Skyhawk Cycling Chooses Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals Team

Fort Lewis College Cycling has chosen the team that will represent the Skyhawks at the upcoming 2014 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals in Beech Mtn., NC on Oct. 24-26. The team will be seeking it's 9th consecutive Collegiate MTB title and 22nd overall team title. These are some of the toughest decisions that the coaches (Nick Gould, Elke Brutsaert, Justin Biser, Phil Cowan and Lucas LeMaire) ever have to make simply because there are so many talented riders to choose from.

Last weekend in Grand Junction at Colorado Mesa University's home meet he Skyhawks got 2^nd in the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference (RMCCC) team final standings behind the University of Colorado. FLC rider Stephan Davoust collected two individual conference titles in Endurance and Omnium. Having such good competition in the RMCCC is great preparation for the National competitions against not only top RMCCC teams but also teams from perennial national powerhouses Marian University, host Lees McRae College and Lindsay Wilson College.

At Nationals FLC will compete in Gravity events – Downhill (DH) and Dual Slalom (DS) and Endurance events, Cross Country (XC) and Short Track XC (ST). Team Relay (TR) is an endurance event where 3-4 riders compete in a 4-lap race with a female competing at least 2 laps. Each Collegiate team is allowed to bring 8 riders of each gender to compete in these events and it usually boils down to 4 riders per gender per discipline. Some riders are very adept at both Gravity and Endurance and will be competing in both disciplines in search of an Individual Omnium (IO) title. Becky Gardner will be defending the DH title she won at last year's event and Sofia Gomez Villafane will be defending her IO crown.

There are a few ways to keep up with the team before and during the competitions. The team's blog site will have daily pictures and updates at http://cycling.fortlewis.edu, on Facebook by liking http://www.facebook.com/FLCCyclingTeam or following on Twitter @FLCCYCLING. The complete schedule, official results and reports can be found on http://usacycling.org.

Becky Gardener , Junior– DH, DS
Leila Carrillo, Junior – DH, DS
Zach Graveson, Junior – DH, DS
Brian White, Junior – DH, DS
Joe Crosby, Junior – DH, DS
Andrew Fortini, Senior – DH, DS
Sofia Gomez Villafane, Junior – XC, ST, DH, DS, TR, IO
Cara Woods, Freshman – XC, ST
Jenna MacPherson, Sophomore – XC, ST, TR
Carley Endersbe, Freshman – XC, ST
Libbey Endersbe, Freshman – XC, ST
Payson McElveen, Junior – XC, ST, TR
Stephan Davoust, Sophomore – XC, ST, DS, TR
Levi Kurlander, Sophomore – XC, ST
Michael Sampson, Junior – XC, ST, DH, DS, IO

Please wish the team luck on their travels and performances.

For more info contact:
Dave Hagen – FLC Cycling Administrator
970-403-4842
hagen_d@fortlewis.edu

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Players Mentioned

Sofia Gomez Villafane: Freshman

Jenna MacPherson: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Sofia Gomez Villafane
: Freshman

Jenna MacPherson
: Freshman