GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — In its first year as a varsity cycling team, Piedmont College sent four athletes to contest the Collegiate Road National Championships in Grand Junction, Colorado making noise once again on the national scene with Erica Allar coming home with two National Championships for Piedmont College.
For Allar, the pair of National Championships brings her individual count since joining Piedmont to seven such titles while they are the 8th and 9th national titles won overall by the 1st year cycling program from Demorest, Georgia.
Conley Wilhelm, Dylan Cantrell and Andrew Guelzo kicked off the racing action with the men's team time trial as the trio took the line to race the 20 mile out and back course finishing the day in 10th.
30 minutes South of Grand Junction, the team traveled to White Water, Colo., where a 17 mile road race loop would prove challenging with two significant climbs.
Coupled with the strong winds and cold weather, Erica Allar began the day with the collegiate varsity women's 50 mile road race as the weather conditions and climbs reduced the field to a group of 8.
The 18mph winds proved difficult for any break away attempts. Marian University had three riders, the most of any college varsity team in the break away, but that did not stop Allar. The main field would cross the line together with Allar winning the sprint and earning Piedmont College its first ever Collegiate Road National Championship title.
Later in the afternoon, Cantrell and Guelzo lined up with the varsity men's field to tackle four laps of the 17-mile road course. The wind and chilly conditions did not let up and after 2 laps, the mens' field would dwindle into small selective groups of riders.
On the last lap a small group broke away. Despite missing it, and being undermanned with only two riders, Cantrell sacrificed his race helped Guelzo finish 18th on the day.
Downtown Grand Junction was the host for Sunday's criterium races. The flat, 0.8 mile and 6 turn course showcased criterium racing for the city with women's varsity beginning at 12:15pm. A stark contrast to Saturday's road race, weather for the criterium was sunny, calm winds and mid 60's.
Piedmont's Allar was the only racer lined for the Lady Lions. Despite being outnumbered, she was able to cover key attacks and keep potential break away efforts to a minimum. The races high average speed of 24 mph made it difficult for any of the attacks to go clear.
Several points sprints during the race helped dwindle the field down. CMU, the host school did their best to keep the race fast and safe in the closing laps, but Allar was able to hold of 2nd place Ariane Horbach for the win.
Guelzo and Cantrell toed the line shortly after Allar won the schools 2nd collegiate title to compete against much of the same field the day prior. There were several crashes in the beginning of the race, with Guelzo dodging and getting caught behind.
He spent a majority of the race clawing his way back toward the front of the field while Dylan maintained position in the top 15 riders.
Having only 2 riders against full squads of 6-8, the Lions had to play their cards right. Several break away attempts were made but nothing stuck until the final lap when a Lindenwood rider jumped overtop the Marian University lead out train.
Lindenwood gained about 2 bike lengths and held on to win the criterium. Cantrell crossed the line in 9th, a very strong results for Piedmont College's first road nationals. The mens' crit averaged 27.8 mph.
After two victories, Allar secured the overall omnium victory and Piedmont College finished 2nd in the teams classification.
