Of course the plaudits must go to Eric Young who has yet to find a cycling mountain he cannot climb. A rider alone against 29 others in the Points race, he utterly dominated by getting in the big move then marking the aggression of Rob Bush, David Williams (Marian) and Oscar Clark (Georgia State) to pick up the points he needed for a comfortable win. Winning the final sprint was the cherry on top and the sign of a true showman! The quality of Collegiate cycling was highlighted by the fact Clark (Mountain Khakis), Bush (Garmin), Williams (Bissell), JAckie Simes (Jamis) and Young (??) are all Pros or should-be-pros.
Gametime (photo- Chris West)
Elsewhere on the final day Hannah Calvert qualified 8th in the Women's Sprint and after a loss in the first round was looking good to progress through the repecharge. However a rider from Colorado State moved off her line during the sprint to bring Hannah down at 35mph- resulting in a broken collar bone. The CSU rider was DQed which was of little consolation to Hannah! For all of Eric's great work the difference between IU on and off the podium actually came during the Calvert crash as the points gap between the two teams was greatest in IU's favor in the Women's Sprint.
Success in the Team competition comes from having individual excellence and quality in both Mens and Womens squads. The Womens TP and the Co-ed team sprint were equally valuable contributors to the solid 5th overall.
Otherwise Marian University dominated all the team events with their amazingly talented squad. Adam Leibovitz (1st kilo, 1st pursuit, 4th sprint) and Kaitlin Antonneau (1st points, 2nd pursuit ,5th 500m) on any other year would have won individual titles.
5th overall- solid
Marian will be bidding to host the championships again next year and hopefully there will be larger stronger IU group ready to challenge Marian, MSU and Fort Lewis for the top placing.
5 comments:
GP, thanks for all the time you gave to the IU team and the event.
WOW - congrats! Little 5er beating up on the Marian cartel and a few other PRO's.
Eric getting any offers? Could he still ride L5 if he signs a team contract?
Congrats to not just Eric but the entire team. IU back on the podium!!! Good for IU, Good for IUCC, Good for L5, and most importantly GOOD for all those that represented!
He cannot be paid or race as a pro until Little 5 is over. He cannot be an official member of a pro team until the race is over.
So the ideal situation would be to 1- win Little 500 on April 15th, 2- sign a contract on April 17th, 3- enjoy the week following in the usual fashion, 4- Win Athens Twilight with team support on April 29th, 5- Win Collegiate Crit title in May, 6- Have an awkward moment just to know what it felt like.
That sounds about right.
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