2012 Collegiate Cyclocross National Championships
Email
Print
Division I Women
Marian University’s flexed their muscles handily taking first and second place in the Division I women’s race. Racine, Wisconsin’s Kaitlin Antonneau and her Marian teammate, multi-time junior national champion Coryn Rivera (Tustin, Calif.) distanced themselves from the start. Antonneau was able to open a small gap on her teammate after a bobble on the first lap forced Rivera off course.
Kaitlin Antonneau (trailing) won the women's DI race.
Emily Shields (Salisbury, N.C.) of rival Lees-McRae finished nearly three minutes behind Rivera for bronze. Fort Lewis College’s Sarah Sturm (Durango, Colo.) came in next and Katherine Shields (Salisbury, N.C./Lees-McRae College) joined her teammate on the podium in fifth. Beginning what will be a fierce battle for the team title, Marian, Lees-McRae and Fort Lewis locked up all of the race’s first 13 places.
Division II Women
Rebecca Gross (Lakewood, Colo./Uninversity of Denver) bolted right from the gun, flying through her first of four laps in 13:01, but Mariske Strauss (Mars Hill, N.C./Mars Hill College) was just 16 seconds behind. Strauss and Gross dueled throughout the race. Heading into the last lap, Gross held a narrow nine-second advantage. Strauss swapped a muddy bike for a "squeaky clean" two wheeler to chase Gross down. The swap worked as Strauss traversed the course in 11:21, which was 22 seconds faster than Gross to prevail with an overall time of 47:22, 13 seconds faster than Gross.
Division I Men
Kerry Werner claims the Division I Men's victory for Lees McRae College.
The DI men started the day's racing on a ground left frozen by an overnight freeze and lower temperatures than earlier in the event. The course hardly presented a challenge to the lead group of four riders, Kerry Werner (Banner Elk, N.C./Lees-McRae College), Skyler Trujillo (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Lewis College), Eric Emsky (Durango, Colo./Fort Lewis College) and Joshua Johnson (Fort Wayne, Ind./Marian University) churned through their first lap in 8:27. Emsky gained a slight edge after the second of their five laps, but Werner stepped on the gas on the third lap, finishing it in 7:56 to take the lead, leaving Trujillo and Emsky to work together to try to catch up. The two SkyHawks were unable to track him down as Werner secured the Stars-and-Stripes, 13 seconds ahead of silver medalist Trujillo and bronze medalist Emsky. Fellow SkyHawk Rotem Ishay (Durango, Colo.) finished fifth, just behind Johnson.
"Everybody was cheering really loud especially in the pit area," Werner said. "It was really motivational."
Division II Men
In the men's DII race, Jeffrey Bahnson (Newark, Del./Green Mountain College), who finished third in Saturday's men's U23 race, quickly opened a strong margin, posting the fastest time on each of the first three laps. Closely pursuing him were Tanner Hurst (Gallatin, Tenn./Cumberland University) and Timothy Jenkinson (Mars Hill, N.C./Mars Hill College), who were locked in a battle for second place. After Hurst bested Jenkinson by 12 seconds on the third of the five-lap contest, Jenkinson returned the favor by 23 seconds on the fourth to help him secure the silver medal, 35 seconds behind Bahnson and 22 seconds ahead of Hurst.
"I got in front made a gap and stuck with it, stayed steady and tried to keep upright." Bahnson said.
Omnium
Division I
Marian University edged Fort Lewis College for the DI team overall (omnium) title. After Sunday's competition finished with a deadlock between the two powerhouse cycling schools, the best individual finish, Antonneau's win in Saturday's women's DI race, gave Marian the tie-break win. Lees-McRae College finished in third just one point off the leaders.
Division II
On the strength of Mariske Strauss' (Mars Hill, N.C./Mars Hill College) win in Saturday's race and two top-10 finishers in Sunday's men's race, Mars Hill College took the DII team omnium. Cumberland College finished nine points ahead of the U.S. Military Academy to place second and third, respectively.
OMNIUM RESULTS
PHOTO GALLERY
This Article Published January 10, 2012 For more information contact:
