2008 Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships(Banner Elk, North Carolina)
Last weekend Lees McRae College held Nationals so Fort Lewis Cycling and my self had a lot of pressure to win. I have been part of the winning team for the past two years, and I wanted more than anything else to finish my final year of school with a trifecta. We started off the weekend with the XC, our defending champion Ben Sonntag repeated his success and rode away with the win. Then it was two Lees McRae riders and Rotem (FLC) got 4th. I finished back in 13th after passing about 60 riders during the course of the 25 mile race.Our women rode well but after the day we were down on Lees McRae by several points. The next morning was our short track race, and Ben once again dominated to the win. Only three times in history has a rider won both the XC and Short Track and all three times they have been Fort Lewis riders. They include Anthony Colby, Alex Hagman, and Ben Sonntag. I finished 6th in that event, just off the podium of 5. Later in the day our women absolutely dominated the downhill by sweeping the top 3. 1st Emma Miller, 2nd Sage Wilderman and 3rd Alisha Gibson. Our top man was Cody Wilderman in 6th.
Going into our final day we were behind Lees McRae by just 2 points out of 500 total. Both our mens and womens squad rallied the dual slalom course and that earned us the overall national championship title by 20 points at the end of the day.
My mom, dad, Shannon and Ryder drove out from Arkansas to give their ultra support on the trail and at the dinner table. It was awesome seeing the family, and my little Ryder puppy is getting huge. He was the hit of the weekend with all the spectators. Oh, and he pooped in the downhiller's condo, HA!
(Our girls downhill team that totally rocked, 1,2,3 on the podium)
(This is the side of Ben Sonntag you won't find in the magazines)
(Noah up close and personal)
(Chad Wells in the creek)
(Noah riding down a running creek)
(Chad Wells in the rock garden)
(Noah in the super technical section)
(7 time Israeli National Champion, Rotem Ishay)
(Startline of the mens XC race, yes it is still dark)
(Jordan Rupe and Big Mig after the downhill)
(Me afte the short track)
(My mom and I after the ST)
(My dad and I after the ST)
(Shannon and I)
(Super German Ben Sonntag and I after the ST)
(Shannon, Ryder and I after receiving my new stars and bars jersey)
(Rick Crawford, Ben Sonntag, Noah Singer, Rotem Ishay, Chad Wells, Dave Hagen, Ruthe Matthes, Michael Engleman after our successful short track)
(Ben Sonntag, Noah Singer, Rotem Ishay, Chad Wells aftet the ST)
(Our finest imports, Ben Sonntag (Germany) and Rotem Ishay (Isreal) with there American clothing)
(Noah Singer, Chopper)
(Rick Crawford and Noah Singer with our new trophy stating who is the fastest in the country)
(Yellow and Blue team...)(...soon became the Red, White and Blue team)
