St Charles, MO– For St. Patrick’s Day weekend the Notre Dame Cycling Team traveled to the emerald pastures of St. Charles, Missouri for their second race weekend of the 2012 Road Racing Season. Lindenwood University hosted the inaugural MWCCC/NCCCC Challenge where riders from both the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference and the North Central Collegiate Cycling Conference competed head-to-head to determine not only who were the best riders in each of the respective conferences but also which conference packed the most power overall. Continue reading “Week 3 2012 Recap: Lindenwood Contingent”
Week 3 2012: Pennsylvania Training Camp
Lancaster, PA — Nathaniel Lee, Brian Hurley, Mike Chifala, Joe Magro, and Ethan Ferguson made the 9 hour drive to Lancaster County, PA for a week long spring break training camp culminating with an ECCC race in Philadelphia. Taking advantage of the rolling terrain, the team rode over 20 hours throughout camp and traversed well over 20,000 ft of climbing. Amish farmland combined with wooded hills made for scenic riding and local cycling landmarks such as the Starlight campsite climb, Tour de Ephrata mountain time trial, and Pumping Station dirt road were visited. In Philadelphia, the team’s performance was highlighted by Hurley’s near out of conference win while holding off the pack for a 3rd place finish.
Week 1 2012 Recap: Lindsey Wilson
Columbia, KY–John Pratt announced his arrival to the collegiate ranks with a pair of dominating performances to highlight Notre Dame’s first weekend of the MWCCC road season. On Saturday, a devastating attack 30 miles into the Men’s B road race saw the freshman Pratt launch clear of the field with Kevin Henschel of Ohio State in tow. As veterans Andrew O’Donnell and Nathaniel Lee of Notre Dame disrupted any pursuit, Pratt and Henschel quickly opened a gap in excess of two minutes setting the stage for a final battle on the mile climb to the finish. Pratt made the first attack on the lower slopes, but Henschel was able to match his accelerations. Continue reading “Week 1 2012 Recap: Lindsey Wilson”
2011 Conference Mountain Bike Championship
Notre Dame Cycling members Douglas Ansel and Jose Lugo traveled to Mt Morris, WI, to
participate in the last Midwest Conference mountain bike races in the 2011 season. The races were hosted by Ripon College at the Nordic Mountain ski resort located an hour and a half north of Madison. Ansel and Lugo lined up for the Cross Country races Sunday morning, which featured the largest and strongest fields of the entire season. Continue reading “2011 Conference Mountain Bike Championship”
Blue Gold Race 2011
The second annual Blue-Gold Race wrapped up this weekend and, despite the absence of some veterans, the pace was fast.
In the road race, both Blue and Gold squads lined up in blustery conditions. Nathaniel Lee, John Pratt, Phil Palmon and Jim Snitzer got away half way through the first lap, and held on for about three miles before the pack caught them in the headwinds. Continue reading “Blue Gold Race 2011”
Purdue XC, STXC Report
Saturday, October 1 – Cross Country (XC)
Purdue University hosted the first race of the weekend, the cross country race, on the extremely tight and twisty trails in McCormack Woods adjacent to the Purdue campus. The first race to start was the Men’s C, in which Jose Lugo and Carl Josephson competed. Overcoming a slow start that put him into the singletrack in the woods near the back of the pack, Lugo picked off riders in the technically demanding serpentine sections of the trails to net a 5th place on the day. Continue reading “Purdue XC, STXC Report”
Michigan State XC Mountain Report
Men’s B:
The field was a moderate group of 10 riders. After hitting the woods in 5th and 6th position
respectively, Douglas Ansel and Luke Tilmans worked their way into 3rd and 5th position by the end
of the first 10-mile lap. They would finish in this order.
Men’s C:
Carl Josephson and Collin Sidberry took to the start line for both of their first races ever in the
Men’s C field of roughly 10-15 riders. Though Sidberry had to pull out of the race due to a
mechanical issue, Carl Josephson managed a mid-pack finish.
2011 Conference Championships
Defiance, St Charles, MO –Located in historic St. Charles on the banks of the Missouri River, Lindenwood University played host to the 2011 MWCCC conference road championships. Notre Dame entered the event looking to defend leads in both the team rankings as well as the individual men’s and women’s categories. Saturday’s road race featured a 20 mile course through vineyards and river valleys with 3 major climbs per 20 mile lap. In Men’s A, Joe Magro, Brian Boyle, and Douglas Ansel, rode for the Irish in the 84 mile event. With the first climb only 3 miles into the race, the pace was fast from the gun as riders jocked to start the climb in front. Magro crested the summit in a small group of the conference elite who would ultimately decide the winner amongst themselves. 40 miles into the race, Magro’s group had shrunk to 15 and 60 miles in only 12 remained. After 4 hours of racing, Magro finished in 7th place, increasing his lead in the men’s individual standings. Only 23 of the 50 entrants finished the entire distance. Much like the men’s race, the women’s A field shattered on the first climb with Jenn Perricone from ND sitting comfortably in the lead group. As more and more women dropped back, Perricone held her ground and continued her streak of top 10’s with an 8th place on the day.
Sunday’s Criterium, held in downtown St. Charles, was the fastest Men’s A race of the year with an average speed of 29mph. A field of 45 was cut to under 30 in only 10 minutes as Boyle and Magro settled into the main field. Keeping the second place individually ranked rider in his sights, Magro rode to preserve the season title while Boyle moved up in the field following multiple attacks. With 3 laps to go Magro sprinted off the front but was soon reeled in by the group. Boyle finished 5th in the field sprint, good enough for 14th overall while Magro cruised in top 20 and claimed the 2011 Men’s Individual Conference Championship. Perricone was riding one of her strongest races of the season in Women’s A before running over a staple in the road with less than 5 laps to go. The tire ruined, she used a spare wheel to finish the race in 14th place which was enough to maintain her lead and take the Individual Women’s Conference Championship. Notre Dame also won the Team Conference Title for the 2011 season. This is the first time in the program’s history that both individual titles, and the team title, all belong to the Irish, Perricone, Magro, Boyle, and Ansel will all compete for the National Championship in Madison, WI the first weekend of May.
Road Race
Men’s A – Magro 7th
Women’s A – Perricone 8th
Criterium
Men’s A – Boyle 14th, Magro 20th
Women’s A- Perricone 14th
MSU/ Michigan Recap
Okemos, MI- Clarkston, MI – Notre Dame traveled to Michigan State on Saturday for a morning road race and an afternoon time trial. Rob Piscatelli led the men’s D team with an 11th place finish. Men’s C put two in the top ten with Andrew O’Donnell in 6th and Brian Hurley crossing the line in 8th position. Freshman Josh Corcoran wasn’t far behind in 13th. Four ND riders started the 60 mile men’s A race and Continue reading “MSU/ Michigan Recap”
Marian/ Purdue Report
Indianapolis/ West Lafayette – Five ND riders the trip to Indianapolis Saturday for a race hosted by Marian University. The criterium course wound through Marian’s campus starting in front of the main building. Josh Corcoran and Andrew O’Donnell raced in men’s C and both crashed out before the finish. O’Donnell was set to finish on the podium for the second week in a row before getting collected in an accident 50m from the line. Jenn Perricone had a strong race in Women’s A and finished 3rd. Brian Boyle and Joe Magro ended the afternoon for ND in Men’s A. Magro narrowly avoided crashing into a cone 200m from the finish and had to settle for 21st place.
On Sunday, injuries to a number of ND A riders forced the team to start Corcoran and O’Donnell in the team time trial where the ND managed a respectable 8th place result. In the C RR that afternoon O’Donnell continued his recent string of strong showings with a 6th place on Purdue’s challenging circuit. Corcoran also recorded a career best 13th. Perricone again impressed in women’s A riding the majority of the race in an elite breakaway and again finishing in 3rd position. Boyle flatted out of the Men’s A race while Magro battled 30mph sustained winds to finish with the main pack.
Although two race weekends remain on the conference schedule, ND has clinched a berth at the National Championships May 6-8 in Madison, WI.