UC-Davis wins the men's and women's team time trial and team omnium

Published May 10, 2009 08:09PM

Whitman College scores the Div. 2 team ominum title in Fort Collins.

UC-Davis made its mark in Division 1 competition Sunday at collegiate nationals, defending its men’s time trial title, scoring a surprise victory in the women’s TTT, and, when the numbers were all crunched, coming away with the prestigious overall team omnium title.

In Div. 2, the Furman University men defended their TTT title while Whitman College upset MIT for the women. Whitman took the Div. 2 overall team ominum title.

The day’s weather could be described as anything but pleasant for the student-athletes entering their final day of racing for the collegiate season in Fort Collins, Colorado. Rain, temperatures in the high 30s to low 40s, and a constant wind made for brutal conditions. The race ahead would prove to be more of an act of survival. Shivering and goose bumps were visible as riders waited for their start for the 17-mile, square, rolling time trial course.

Div. 2 men

In the division 2 men’s TTT, defending champions Furman University put in the fastest time of the day of 37:03, beating out Princeton and Whitman, who finished second and third respectively. The Furman squad is led by time trial specialist Spencer Beamer, who rides for the DLP Racing trade team.

Last year’s Div. 2 top finishers, the University of Denver and the Colorado School of Mines, were pushed out of the top three, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

Div. 1 men

Early in the Div. 1 men’s TTT it appeared that the University of Vermont might be able to pull off a hat trick, slotting in the fastest time of the day of 38:29. The original plan for Vermont was not to do the TTT. But since they were obviously on good form after Friday’s and Saturday’s events, they thought they might have a crack at it for a chance at the omnium podium. With help from friends around the area they were able to scrape up a collection of time trial parts and have a go at it.

Vermont’s hope of a podium position began to fade as the usual TTT heavy hitters began to roll in. Marian College rolled through with a fast time of 37:18. Marian has an all-around strong team, especially with the talent of the young Adam Leibovitz, a junior development rider who has been doing well in Europe.

One by one, faster times were set by the likes of the University of Arizona, Lees-McRae, and Fort Lewis College, eventually pushing UVM completely out of contention.

Colorado State University put in a good time of 36:42 for a momentary spot atop the rankings, but with CU-Boulder and UC-Davis still on the road, a new fast time was likely. With high hopes after years of top finishes, CU-Boulder came through with a time just three seconds slower than CSU, even with the horsepower of TT specialist Ryan Belew and Jelly Belly rider Kiel Reijnen.

Shortly after CU-Boulder rolled through, UC-Davis finished with an impressive 35:17, 1:25 faster than second-placed CSU — the biggest margin in the top five.

Shivering from cold rain and wind, Adam Switters of UC-Davis and a member of the California Giant Berry Farms team said, “We didn’t really do as well as we would have liked in the road race and criterium, so it was good to step up and finally get a victory.”

Judd Van Sickle, UC-Davis’ coach, has the group train for the TTT almost weekly because he knows that it’s an event that they can win.

UC-Davis and Bissell rider, Paul Mach, said the victory wasn’t just the product of a strong team. “We rode a lot smoother than last year,” he said. “It was good technically and physically.”

Div. 1 women

CU-Boulder team put in an initial benchmark time of 45:56 for the division 1 women, but once again, UC-Davis — a team that obviously puts a lot of energy into the TTT — set a new benchmark at 41:30. However, with Stanford still on the road, there was still a likelihood of a new fast time.

Stanford, the last team to finish, put in a fast enough time to wind up in second place, just six seconds ahead of CU-Boulder.

With the UC-Davis men and women winning the team time trial, and consistent performances all weekend, they came out with just enough points to win the team omnium, beating out Lees-McRae, last year’s winner.

“The women’s team rode consistently in the last couple days,” said Sickle, the UC-Davis head coach, “but they rode above themselves today.”

Amy Chandos, a junior at UC-Davis and a third-time member of the collegiate national team, said, “We were more evenly matched this year than we have been in the past.”

Div. 2 women

In the D2 women’s team time trial, MIT was expected to repeat last year’s victory. With Yale putting in a time of 47 minutes flat, over three minutes ahead of the next fastest time, a better performance seemed unlikely. Shortly after, Whitman came rolling through with yesterday’s criterium winner, Kendi Thomas, with a blazing time of 45:33.

In the end, MIT would not defend last year’s title, as they rolled in with a time of 46:28, good enough to slot them into second place.

After surviving a long morning of Colorado’s cold, wet spring weather, shivering student-athletes shed their wet team uniforms, happy to be done with the semester, and season of collegiate cycling. With a long racing season already behind them, collegiate cyclists can look forward to having good form as many head into more racing this summer.

Photo Gallery

Results

Division 1 Men Team Time Trial
1. University of California-Davis 35:17:41
Paul Mach
Philip Mooney
Will Riffelmacher
Adam Switters
2. Colorado State University 36:42:98
Zack Allison
Erick Carlson
Daniel Lionberg
Daniel Workman
3. University of Colorado – Boulder 36:45:97
Ryan Belew
Brad Bingham
Taylor Kneuven
Kiel Reijnen
4. Fort Lewis College 36:49:56
Ian Burnett
Jesse Dekrey
Ian Gordon
Alister Ratcliff
5. Lees-McRae College 36:53:60
John Doyle
Bradford Perley
Eric Thompson
Joseph Welsh

Division I Women Team Time Trial
1. University of California-Davis 41:30:2
Lisa Auchincloss
Amy Chandos
Larissa Fitchett
Danielle Haulman
2. Stanford University 42:50:7
Arwen Bradley
Rae Brownsberger
Katy Keenan
3. University of Colorado – Boulder 42:56:3
Flora Duffy
Tyera Eulberg
Natalie Koch
Kim Trenbath
4. University of Arizona 43:04:6
Chloe Forsman
Judy Jenkins
Melanie Meyers
Erica Zaveta
5. Lees-McRae College 43:16:7
Carla Swart
Adorno Martinez
Kira Shoemaker
Ally Stacher

Division II Men Team Time Trial
1. Furman University 37:03:13
Christopher Butler
Spencer Beamer
Kit Hunter
Craig McKinney
2. Princeton University 37:14:2
Nicholas Bennette
Nick Frey
Austin Roach
3. Whitman College 37:22:9
Ben Chaddock
Colin Gibson
Nicholas Littman
Duncan McGovern
4. University of Denver 38:48:3
Brian Bailey
Grant Goerzen
Colin Don
Ben Quinn
5. Colorado School of Mines 39:29:8
Shaun Higgins
Christoph Hurley
Braden Kappius
Nathan Schwartz

Division II Women Team Time Trial
1. Whitman College 45:33:9
Kendi Thomas
Mia Huth
Roxanne Pierson
Emily Rodriguez
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 46:28:7
Martha Buckley
Yuri Matsumoto
Laura Ralston
Zuzana Trnovcova
3. Yale University 47:00:3
Sarah Bowman
Christine Levy
Anna Olvier
Janis Sandlin
4. United States Military Academy 50:13:8
Jessica Davis
Kelsey Hassin
Nicole Hilarie
5. DePauw University 50:24:6
Rita Klofta
Christine Digangi
Jessica Hawkins
Abigail Garrison

Division 1 Men Individual Omnium
1. Bobby Sweeting (University of Florida) at 236
2. James Driscoll (University of Vermont) at 230
3. William Dugan (University of Vermont) at 200
4. Adrian Hegyvary (University of Washington-Seattle) at 185
5. Adam Leibovitz (Marian College) at 147

Division 1 Women Individual Omnium
1. Carla Swart (Lees-McRae College) at 299
2. Jacquelyn Crowell (University of Florida) at 271
3. Anna McLoon (Harvard University) at 224
4. Chloe Forsman (University of Arizona) at 213
5. Melanie Meyers (University of Arizona) at 175

Division 2 Men Individual Omnium
1. Joey Rosskopf (Pfeiffer University) at 247
2. Conor Mullervy (Mesa State College) at 216
3. Phil Elsasser (Western Washington University) at 214
4. Thomas Brown (Emory University) at 191
5. Thacker Reeves (Cumberland University at 188

Division 2 Women Individual Omnium
1. Rita Klofta (DePauw Univeristy) at 261
2. Kendi Thomas (Whitman College) at 259
3. Kimberly Geist (DeSales University) at 207
4. Emma Bast (Mount Holyoke College) at 204
5. Arielle Filiberti (Dartmouth College) at 200

Division 1 Team Omnium
1. University of California-Davis at 410
2. Lees-McRae College at 383
3. Colorado State University at 336
4. University of Arizona at 334
5. Fort Lewis College at 305
6. University of Colorado-Boulder at 301
7. Marian College at 277
8. University of Florida at 260
9. University of Vermont at 258
10. Stanford University at 249

Division 2 Team Omnium
1. Whitman College at 500
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 373
3. Western Washington University at 269
4. US Military Academy at 227
5. Mesa State College at 222
6. DePauw University at 212
7. Colorado School of Mines at 204
8. Princeton University at 180
9. Furman University at 158
10. Cumberland University at 151