Lees-McRae cycling
team wins conference race
March 13th, 2006
After a weekend of non collegiate racing the Lees-McRae cycling team
headed to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech conference race. Teams from
University of Florida, Auburn, Ga State, Florida State, Georgia Tech,
University of Georgia, Cumberland, Emory, Western Carolina, Suwannee,
and Florida Tech were all present for the race. Saturday morning started
off with an Individual Time Trial of 8 miles. Freshman Scott Jackson
finished second in the men A’s field, with Freshman Scott Stewart
finishing fourth. Freshman Wentworth Knipe rode the second fastest time
of all riders and brought home second place in the men’s B field with
sophomore Preston Anderson just behind him in third place. In the
women’s B field Rebecca Conklin rode to a fourth place finish and Olivia
Maury finished sixth.
Saturday afternoon brought a road race of 61 miles. With a breakaway
that consisted at one time of four Bobcats out of eight riders the race
look good for the team. The breakaway stayed away almost the entire race
with Senior Luke Winger winning the finishing sprint for his first
collegiate road win. Scott Jackson finished very strong as well in
fourth place. Scott Stewart held on for ninth place and Danny Marquardt
rode a strong tenth place. In the men B’s race no break away stayed away
after many attempts. In the final field sprint Preston Anderson finished
ninth and Wentworth Knipe finished eleventh. In the women’s race Kristi
Henne made her road race debut and rode well for a sixth place finish.
In the B race Rebecca Conklin rode very well for a fifth place finish.
Sunday was very humid as the team prepared for a longer road race than
Saturday. In the men’s race many breakaway’s tried to form and finally
after 40 miles a breakaway formed with two Lees-McRae riders involved.
The breakaway stuck the remainder of the race with Sophomore Ed Burress
riding extremely well for his best collegiate road finish, sprinting
hard for second place. Scott Stewart finished in fourth place. In the
field sprint to follow Scott Jackson finished seventh and Danny
Marquardt finished eleventh. In the men’s B race a break away formed on
the first lap and slowly moved away from the field to eventually build a
lead of 15 minutes. Most teams had a rider in the break so the field
just sat up for a slow ride behind the break. With Wentworth Knipe in
the break for Lees-McRae the rest of the riders did and excellent job of
controlling the field speed. Wentworth finished with a strong sprint, to
finish in second place. In the women’s field a separation formed early
in the race with Kristi Henne in the second group. She finished strong
with an eighth place finish. In the women’s B race Rebecca Conklin rode
very strong and out sprinted a rider from FSU to take fourth place.
Olivia Maurey also rode very well to finish in sixth place.
Overall the weekend showed the strength and depth of the team with four
different riders finishing in the two of the top four spots in each of
the A races. With two top spots in each of the men’s A and B time trials
the team showed the team has depth also some very strong time trial
riders. As soon as the races were over the team gratefully started
spring Break. March 18 and 19 a few of the riders will race at Florida
State, with the complete team coming together for the March 25 race at
Vanderbilt. Please remember to mark your calendars and come out and
support your Bobcat cycling team at their home race April 8 and 9.
