Weekly Collegiate Racing Wrap - March 4, 2013

ECCC: Rutgers Frozen Toed Opener – by Dominic Caiazzo

Lenore Pipes (Cornell) with her impressive sprint. Photo by Ashutosh Wakiroo

It wouldn’t be the start of the ECCC season if there weren’t a few hundred cyclists registering and picking up numbers before the sun came up in Somerset, New Jersey for the prologue time trial of the Rutgers Frozen Toed Season Opener. Michael Garretson (Penn State) put down the fastest time on the flat, 2.2 mile course for the men, with a blistering time of 4:24.30. In the women’s field, Shaena Berlin (MIT) took first by a few hundredths of a second at 5:08.06.

On the fast .8 mile crit course at Rutgers, a vicious battle was waged in the women’s field for the conference’s green sprinters Jersey. After Leslie Lupien (Dartmouth), Shaena Berlin (MIT) and ECCC veteran Rose Long (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) traded blows during the 4 prime laps, it came down to a bunch sprint. (Rose Long would take the green jersey.) With 200 meters to go, Lenore Pipes (Cornell) unleashed her sprint and ran away with the race, with Bailey Simian (Kutztown) and Rose Long rounding out the top 3. In the men’s race an early break stayed away. Robin Carpenter (Swarthmore) won the day, as Jeremy Shirock (Penn State) and Ansel Dickey (Killington Mountain School) took second and third. Penn State did an impressive amount of work to help their teammate make it to the podium.

The weather warmed up for the later circuit races at Thompson Park on Sunday, where a short power climb lined with fans put the hurt on all the fields. The women’s race shattered early, and came down to a bunch sprint of about 10 of the elite. Lenore Pipes would once again prove dominant, this time with Rose Long and Bailey Semian taking second and third, respectively. In an impressive display of early season fitness, Robin Carpenter again took the win in the men’s race by lapping the field, along with a breakaway with riders from KMS, Penn State, MIT and Shippensburg. Brendan Rhim (KMS) took second, as Wyatt Stoup (Penn State) won the small bunch sprint for 3rd.

Cover photo by Ashutosh Wakiroo

MWCCC: Depauw Race Weekend – by Nathan Richards

The second weekend of MWCCC action saw the conference’s teams and riders gather in Greencastle, Indiana for a set of races hosted by DePauw University. The course for Saturday’s road race was flat, held on a road running through a neighborhood encircling Heritage Lake. While the course may not have thrown any particular challenge at the riders, the weather certainly did, as the temperatures hovered around 30 degrees throughout the day, with light snow falling at times as well. The combination of the tough conditions and relatively simple course saw many of the categories’ races finish in a bunch sprint. In the men’s A’s race, John Pratt of Notre Dame upset the varsity teams when he outkicked Lindenwood’s Matt Brandt to claim the win. In the women’s A’s race, Coryn Rivera (Marian) extended her lead in the individual omnium with her victory over Lindenwood’s Ashley James. Later in the day, Marian claimed both the men’s and women’s A team time trials for the second consecutive week.

The following morning, the riders headed to the Big Walnut Sports Park for the criterium. Freezing conditions overnight caused the beginning of the races to be slightly delayed as organizers cleared snow and ice off of the course’s four corners. The men’s B’s race saw a breakaway survive to the finish, with Notre Dame’s James Snitzer holding off Matt Brophy (Lindenwood) and Sam Runningen (Purdue). In the women’s A’s race, a breakaway containing riders from Marian, Lindenwood, and Wisconsin took a sizeable lead to the finish, where Ivy Audrain of Marian took the win, while her teammate, Coryn Rivera, further extended her omnium lead in finishing second, ahead of Wisconsin’s Madeleine Page. As a result, Rivera will maintain the JAKROO leader’s jersey for another weekend. In the final race of the weekend, Lindenwood’s Brandon Feehery salvaged an otherwise disappointing weekend for his team with a win over Marian’s Weston Luzadder and Adam Leibovitz. The conference now gets two weeks to recover before heading to St. Charles, Missouri for a combined event with the NCCCC, hosted by Lindenwood University, where Marian’s Weston Luzadder will take over the JAKROO leader’s jersey for the men.

ACCC: Virginia Tech Race Weekend – by Will Massey

The ACCC was greeted Saturday with snow flurries and sub-freezing temps for Virginia Tech's home race. On the first lap of the Men's A race the field shattered over the first of many rollers and a group of six was able to sneak away 5 miles in. 60 miles later as the racers turned off the main course and headed up John's Creek mountain which had pitches of over 20% in some spots it was VT, a pair of Duke riders, UVA, NCSU and American University with over five minutes over the rest of the field. The fireworks really didn't go off until rider after rider started popping as they climbed the 3.5 mile mountain where Kevin Gotlieb from UVA proved his strength by gapping everyone else on the last pitch to take the win. Payne Griffin (AU) was next up the climb followed by Michael Mulvihill (Duke) to take the final podium spot.

The Women's Race went off with the Men's B and new comer to the Women's A Tate Devlin (UNC- WIlimington) showed her strength from cross season with an outstanding second place with Caroline Moakley (NCSU) taking the win after a long day in the wind and Kaylan Comer (VT) rounding out the top three after losing her contacts to freezing on the last lap. Did we mention it was really cold?

Sunday's Criterium featured a 300 meter-long hill each lap that quickly sorted out the lower category fields earlier in the day, but didn't allow much for a break until the halfway point of the men’s A race when Kevin Gottlieb (UVA) and Matt Rhinehart (Duke) slipped away. Both riders were in the break all day Saturday as well, but held off the field as Rhinehart took the win with UVA taking second. With about 6 laps to go Duke took another opportunity and was able to get two more riders away who would eventually take third and fourth. The women's field broke down to a break of 4 riders early in the race with Kay Comer and Cora Olson riding for VT while Tate Devlin (UNCW) and Caroline Moakley also showed their strength. In the end it would come down to a field sprint with Tate (UNCW) taking the big W with Kay (VT) on her wheel followed closely by Moakley (NCSU).

SCCCC: Texas A&M Tunis Roubaix – by Caden Burross

A photo finish between JAKROO leader's jersey wearer Baca and A&M's Foster after the men's A road race. Photo by Erick Gotye.

This past weekend was the second of nine for the South Central Collegiate Cycling Conference. Known affectionately as the Tunis-Roubaix, the Texas A&M Road Race is anything but kind or forgiving. This year’s 7.8 mile loop featured a 1.2 mile section of soft packed dirt and gravel, fittingly raced the same day as the infamous Strade Bianche. The first wave of races began early, and it was a cold and windy day. The worst of the day's headwind faced riders through the gravel section, making for some interesting attacks. Flats, wrecks, and withdrawals decimated most of the fields. The Men's A peloton was cut nearly in half with DNFs. After a hard fought 62.2miles in the wind and dirt, Cody Foster, Texas A&M, narrowly beat out Tony Baca, Midwestern State University, in a sprint finish.

After riding aggressive and tactfully with a combined Women's A and Men's B field, Jessica Prinner, MSU, was able to ride to victory. Another stand out from this field was Men's B conference leader Lance McCann, Louisiana State, who broke away from the field and finished minutes ahead. The Team Time Trials followed later in the afternoon where, after the winds had picked up even further, A&M was able to win both the Men's A and Men's B groups.

After an early night, Sunday morning’s warmth, was a pleasant change. The Men's A crit saw A&M's Shane Haga, Cody Foster, in a break with MSU's Tony Baca. After lapping the field, Haga was able to beat out Baca in a blustery headwind sprint. After again being grouped with the Men's B field, Women's A racer Jessica Prinner, MSU, rode to victory after being the only woman not shaken from the fast paced group. MSU's Baca and Prinner were both able to hold onto their respective JAKROO SCCCC leader's jerseys for another weekend.

Next stop on the road to Ogden: the University of Oklahoma’s home race.

Photo by Erick Goytia

WCCC: UC-Santa Barbara Race Weekend – by Erika Pearsons

JAKROO leader's jersey holder John Tomlinson leads the pack up a climb.

Right from the start you could tell that Saturday was going to be a beautiful day for a road race in Santa Maria, just north of Santa Barbara. The course consisted of a 12 mile loop, with rolling hills, a windy flat stretch, a quick climb and a very fast finish. This provided exciting sprint finishes among most of the fields, but in the men’s A race, Bryan Duke (Cal Poly) and Ben Barthel (SBCC) finished with nearly a 5 minute lead on the pack. The Davis women’s team showed us why they are on the top with an impressive first through third: Kirsten Fauria, Diane Moug, and Danielle Haulman (currently wearing the JAKROO leader’s jersey).

Sunday we headed to Goleta, home to UCSB along the bluffs of the Pacific Ocean. Clouds created a bit of a cooler breeze, nothing like the 85 degree temperatures the previous day, and we even saw some rain drops in the middle of the men’s D race. The ‘D’ shaped course was quick and flat. Both the women’s combined B/C field and men’s A field had breakaways that lapped the main group and each race ended with the strongest sprinters taking first. In men’s A Cody O’Reilly (SBCC) took first on his home course with Garrett Hankins (Santa Clara) and Connor Benton (UCB) close behind. Diane Moug (UCD) outsprinted fellow teammate Danielle Haulman (UCD) for her first Women’s A win, with Shayna Powless (UCLA) close behind.

Results will follow shortly at www.wccc-info.com. Next weekend we head north and hope to continue with this perfect weather record at Stanford’s Road Race, TTT, and Criterium around Specialized headquarters.

IMCCC: Dixie Classic Season Opener – by Scotty Bauer

Cortlan Brown being chased by Nathan Asay in Friday's crit.

The IMCCC travelled south to St. George, Utah for a two day bike racing extravaganza. The weather was perfect, 70 degrees, sunny, and the racing was even better. On Friday the criterium was held on an abandoned airport runway with two tight 180 corners and 2 long straight-aways (the original venue was lost to the BYU baseball team that had to move their game to St George due to field conditions up north-kudos to the race director for arranging a backup plan in less than 24 hours). In the men’s A race a flurry of attacks on the first two laps from the University of Utah left a breakaway of two riders, Michael Trussell (SLCC) and Tyler Matson (Weber State) up the road. The duo stayed away for the entire race and the chase group finished in a bunch sprint. The final results 1st Michael Trussell (SLCC), 2nd Tyler Matson (Weber State), 3rd Cortlan Brown (UofU).

The following day had the racers face a brutal 78 mile road race with 5,500 feet of climbing. The course, an out and back had the first 39 miles all climbing and the back down hill. Attacks early on established a breakaway of non-collegiate riders up the course. Once the main peloton got to the steeper part of the climb Cortlan Brown (University of Utah) showed why he has a stars and stripes jersey hanging up in his house as he launched an attack dropping all but one rider. He ultimately caught the breakaway, dropped them, and won the stage solo, with a 5 minute gap to his name. Riders trickled in packs of 1 or two for a final result of: 1st Cortlan Brown, 2nd Tanner Robison (Utah State University), and 3rd Michael Trussell (SLCC).

Weekly Collegiate Racing Wrap - February 25, 2013 - Feb 25, 2013

This Article Published March 4, 2013 For more information contact:

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