This weekend the Division I and II collegiate national mountain bike championships were held in Truckee, California. Friday the cross country champion’s jersey was on the line and Saturday was the short track competition. Sunday the downhill finished the weekend of mountain bike racing.

Friday was a hotly contested battle for the stars and stripes in cross country. Defending champion Roten Ishay (Fort Lewis College) found himself defending multiple attacks. One of the riders making the race difficult was Lees-McRae’s Brad Perley. However Ishay was able counter any attacks and was again crowned national cross country champion. Perley crossed the line in fourth place and earning points toward the overall team omnium competition.

Erica Zaveta was the first Lees-McRae rider to step onto the podium. In the three lap cross country battle for the title of national cross country champion, Zaveta caught and passed Sage Wilderman (Fort Lewis) on the first hill of the last lap. By the time she crossed the finish line her winning margin was two and a half minutes on second place Wilderman.

Saturday in the short track championships Brad Perley of Lees-McRae finished third. In the women’s race short track it was once again a battle between Lees-McRae’s Zaveta and Wilderman of Fort Lewis. However this time Wilderman got the better of Zaveta and finished 30 seconds in front of her. In the final individual omnium standings Zaveta finished second overall.

In the Men’s four-cross championships the Bobcats scored another victory with Benjamin Hulse.

Hanna Trimble (Lees-McRae) earned the silver in the Sunday’s downhill championships.

Kerry Werner (Lees-McRae) finished in fifth in the overall omnium.

At the conclusion of three days of racing Division I Lees-McRae College finished with two individual championships (men’s four-cross and women’s cross country) and third place overall in the team omnium.

In the Division II category Mars Hill College was constantly scoring points toward the overall team omnium.

Klara Rossouw of Mars Hill scored two top-10 finishes with a sixth place in the cross country and then followed it up with a fourth place in the short track event.

Tim Jenkinson (Mars Hill) finished 26th in the cross country and 13th on the short track event.

At the time of this report Rossouw sits in fourth overall in the individual standing and Mars Hill College in seventh. The last mountain biking event for the team to earn points toward the team omnium is the downhill.

However it was Brevard College of North Carolina that successfully defended their 2009 team omnium championships. This was a cumulation of team results that included an individual championship in the short track  with Caroline Decosimo. That result, along with her other placings, earned Decosimo third in the overall individual omnium

Brevard’s Tristan Cowe’s consistent finishes (second in the cross country and third in the short track) earned him the top ranked male in Division II at the end of the weekend.

Kate Weisenfluh (Brevard College) finished in second place in the downhill 24 seconds behind winner Christen Boyer (Colorado School of Mines).

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