Two national records were set and eight titles were awarded on the second day of the 2019 USA Cycling Junior, Elite, & Para-cycling National Championships. The day opened with the team sprint and team pursuit finals, as well as the early rounds of the keirin competition. The evening session concluded with the first races for the 13-14 omnium, the 15-18 points races, and the final rounds of the keirin.
Team Sprint
The day opened with the team sprint where the junior women raced in teams of two against the clock. Phorbius and Feeb, the team of Kayla Hankins (Scottsdale, Ariz.; LUX Cycling) and yesterday’s sprint champion Sophia Shuhay (New Tripoli, Penn.; Star Track Racing), sped to the top spot of the podium, and on the way set the new American record for the Junior Women’s Team Sprint on a 250m track with their time of 36.314 seconds. Kaia Schmid (Marblehead, Mass.; New England Devo p/b Cadence Wealth Management) and McKenna McKee (Vancouver, Wash.) would take second with their time of 37.510 seconds. Rounding out the podium would be Edge Cycling’s Anja Thomas (Mertztown, Penn.) and Mia Deye (Geigertown, Penn.), punching the clock at 37.747 seconds.
For the junior men’s team sprint, it would be the team of JeanLuc Contant-Gallitello (Coconut Creek, Fla.), Ethan Swaidner (Colorado Springs, Colo.; Front Rangers Junior Cycling), and Nathaniel Stafford (Colorado Springs, Colo.; Front Rangers Junior Cycling) who would take home the gold with their time of 48.792. Edge Cycling’s men’s team sprint would set the silver standard in a time of 50.301 seconds. The team was comprised of Geneway Tang (Queens Village, N.Y.), Owen George (Schnecksville, Penn.), and Andrew Chu (Flushing, N.Y.). Bronze would go to the team from the Jerry Baker Velodrome of Karl Praitis (Woodinville, Wash.; Jerry Baker Juniors), Henry Kaeser (Redmond, Wash.), Benjamin Raknes (Sammamish, Wash.; Jerry Baker Juniors) with their time of 52.279 seconds.
Team Pursuit
Another American record would fall during the junior women’s team pursuits. The team of Megan Jastrab (Apple Valley, Calif.; Rally UHC Cycling), Zoe Ta-Perez (Orange, Calif.; LUX Cycling), Olivia Cummins (Ft. Collins, Colo.; Melton Design Build/Cari Higgins Real Estate Cycling Team), and Makayla MacPherson (Corona, Calif.; Sho-Air TWENTY20 Development) would stop the clock at 4:51.437, which is over 6 seconds faster than the national record set last year at this event. The team of Irene Benavides Perez (College Station, Texas; Northwest Cycling Club), Paula Che (Torrance, Calif.; iCademy), Chloe Patrick (Carson, Calif.; Team Velosport Junior & U23 Development - Rock n Road Cyclery), and Stella Hale (San Diego, Calif.; SDBC Powered by Spinergy p/b UC Cyclery) would earn the second step of the podium. Bronze would go to Paige Zizka (Katy, Texas; Northwest Cycling Club), Lauren Ziehnert (Tigard, Ore.), Heidi Martin (Colorado Springs, Colo.), and Kelly Dahlin (Bellevue, Wash.; Jerry Baker Juniors).
The junior men’s team pursuit title would be won by the team of Ian Oelrich (San Diego,
Calif.; Team Velosport Junior & U23 Development Rock N Road Cyclery), Brody McDonald (Escondido, Calif.; Team Velosport Junior & U23 Development Rock N Road Cyclery), Alexander Wulfgang Lochmiller (Poway, Calif.; Team Velosport Junior & U23 Development Rock N Road Cyclery), and Noah Ta-Perez (Orange, Calif.; Team Velosport Junior & U23 Development Rock N Road Cyclery) in a time of 4:33.024. Silver was taken by Grant Carter (Macungie, Penn.; Team T-Town), Christian Deschamps (Cypress, Texas; Northwest Cycling Club), Brian Luciano (Katy, Texas; Northwest Cycling Club), and Will Sharp (Katy, Texas; Hot Tubes Development Cycling). The podium was rounded out by Billy Taylor (New York, N.Y.; Star Track Racing), Nathan Roberts (Whitehall, Penn.; Young Medalists), Peter Moore (St. Paul, Minn.; Donkey Label Racing), and Sam Riess (Phoenix, Ariz.; Strada Racing Club).
Points Races
Following up on her win in the team pursuit earlier in the day, and the international omnium win the day before, Jastrab would also procure the junior 15-18 women’s points race title. “It feels great. It’s always a pleasure to win a national title, so it’s really lucky that I got the win yesterday, and then we also had a great team pursuit this morning, were we won that and set a national record. And then it’s a great way to end the day also, winning the points race.”, said Jastrab about her wins.
Jastrab’s team pursuit teammate, Ta-Perez would take silver in the points race. Elizabeth Stevenson (Rochester Hills, Calif.; American Cycling League- Detroit) would take home the bronze.
For the junior 15-18 men’s points race, Roberts would take home the Stars-and-Stripes jersey. Roberts was the only rider to take a lap during the race, ensuring his victory with two kilometers to go. MacDonald would come in second, and Eddy Huntsman (Newport Beach, Calif.; iCademy) would take third.
Keirin
The final event of the evening was the keirin for the juniors. On the women’s side, Schmid would take home her first title of the event, after podiuming in every race she had entered so far. Deye would be hot on Schmid’s wheel and take second. Schmid’s teammate from the team sprint, McKee, would take the last step of the podium.
For the junior men’s keirin race. Lochmiller would take a surprising win. Typically an
endurance event focused rider Lochmiller said, “It’s pretty extraordinary since I haven’t really been training too much for keirin. It’s not my biggest event that I do. It’s a lot of fun and I’d really like to do it in the future.” Tang and Swaidner would earn silver and bronze respectively.
13-14 Omnium
Today also marked the start of the 13-14 Omnium, with the two kilometer scratch for women and men. Katie Smock (Indianapolis, Ind.; Midwest Devo) and Grayson Hauck (Allentown, Penn.; Gotham Cyclists) would each win their respective races and take an early lead in the omnium standings.
Coming Up
Thursday’s schedule features elite team pursuits, team sprints, and scratch races and junior madisons, scratch races and the start of the 11-12 competition.
The event will be live streamed during the evening sessions beginning Thursday July 4 through Sunday July 7 on USA Cycling’s YouTube channel.
You can follow the action on USA Cycling’s @usacyclinglive Twitter account as well as the @usacycling Instagram account, and follow along with others posts by using the hashtag #TrackNats.
