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Four very different finishes mark collegiate road race
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Spectators lining the start/finish line of today’s 2006 collegiate road national championships at Perry Lake, Kansas, saw four very different race finishes, with Brent Bookwalter (Lees-McRae), Sarah Uhl (Penn State), Mark Hardman (Virginia) and Mara Abbott (Whitman College) emerging as winners.
The day kicked off promptly at 8 a.m., with the women’s Division I and Division II fields taking to the road at Perry Lake, a boating and fishing destination about 15 miles west of Lawrence. Both women’s divisions circled the rolling 28-mile loop twice, with the 75-woman Division I race hitting the road 15 minutes ahead of the 53-rider Division II field.
Stiff winds from the northwest battered both fields from the gun, which led to negative racing in the Division I race. The peloton repeatedly chased down all early attacks and surges.
Midway through the second lap, a large crash sent more than 20 riders to the ground and four women to a nearby hospital. The crash splintered the group, with the front third able to escape. Leading the charge was Penn State’s Uhl, who pushed the pace through the final five miles and up the day’s penultimate climb.
As the 30-strong group headed for the finish together, another crash took out a handful of riders, including Fort Lewis College’s sprinter Molly Hummel. Uhl stayed in second wheel along the final straight, which featured a strong headwind and slight incline. She took the bunch kick at the line ahead of Rebecca Larson (Florida).
"The pace was totally dragging along on the second lap. Stacey Marple (Cal Cycling) said, ‘Oh, here we are, back at the tea party,’" said Uhl, who rode for the Saturn and Quark professional teams. "My strategy was to try to play into the hands of that tea party. I think people were really nervous, and I made it a point to try to put myself in a position to benefit from the conservative riding."
The D-II field did not adopt a similarly conservative approach, with winner Abbott crossing the line 20 seconds up on second-place Anna Milkowski (Yale).
Less than a mile from the starting line, the day’s first breakaway rolled up the road — a solo charge by MIT’s Martha Buckley.
"I’m new to cycling and not a good sprinter and I’m not going to drop anyone," said Buckley, a distance runner who picked up cycling last September. "My coach told me to try for a breakaway and wait for someone to join me."
Buckley had to wait an entire lap for a group to reach her. That group included last year’s road race champion, Abbott, her Whitman College teammate Laura Vallas and former pro rider Milkowski.
Abbott, a climbing specialist, attacked the field on the same incline that sprung her to victory in last year’s championships. But Milkowski and Carol Hutton (DePauw) kept Abbott within 15 seconds as they headed into the final 10 miles. That’s when the group encountered the emergency vehicles and crew attending to victims of the Division I race’s large crash. Race marshals neutralized the Division II event until the emergency vehicles and downed riders could be cleared from the road. After a half hour, marshals restarted the riders according to the time gaps present when the race was stopped.
"It felt like the scariest time trial I had ever done," said Abbott, who was first to leave the crash site. "It was way harder than last year. It was a lot different this year because people were looking at me knowing I was strong. Last year no one knew who I was."
An unknown and the marked man
Not many racers in the Division I men’s race knew who Mark Hardman was. The law-school student, racing for the University of Virginia, was overshadowed by the handful of pro riders in the field, including Colorado’s Chris Stockberger (Toyota-United), and Fort Lewis College’s Matt Shriver (Target Training) and Troy Wells (TIAA-CREF).
The 24-year old Hardman said his anonymity, not to mention his acting skills, led the members of an eight-rider breakaway to underestimate his strength. Hardman broke away inside the final kilometer on a steep climb, soloing to victory ahead of Jonathan Swain (Marian College).
"I don’t have that much experience racing, but a good buddy of mine told me to never work harder than I have to," said Hardman, a category two USCF racer. "I did some acting in the last two miles, skipping pulls and fading off the back like I couldn’t make it."
The day’s first break took flight on the second lap around Perry Lake. Jon Hayes (Fort Lewis) led a five-man group that included J. Gabriel Lloyd (Columbia) Mike Busa (Ohio State), Patrick McGlynn (Colorado State) and Johan Liljengren (Pennsylvania).
The escapees built a margin of nearly four minutes over the peloton before McGlynn attacked from that group and spent much of the third lap riding solo, eventually being joined by Mark Smelser (Kansas State), Hardman, Swain, David Hatch (University of Wisconsin) and Stephen Dey (University of California-Davis). The group of five slowly whittled down to three, with Hardman, Swain and Hatch leading into the finish.
Hardman, who hails from Newport, Virginia, said he has no ambitions to race as a professional. He dedicated his race to a friend who recently passed away while swim training at the U.S. Naval Academy.
"I always said that when I was racing a big race, Kyle would be with me," Hardman said. "I felt like he was out there with me on course."
Brent Bookwalter couldn’t act his way to a win in the Division II road race — the 22-year old was the marked man in the field. With collegiate mountain-bike and cyclo-cross titles already under his belt this year, Bookwalter was the odds-on favorite to win.
"Yeah, you feel like you have a big target on your back when you’re riding in the group," said Bookwalter, who helped power Lees-McRae to a win in Friday’s team time trial. "I’d try little fake attacks early in the race and like 20 guys would come after me."
Bookwalter’s teammate Scott Jackson escaped on a breakaway with Peter Fairbanks (Cumberland University) midway through the second lap. When a second breakaway succeeded in bridging to the two, Bookwalter followed in tow. The senior biology major sat on the group to the line, taking the sprint ahead of Todd Yezefski (University of Chicago).
"We had Scott up the road so it was a perfect situation for me," said Bookwalter, whose road win made him the first person to win three successive collegiate national championships. "Western Washington was really motivated to bring Scott back. I just got to sit on."
With only one race remaining, Sunday’s criterium, the University of California-Davis holds a 71-point advantage over second-place University of Colorado-Boulder in the Division I team competition. Lees-McRae leads Whitman College by a slim eight points. Stay tuned to VeloNews.com for coverage.
2006 USA Cycling Collegiate National Road Championships
Lawrence, KS. May 13
Division I
Men
1. Mark Hardman, Virginia, 84.6mi in 3:28:50
2. Jonathan Swain, Marian College, at 0:06
3. David Hatch, University of Wisconsin, at 0:14
4. Stephen Dey, University of California-Davis, at 0:20
5. Mark Smelser, Kansas State, at 0:47
6. Patrick McGlynn, CSU, at 1:33
7. Taylor Kneuven, CU, at 3:04
8. Ari DeWilde, Ohio State, at 3:10
9. Tim Farnham, University of Nebraska, at 3:15
10. John Hayes, Fort Lewis College, s.t.
Women
1. Sarah Uhl, Penn State, 56.4mi in 2:45.56
2. Rebecca Larson, Florida, same time
3. Jennifer Purcell, Midwestern State, s.t.
4. Heather Holmes, University of Utah, s.t.
5. Erica Allar, Penn State, s.t.
6. Amy Mackey, University of California-Davis, s.t.
7. Bri Kovac, Indiana University, s.t.
8. Lila Hickey, CSU Cycling, s.t.
9. Amanda Seigle, University of California-Davis, s.t.
10. Jessica Cole, University of Illinois, all s.t.
Division II
Men
1. Brent Bookwalter, Lees-McRae, 84.6mi in 3:41:20
2. Todd Yezefski, University of Chicago, same time
3. Justin Rose, University of Denver, s.t.
4. Scott Jackson, Lees-McRae, s.t.
5. Taylor Shelden, University of Denver, s.t.
6. Josh Gerowitz, Colorado College, s.t.
7. Nicholas Frey, Princeton, at 0:14
8. Peter Fairbanks, Cumberland, at 0:27
9. Matthew Jones, NMSU, s.t.
10. Nicholas Bennette, Princeton, at 0:36
Women
1. Mara Abbott, Whitman, 56.4mi in 2:50:56
2. Anna Milkowski, Yale, at 0:10
3. Carol Hutton, DePauw University, at 0:15
4. Laura Valaas, Whitman, at 1:26
5. Caitlyn McCullough, MIT, RPI, s.t.
6. Megan Guarnier, Middlebury, at 2:16
7. Caitlin Bever, MIT, s.t.
8. Martha Buckley, MIT, at 3:48
9. Kathryn Carr, Dartmouth, at 3:52
10. Jennifer Stebbins, Dartmouth, s.t.
