Mountain bike Regionals

The UA shoe-stringed together a race weekend in the face of a government shutdown. The weekend featured a cross country as well as the conference's only short track and team relay events.

Saturday:
The cross country race started off with cool temperatures and calm wind. However, as racers were on course the wind picked up and knocked down several course markings. Sadly a few riders were lead astray after the second check point, making it back to the finish area a little later than expected. The race was called at the second check point for the Men's A because of these issues. David Carlson (UA) extended his winning streak and took over the teal leader's jersey from Alex Winkler (NAU) who finished third. Douglas Torres (UNM) finished 2nd. The women's A was a tie between Amy Chandos and Lindsey Dye (both NAU), with Amy just edging out Lindsey. The Men's B and C categories were dominated by NAU with Scott Marshall and Nathan Franklin winning their categories respectively.

Sunday:
A little further down the trail the UA club had marked a challenging 1 mile STXC race (which would also be used for the relay loop). The Men's A went first and after a flurry of attacks a lead group of 2: David Carlson and Douglas Torres established themselves out front. By the 3rd lap of 6, Douglas and pulled away slightly from Carlson. Over the laps Torres grew his lead to over a minute by the finish. Behind Carlson, Quinn Keogh (UA) was working to bridge up to his teammate, while further back Andrew Keller (UA) was regretting his early attacks and attempted to hold off Winkler (NAU). In the end, Torres won the day, followed by Carlson, Keogh, Winkler, and Keller.

In the Women's A/B race, Amy Chandos was given a big gap over her teammate as Dye experience a small mechanical. However, Dye was able to rejoin her teammate and once again celebrate hand in hand for another podium sweep. Liz Schmitt (UA) was the sole Women's B rider.

The Men's B/C field has 2 Men's B and 1 C rider, both events were won by NAU with Braden Flannery taking the win in the B's and Chris Leffler in the C's.

The team relay took place on the same course with each rider completing one lap. NAU consisted of Alex, Amy, Lindsey, and Braden and UA had David, Quinn, Liz, and Florian. After the first lap, with Florian and Amy, the race was neck and neck. However, David gave UA a massive lead going into the 3rd lap. Liz took over for UA and 40 seconds later Lindsey was on the course for NAU. Lindsey put the hammer down and gave Alex a large gap to work with for the final lap. UA's Quinn Keogh had his work cut out for him and came in 30 seconds behind Alex.

At the end of the day, NAU extended their lead in the Team competition over UA by 1,300 points. However, David Carlson overtook Alex for the men's A individual competition. One race remains in the season: NAU Super D. Will Alex retake his lead? Can David defend it with a race not suited for him? Or will Douglas Torres, the dark horse in 3rd, claim a surprise upset? We'll know after next Saturday!