The Fort Lewis College Cycling team will be #1 in the nation for the third year in a row if it continues its recent run of successes at the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, May 4 - 6 in Ogden, Utah. The event completes the four-discipline collegiate cycling year, which also includes track, mountain biking, and cyclo cross.
FLC Cycling is defending as the USA Cycling Division I top-ranked collegiate cycling program in the country, based on the cycling season's overall point totals. Going into the season's final event, FLC Cycling sits atop the standings.
"We're looking at some strong competition," says Cycling Director Dave Hagen. "But we've had great racing in the conference all season, so we're going into road nationals with a lot of momentum."
If the Cycling Team clinches another #1 national season omnium title, it would be the fifth time since the team's founding in 1994 that FLC Cycling has earned the honor. Already this season, the team has won an overall team national championship in mountain biking, the team's 18th Division I national championship. The team also finished second in the nation in cyclo cross and second in track for this racing season.
There have also been notable individual successes, as Lauren Catlin, Howard Grotts, Rotem Ishay, and Sarah Sturm won individual national championship titles at the Mountain Bike National Championships held in Angel Fire, New Mexico, in October.
Going into the Road Nationals, the men's team boasts six of the top 15 ranked riders in the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference, and four of the top 10 women riders, including the top three.
At the road nationals, FLC Cycling will be represented by an eight-rider men's team and a six-rider women's team, who will be competing against a formidable field of some 30 other Division I squads.
"What all that success this season means," says Hagen, is "they're all peaking at the right time."
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