race. The wind
picked up and caused the field to thin out after the second lap.
Monique rode so strong and was able to finish thirteenth place.
Clara fell off the pace and then flatted way out on the course and
had to DNF and did not finish. The men lined up once again Brent
and Taylor and this day with fresh legs to join them was Stuart Lamp
and Robert Jameson. This group had so many attacks off the front as
each rider worked to keep the group together. The wind really
picked up with gusts of over 20 miles an hour. The men rode very
smart and at the finish had Brent in fourth. Taylor in ninth and
Stuart at twenty third. This placed the men with a second place
team finish and the women with a disappointing thirteenth finish.
After the second day of racing Whitman college had moved into first
place with Lees-McRae coming in at second. There was a lot of
disappointment with the tam, but they knew there was still one more
day of racing to go.
Sunday again
brought a sunny and cool day. This day would see the team time
trial. With only eight women's team lining up for the race the
women would have to put out an impossible race to compete with the
very strong team from Whitman. They rode their hearts out and
finished very strong with a seventh place finish. The Whitman women
finished first so the first place finish was out of reach for the
team when the men lined up. The men had the motivation to go out an
win the TTT event and they did that with a vengeance. The team of
Brent, Taylor, Stuart and Aram Dellalian rode so hard and strong.
They had the fastest time at the split and just turned on the gas
down the final stretch to finish 1 minute ahead of the next place
Division II team. Their time was so fast that by the end of the day
they had the fastest time of all the teams racing Division I and
II. What a great way to finish their collegiate careers for Stuart
and Aram to take home Stars and Stripe jersey's as the National
Champs in the TTT event.
Over all, the team
finished second in the Nation, that is second in the NATION. They
did and outstanding job. Brent Bookwalter also took home the
National Championship jersey for the omnium winner. This is the
overall top finisher in the country. The team also brought home a
National title in the Team Time Trial. With most of the team
returning and a strong recruiting class they set the table to be the
Team to beat next year when they return to Kansas to compete in
Nationals. The team would also like to say thanks to all the
support the school and the Banner Elk community gave them this
year. A very big thank you to Reid Estes and Merritt Yackey for
making the long trip to Lawrence to watch the team compete and give
the riders the support they needed. As coach of the team I want to
say thanks to everyone who help me with the transition of taking
over the team and the cheers and emails of support as we competed
this season. It is from this type of school spirit and support that
makes such a successful trip possible.
