December 15th, 2010 5:06pm
Bend, Ore. (Dec. 12, 2010) – In front of more than 8,000 fans in Bend, Oregon, Katie Compton (Colorado Springs, Colo./Planet Bike) and Todd Wells (Specialized Factory Racing) put their stamp on American cyclo-cross racing with two dominating performances in the elite races as the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships wrapped up in Oregon. Lees-McRae College and Western Washington University warmed up the action earning team omnium titles following the morning’s collegiate races.
Elite and U23 Women
In her quest for another Stars-and-Stripes jersey, Compton made victory look easy. After the first lap, Compton and Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo./Luna Pro Team) were already pulling away from the field, but an early pit by Compton to change bikes allowed Gould to jump ahead.
Compton would quickly catch up, however, and by the end of second lap was clearly on her way to her seventh consecutive national title.
Gould established herself in the second spot, and by the third lap Meredith Miller (Fort Collins, Colo./California Giant-Specialized) was riding alone for third. Hudz-Subaru teammates Katherine Sherwin (Heber City, UT), Susan Butler (Portland, OR) and masters 35-39 champion Nicole Duke (Boulder, Colo.) rode the last few laps together, finishing fourth through sixth, respectively.
“It was a great venue -- a great course. It had everything you'd want: stair run-up, power sections, technical sections, mud,” said Compton. “It was a great field of women today. It's awesome to know that I can race here and really get pushed.”
Competing in the same race were the U23 women. After finishing second in the D1 women’s collegiate race earlier in the day, Kaitlin Antonneau (Racine, Wis./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) earned the Stars-and-Stripes and finished 10th overall. Coryn Rivera (Tustin, Calif./Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12), racing in the elite/U23 women’s cyclo-cross race for the first time, took second.
Elite Men
The largest and most boisterous crowd of the event lined the course for the men’s elite race. Hometown favorite Ryan Trebon (Bend, Ore./Kona) launched first from the gun, but it was Jeremy Powers (East Hampton, Mass./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com) who used an early attack to start the second lap in the lead. He was followed closely behind by Wells.
A crash toward the end of the first lap slipped Trebon back to fifth, but he clawed his way forward to third during lap two after passing defending champion Tim Johnson (Beverly, Mass./Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld.com), who had been battling illness in the days leading up to the race. The fourth time around the course proved troublesome for Powers, who had to stop to adjust his bike. This allowed Wells to take off and Trebon to move into second.
“In the beginning I was maybe around 10th place. There were some crashes I avoided and made it up to maybe the top five,” said Wells. “Then Trebon crashed and that left Powers and I off the front together. And then he crashed a few laps later and I was by myself for the last four or five laps, able to hold off Trebon. One lap he took like five seconds out of me, but luckily I was able to get it together and just hold the gap.”
That would be the final podium, as Wells never let up, riding to his third Stars-and-Stripes jersey. He previously won in 2001 and 2005, when he also finished ahead of Trebon. For 2010, Wells adds cyclo-cross to his national titles in cross country and short track mountain biking.
“It’s pretty big for me. I’d never won the cross country title before, so I got it this year, the short track, and now the cyclo-cross [titles]. It’s the perfect season.”
Collegiate Men
Zach McDonald (Bainbridge Island, Wash./University of Washington-Seattle) earned back-to-back Stars-and-Stripes in the Division I collegiate men's race. Brady Kappius (Littleton, Colo./University of Colorado-Boulder) attacked early and held a strong lead until reigning champ McDonald inched his way to the front on the second lap with Kappius fading to fourth.
>From there it was McDonald and Eric Thompson (Banner Elk, N.C./Lees-McRae College) fighting one-on-one in a matchup reminiscent of 2009's duel between McDonald and Fort Lewis' Sonntag. Thompson, however, was taken out halfway through a lap with a derailleur that fell apart in the middle of the day's horrifically sticky mud. From there it was McDonald's race to lose, and he did not give up the lead the rest of the day. Chris Hurst (Lake Geneva, Wisc./University of Colorado-Boulder) surged to a late second-place finish, with Brad Perley (Banner Elk, N.C./Lees-McRae College) claiming third.
In the D2 men’s race the Western Washington University duo of Steve Fisher (Bellingham, Wash.) and Logan Wetzel (Renton, Wash.) overcame an early attack from 2009 winner Ryan Leech (Savannah, Ga./Savannah College of Art & Design) to take control of the race in the second lap and never let go. Leech managed to hold on for third ahead of Mesa State College's Mullervy brothers, Conor (Boise , Idaho) and Kevin (Littleton, Colo).
Collegiate Women
The 2009 U23cyclo-cross national champion, Ashley James (Dousman, Wis./Appalachian State University), attacked from the gun in the D1 women’s race and built her lead in the first two laps to a solid 40 seconds over Marian University’s Antonneau and Lees McRae's Erica Zaveta (Erwinna, Penn.) and Carla Swart (Banner Elk, NC), who traded off places throughout the race.
James maintained her lead throughout for a dominating win. Antonneau took a 20-second lead over the Lees McRae women to claim second, while Swart, the 2008 national collegiate cyclo-cross champ, bested Zaveta for third.
In the D2 women’s race, strong efforts from Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference powerhouse riders Arielle Filiberti (Worcester, Mass./Dartmouth) and Laura Ralston (Cambridge, Mass./MIT) couldn't match the surprise ride from the strongwoman from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Kimberly Flynn (Hixson, Tenn.), who led most of the race. Western Washington University's Courtenay Mcfadden (Bellingham, Wash.) claimed third behind Ralston, while Filiberti took fourth and perennial favorite Lindsy Campbell (Missoula, Mont./University of Montana) claimed fifth.
Collegiate Omniums
With the most points earned in both the men and women's races, Lees McRae walked away handily with the overall D1 omnium win, thanks to dominating top-10 finishes in both races. Fort Lewis played the numbers game well, placing numerous riders in the top ten of each race, as well, and it earned them second place on the weekend, one step down from last year.
Marian University continued their climb in the world of cyclo-cross, claiming third, just ahead of Appalachian State University, a newcomer to the Division 1 field (having just surpassed 15,000 students, ASU moved from DII to DI this year). University of Washington rounded out the podium in fifth
.
In the D2 competition, five top-10 finishes this weekend allowed Western Washington University to take a commanding victory, with up-and-coming Mars Hill College claiming second. MIT took third with more top individual finishes and MIT was fourth. Local favorite Central Oregon Community College rounded out the top five.
Full results are available on the event's results page.
PHOTOS and Comments by Jake Orness
All images are copyright protected.
The last corner on the TT course may look tame but it was a tough end to a race.
Ned "the Lung" Overend on his way to winning his one millionth national championship.
Tim Johnson is arguably the most recognizable man in cross racing. On this practice lap he avoided the deep water.
Aaron Bradford went on to finish third after towing Adam Craig around for the first half lap.
Daniel Summerhill was in a tight battle for the U23 title. In the end he handled the peanut butter better and won.
Day two saw the snow melt and the water get deep!
The staircase was a rude awakening each lap. Steep, slippery, calf burning, this section broke many racers.
This was the moment that the 2009 masters 45-49 champ lost the race to Don Myrah. The next day this corner was adjusted.
James Coates digs in deep on the last lap.
For those of us that have been around long enough we all remember Don Myrah's epic win at the Hunter Mtn World cup eon's ago. Good to see him now dominating master's racing.
The start of the Women's race was the first sighting of the "Unicorns are for Real" guy.
Georgia's only hope to beat Katie Compton on the day was to go out guns blazing on the first lap. BTW- I layed in dog crap to get this shot.
Similar to when she won the Short Track National Championship, when Katie got rolling she never looked back and lapped many riders.
Bloody knuckles did not slow down this mid-pack racer.
While Todd Wells didn't get the hole shot, he did ride the run up and it didn't take long for him to gain control of the race.
A hard charging Ryan Trebron did not have enough gas to catch Wells.
Tim Johnson seemed focused and ready leading up to the race but admittedly didn't have what it took on the day.
I had about 30 seconds alone with Johnathon Baker in the moments after winning the 35-39 Maters Race. This was all he could do.
Matt Pacocha absolutely killed the 30-34 masters race. Not bad for someone who just had another kid!
The night before at the Pedros meet and greet. The other's had picked Georgia for the win. She gave it her best and left it all on the course.
Katie addresses the media post race. She'll get to keep that number 1 another year.
Georgia cleans her face post race with a "princess" wash cloth.
This concludes our viewing of the "Unicorns are for Real" guy.
PHOTOS and Comments by Jake Orness
All images are copyright protected.
Location: News >> 2010 USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships
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