Collegiate Nationals recap

The DLV Collegiate Track Stars Autumn Wentworth, Joey Rosskoph, and Oscar Clark of Georgia State University and Star Coach Jeff Hopkins who coaches Marian College did well at 2009 Collegiate Nationals in Trexlertown, PA last week. Here's a recap:

4K (61 riders):
David Williams (Marian) won with a time of 4:49.1
Joey Rosskopf won 2nd with a time of 4:50.7
Oscar Clark won 3rd with a time of 4:51.7

Kilo (65 riders):
David Williams (Marian) placed 3rd with 1:10.0"
Joey placed 8th with 1:11.2"
Oscar placed 21st with 1:13.0"

500M (37 riders)
Sierra Siebenlist (Marian) placed 4th 40.132"
Autumn Wentworth placed 8th with 40.931". I think Autumn had the one of, if not the fastest 1st lap of all riders.

Team Sprint:
Autumn, Joey, and Oscar had a 2nd place time in the team sprint (Co-ed, 6 laps using up to 6 riders). Using only 3 riders when when every other team had either 5 or 6 riders. They were first up. Autumn led with a very fast 2 laps and Oscar and Joey killed it. Autumn, Oscar, and Joey set and kept the best time of the 14 or so teams until Marian college (defending champs) ran last and beat them by 4 seconds (I think).

Here's the drama: Oscar pulled off too early, well before the exchange area. They were relegated from 2nd place to last.

They showed splits on scoreboard. Autumn's solo first 2 laps was faster than all but maybe one or two teams that used 2 riders for the same 2 laps. The announcer kept refering to them as "The Super Team of only 3 riders from Georgia State..." when comparing subsequent team's times to theirs. They beat Penn State, Army, Lees Mcrae, Colorado State, MIT and a few other teams that brought 15+ riders and raced 6 riders in that race. Good stuff.

Women's 200/Sprint (30-35 riders):
Autumn was disappointed in her 14.6" 200M time, but she still qualified for the sprint tournament. She finished 18th overall. She raced well, but was simply out of gas on her 3rd day of racing.

Men's Points race (60+ riders)
Joey and Oscar were in separate qualifier heats. I think Joey qualified 1st in his heat and Oscar 2nd (or vice-versa). During the points race final (30 riders) they raced well. Some teams had 4+ riders in the field. When the time was right, Oscar raced smartly slowing the pack to allow Joey and a group of 4 others to lap the field. Later in the race, Oscar cleared the way and for 2-3 laps led Joey out for the last sprint which helped him win 4th. Marion's David Williams won 1st.

Joey finished 4th in the Men's Omnium. Jeff's Marion College team swept the team events and won the team omnium.

Way to go Autumn, Joey, Oscar, and Jeff!

Official Results: http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2009-1582