Fort Lewis rules Division I short-track at collegiate nationals
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ANGEL FIRE, New Mexico (VN) — Fort Lewis College continued its domination of the 2012 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships on Saturday as the Division I powerhouse took the men’s and women’s short-track cross-country titles.
In Division II, Richard Cypress Gorry (Brevard College) added the short-track title to the cross-country crown he won on Friday, while Rebecca Gross (University of Denver) used a front-row start to grab an early lead and keep it to the finish.
Division I
Fort Lewis racer Rotem Ishay, who said afterward that this would be his last collegiate endurance competition, left on top of his game. He and teammate Howard Grotts were at the front after two laps of the half-mile circuit.
Samuel Morrison (University of Colorado-Boulder) was a viable threat until the two Skyhawks drilled it with two laps remaining.
Ishay then left his teammate behind and took the stars-and-stripes for the third consecutive year, with Grotts second and Morrison third.
“Last one! Three in a row,” Ishay said. “I was really motivated and really stressed. I haven’t felt that for a collegiate race for a while. I’ve won a lot of stuff and I was not getting stressed for races, but this one was a big one for me, for sure.”
In the women’s short track, Lauren Catlin (Fort Lewis College) showed no signs of fatigue a day after successfully defending her cross-country title, winning the short track race handily over a 47-rider field.
Catlin took the lead from Deidre York (University of Colorado-Boulder) on the third lap and maintained a comfortable lead throughout the rest of the race, crossing the line more than 30 seconds ahead of runner-up York. Catlin’s teammate, Sofia Gomez Villafane, placed third.
“I felt really good today,” said Catlin. “Watching the (Fort Lewis) boys do so well earlier, I was like, ‘I gotta perform now. I can’t let them get all the credit.’”
It wasn’t as easy as it seemed from the results, however. Catlin had to dodge a crash at the start that involved
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