Skip to content

Eight titles awarded on penultimate day of Amateur Road Nationals

  • Ron 

Eight more national titles were awarded on Saturday as the Amateur Road National Championships presented by Papa John’s continued with the U23 women’s and junior road races in Cherokee Park.

Allison Arensman (Rutherford College, NC/Twenty16 Pro Cycling) won the first national title of the day by dominating the 100-kilometer U23 women’s race on Saturday morning.

After three of the 13 laps, the 22-year-old was part of a break but then went out on her own with nine laps to go. She continued to grow her gap and ultimately crossed the finish line solo in three hours and 20 seconds, ahead of silver and bronze medalists Clio Dinan (Falls Church, Va./Velo Classic Cycling) and Sara Youmans (Ketchum, Idaho/Monster Media Elite Women).

The road racing portion of nationals wrapped up with the seven remaining junior categories.

Gage Hecht (Parker, Colo./Hot Tubes Development Cycling) won the junior men’s 17-18 race after a dramatic 115 kilometers that saw a lead group create a substantial gap which was closed by hard charging chasers in the final laps. There were 100 starters in the field and Hecht crossed the finish line with only five seconds to spare ahead of silver and bronze medalists Brandon McNulty(Phoenix, Ariz./LUX/Stradline p/b Specialized) and Kevin Goguen (Hopedale, Mass./Race CF).

Skyler Schneider (West Allis, Wis./ISCorp Cycling p/b SmartChoice) was the first rider to cross the finish line in the 84-kilometer junior women’s 17-18 race. She won in 2:35:36 ahead of Alijah Beatty (Washington, Iowa/Northstar Development Cycling) and Megan Heath (Alpharetta, Ga./Frazier Cycling).

After 54 kilometers of racing, it was a bunch sprint for the finish of the junior women’s 15-16 contest. Megan Doherty (Bellevue, Wash./SCCA/Starbucks Cycling) outsprinted her competitors at the line for the win while Isabella Brookshire (Hendersonville, NC/TWENTY16 Ridebiker Development) and Jane Tullis (Rome, Ga./Frazier Cycling Juniors) took second and third, respectively.

More than 75 riders lined up for the junior men’s 13-14 competition. Over the 30 kilometers, the group remained largely intact and a bunch sprint ensued at the finish. In the end, it was Eli Husted(Austin, Texas/ROL Wheels) to have the most strength at the line. He powered across the line for the gold medal ahead of Luke Lamperti (Sebastopol, Calif./Team Swift) and William Goodson(Nashville, Tenn./Frazier Cycling Juniors).

The junior men’s 11-12 contest was another that featured drama at the finish line as Artem Schmidt (Cumming, Ga.) came out victorious by going head-to-head with his nearest threats,Adrian Magun (Mercer Island, Wash,/Cycle U/Apex Racing) and Viggo Moore (Herriman, Utah/Velosport Racing) who grabbed silver and bronze.

In a time of 55:11, the junior women’s 13-14 race concluded after 30 kilometers with Megan Jastrab (Apple Valley, Calif./Swami’s Junior Development Team) winning a bunch sprint for the national title ahead of Makayla MacPherson (Coronoa, Calif./South Bay Wheelmen) and Zoe Ta-Perez (Westminster, Calif./Major Motion Racing).

In the 23-kilometer junior women’s 11-12 event, Marie Grassi (Columbus, Ohio/ProChain Junior Development) crossed the line victorious two seconds ahead of silver medalist Keren Bennett (Lenoir/Evolution Junior Devo Team). Katherine Sarkisov (North Potomac, Md./Rock Creek Velo) collected the bronze medal.

Road Nationals will conclude on Sunday with the criteriums for all age groups in Shawnee Park. For a complete schedule, results, course maps and more, please visit the event web page. Follow the action on Twitter using #RoadNats.

Tags:
Bike World News