On May 10, Whitman cycling will be defending its two-year hold on the Division II overall team omnium title. The Whitman cycling team flew to the national road championships in Lawrence, Kan. yesterday, May 9, for a three-day omnium.
In the Northwest Collegiate Cycling Conference, Whitman garnered 5005 total points. The team came in second to Western Washington University, who will also be flying to nationals, who finished with 7037. Whitman’s men’s team will have a formidable challenge with the Western men’s team, which outscored the Whitman men by 1,062 points.
The omnium will start with a 12 mile team time trial on Friday, followed by a 84.6 mile road race for men and 56.4 mile race for women that circumnavigates Perry Lake in Kansas. The final event will be the criterium in downtown Lawrence.
Whitman cycling will be relying on the strength and prowess of junior Mara Abbott to get her fourth gold medal in a row for the overall individual title. Abbott, recently won her first professional stage race at the Tour of Gila in New Mexico this last weekend. The team is looking to use Abbott to pull her fellow female Whitman riders into good position to get more points in the general classification.
Other riders to look out for are junior Chris Thomas, first-year Duncan McGovern, first-year Kendi Thomas and senior Rebecca Jensen.
With five first-years already going to Nationals, including successful Nordic skier Devon Spika, the team’s future looks bright.
“Having five freshmen go to national shows the team has a lot of depth and that we’re just going to continue to grow,” said first-year Duncan McGovern.
Going into the weekend, it is difficult to know which team to look out for. McGovern said, “We’ll have a better idea of who our competition is after the time trial.” In particular, he named Western Washington and Dartmouth as two potential rivals.
The awards ceremony will follow the last criterium at 1 p.m. on Sunday. For more information and standings on the collegiate national road championships, visit usacycling.org.
