FOUR PODIUM FINISHES AT COLLEGIATE TRACK NATIONALS

Among eight “top tens” for MSU at the NCCA Track National Championships

9/28/2009 - Trexlertown, PA -- Seven MSU cyclists flew to Pennsylvania last Wednesday to compete in the National Collegiate Cycling Association’s (NCCA) Division 1 Track National Championships.  Penn State generously hosted the Championship event at the Valley Preferred Cycling Center, a well-maintained velodrome affectionately known as T-town.

Returning to Nationals from last year’s Championship event that was hosted in Colorado Springs were Matthew Fox, Fidel Goytia, and Matthew Sauls.  Newcomers to the National Championship event were Joshua Carter, Tyler Matthies, Danny Robertson, and the lone female: Loren Eggenschwiler.  After Fox returned from last year’s event with two podium finishes, including a silver medal in the Kilo and a third place in the Match Sprint, he was one of the favorites at this year’s Championship event.

With a weather report that looked like it could be a very gloomy weekend with scattered showers, MSU Cycling coach, Julie Carter, prepared for the trip to be extended.  Unlike track cycling’s cousin discipline of road racing, there is no racing in the rain on a velodrome.  The ultra-smooth surface makes a waterslide from the 28 degree banking as soon as rain hits the pavement.  Events were scheduled to begin on the morning of Thursday, September 24 and finish the night of Saturday, September 26, with a rain date reserved for Sunday, September 27.  The evening before the event was to begin was when the rain sprouted its ugly head and had the practice session canceled at the track.

The event’s kick-off was the Women’s Pursuit, a 3000 meter time trial.  Eggenschwiler finished 24^th in the 9-lap timed event with a time of 4:45.5.  Next was the Men’s Pursuit, a 4000 meter race against the clock.  With less than one second separating 19^th-23^rd place, Robertson came out on the bottom of the tenth-of-a-second margin at 23^rd with a time of 5:11.8.

“Danny was greatly hindered by his inconsistent line on the track.  The difference of less than a second over four kilos is almost insignificant,” said Julie.

Considering Robertson hit 5 of the sponges at the bottom of the track that are intended to penalize riders by slowing their momentum, Julie believes he will easily be able to be prepared for a “top 10” in next year’s Men’s Pursuit.  Tyler Matthies’ time of 5:23.7 was good for 36^th place; Sauls and Goytia finished 46^th and 52^nd in the nation, respectively.

The Men’s Kilo event wrought the first podium, and the first “top ten” for MSU’s cycling team.  With over 50 additional riders to attempt the 3-lap time trial, Carter rode the Kilo in a 1:11.3 and took the lead mid-way through the day.  Ultimately, eight riders would surpass the time of Carter, giving Carter ninth place.  Among those riders was MSU’s own Matthew Fox, a former Junior World Championship Team member.  Fox competed in the second-to-last heat of the day and sailed to a time of 1:08.9, putting and MSU rider back in the lead.  David Espinoza of Penn State finished with the time of 1:06.5, giving Fox and MSU the first of many National Championship medals at this year’s Championship.

Eggenschwiler entered the Women’s 500 meter Time Trial, a new distance for her.  Loren had never had any practice attempts at this distance, and still managed to finish 30^th in the nation.

The Match Sprint events are entered only upon qualifying in the “top 18” of the 200 meter Time Trial.  Eggenschwiler’s qualifying time gave her 24^th in the qualifiers, eliminating her from the Match Sprint competition.  In the Men’s Match Sprints, the MSU team had more success with making it into the head-to-head sprint competition.  Three MSU riders advanced; Tyler Matthies with the 15th-fastest time of the day, Carter with the 11^th-fastest time of the day, and Fox qualifying in the 3^rd seed position.  Seeding is an important piece of the Match Sprints; the 1^st-place seed is paired with the 18^th seed, the 2^nd seed is coupled with the 17^th seed, etc.  This gives the easiest trip to the finals for the winner of the 200 meter Time Trial, which was Kilo winner, David Espinoza of Penn State.

In Round 1 of the Match Sprints, Fox was matched against the 16^th seed and easily sailed to victory and guaranteed a match in Round 2.  Then Matthies was seeded against 4^th-place qualifier and was unable to make the upset, sending Matthies to the Round 1 Repechage (French word for “to rescue” or “to save”) that allows riders a chance to compete against the others that lost their rounds; The winner is permitted to re-enter the competition.  In the Round 1 Repechage, Tyler was not able to ‘save’ himself by winning.  Round 1 went well for Carter; he was able to upset the 8^th-place qualifier and was also guaranteed a match in Round 2.

Two of the 12 remaining riders that made it into Round 2 of the Match Sprints were from MSU.  Based on the qualifying times from the 200 meter, Fox was the favorite to win his match, while Carter was the lower seed for his Round 2 pairing.  Fox was able to make the victory as expected and Carter pulled off the upset, putting both riders into the “top 8,” that would compete in the Semifinals.

This time, Fox was paired against former Junior World Championship Team member, Ben Barczewski.  Fox was the 3^rd seed and Barczewski was the 2^nd seed, making Fox the underdog.  Fox handily took the victory and made it into the Finals for the gold/silver decision.  Carter’s Semis didn’t go quite as well.  Indiana University’s Eric Young got the early jump and beat Carter to the line, sending Carter into the Finals with three others for a 4-up sprint for 5^th-8^th.

In the Finals, Fox went head-to-head with the current Kilo National Record Holder and defending Collegiate National Championships’ Match Sprints victor, David Espinoza.  Fox was unable to come through as the underdog this time around, but brought home another silver medal for MSU.  Carter’s 4-man sprint for 5^th-8^th gave him 2^nd in the round, for a 6^th place overall in the Match Sprints.

Eggenschwiler, Sauls, Robertson, Goytia, and Matthies competed in the School Coed Team Sprint and finished ___ place in the Division 1 challenge.  In the Men’s Team Pursuit, MSU finished 4^th with a time of 3:42.6 with Sauls, Robertson, Carter, and Fox as representatives.  These riders were able to bring home bronze medals for their 4^th-place finish.

The Points Race was divided into heats.  Fox and Sauls, roommates at MSU, were both in Heat 1; Robertson and Carter were both in Heat 2.  The “top 15” riders from each heat were to advance to the Final.  Fox, Robertson, and Carter made it into the Finals for the Points Race.  Team strategy came into play for MSU and several of the other teams.  Marion University of Indianapolis and Colorado State University both had four qualifiers, Lindsey Wilson College of Columbia, KY, Fort Lewis College of Durango, CO, and Penn State qualified 3 each; MIT and a number of other teams qualified multiple team members for the Finals.  Very few of the 30 qualifying riders were found without a teammate.  Bouncing between 2^nd and 3^rd place in the first half of the race, Carter, a former-pro in the road discipline, was sitting in a good position to gain a victory.  With approximately a quarter of the race to go, a five-man breakaway slipped away and gained a lap on the field.  This gave the five leaders a 20-point bonus on their current points.  This shut the door for Carter and all of the others in the field from a podium finish.  Carter’s points total was good for a 9^th place finish for the team.  Once a chance at the win was closed, Carter’s roll became one of helping to guarantee an Omnium position for Fox.  Fox was tied for 20^th place with several other riders.  In order to be eligible for the individual rider Omnium, Fox needed to finish “top 20” in both an endurance event and a sprint length event.  With two silver medals already in Fox’s arsenal, the 20^th place in the Points Race was necessary to give him a spot in the Omnium competition.  In the last two laps, Carter helped lead Fox to the finish for a good finishing position.  It was just enough for Fox to finish 20^th place in the Points Race.

Immediately at the conclusion of the Points Race, the rain began pouring from the sky.  It was just in time for the final event to finish and the Team and individual Omnium points could be scored by the judges.  Midwestern State ranked 7^th in the Team competition; the final podium finish of the weekend was Fox’s 3^rd place finish in the individual men’s Omnium competition.  Julie is excited to build upon the solid foundation of the track team for next year.