Southeast racing hits the final stretch at Georgia Tech

By Curtis Grace

With three regular season races completed and three more before conference championships, racers in the SECCC came to the geographic center of the conference to compete in the Georgia Tech Cycling Classic in Newnan, Georgia, this weekend.

After two consecutive years of snow and rain, expectations for epic weather were high, and one could find no shortage of cold weather gear in the many cars and vans at the race start. But for the most part the precipitation stayed away, and the outcome of the races had more to do with the competition than braving the elements.

Team/Individual Time Trials

Georgia Tech chose to run a dual format time trial, offering bigger teams the opportunity to rack up Nationals qualification points in the team time trial, while allowing smaller teams to participate in individual time trials.

Furman again took the men’s A team time trial, rolling the 11-mile course in 23:33, a mere 9 seconds ahead of a charging Lees McRae team at 23:42. Florida, Brevard, Mars Hill, and Cumberland would round out the A standings

In the Men’s C, it was Mercer taking the win ahead of North Georgia, pulling in at 28:16.

The Lees McRae women continued their domination, winning the Women’s A race in 27:50 over Mars Hill.

Zach Nave of King College won the A individual team time trial with a time of 26:21, while Chris Riggins of Clemson took an impressive win in the B time trial in 27:36.

William Bostick of College of Charleston added another C victory to his 2010 resume, winning the C ITT in 28:29.

Stephanie Rynas of University of Tennessee-Chattanooga took the Women’s B time trial in a time of 33:33 over Jacquie Spoon of Clemson.

Saturday Road Race

Temperatures rose a bit in time for the road races, held in the afternoon after the time trials. The first wave of races featured the Men’s A and B fields taking to the 8-mile hilly circuit.

The men’s A race opened with several fast attacks, ultimately resulting in a ten-man breakaway getting up the road, while the field seemed content to let it roll. Among the elite riders to make the break was Furman’s Chris Butler, who has been dominant so far this year. With two laps to go the break of 8 had been split, with Butler, Shaun Gravois (Florida), Ryan Sullivan (Cumberland) and Bradford Perley (Lees McRae) leaving the rest of the break to finish in pieces. On the final lap, Butler would attack the break in the closing miles, with only Gravois within sight. Butler would take an easy win on the day, with Gravois only a dozen seconds back. Sullivan would outsprint Perley for fourth, and Zach Felpel (Lees McRae) rolled in a few seconds later.

The Men’s B race saw little in terms of breakaways, with the 19-man field a bit too small for team tactics to have much effect. Georgia State would dominate the sprint, with Stephen Lockwood and Chris Orosco taking first and second place.

The Men’s C race started innocently, and featured the most bizarre weather of all the races. The front four miles of the loop were dry and sunny, while the back of the course went through a downpour. On the second lap, strong attacks by North Georgia and College of Charleston would lead to big breaks in the field, leaving a lot of riders hanging off the back. With each lap, the front field shrank, until the final sprint saw Brian Arne of College of Charleston taking the win, adding yet another Men’s C win for Charleston.

The Women’s A and B fields started together, with the B’s set to finish two laps before the A’s. A very strong Lees McRae A team ended up splitting the field up anyway, with most of the B Women finishing in small groups, and Stephanie Rynas taking another win on the weekend for Tennessee-Chattanooga. The A race turned into a Lees McRae Team Time Trial practice, with Erica Zaveta, Cinthia Lehner, Kristen Markham, Rachel Warner, and Carla Swart dominating the top six results.

Sunday Road Races

Temperatures dropped overnight in Newnan, but the rain stayed away, making this Georgia Tech race the first without precipitation in two years. The fields would contest the day on the same course as Saturday’s Time Trial, featuring almost six hundred feet of climbing per lap, every foot in rolling hills.

The Men’s A race saw an early break by Florida’s Kyle McElhaney, facilitated by riders soft pedaling on the front, willing to wait for the big break to go off. The big break was a certainty on the rolling course, and the general opinion was that if Lees McRae and Furman were not in that break, it would not survive. It was not long before Zach Nave (King) and Ben Grier (Clemson) would attack the field to bridge up to McElhaney, a move soon followed by Alejandro Padilla (Cumberland), Andy Baker (Furman), and the required handful of Lees McRae riders. Notably absent from the break was Chris Butler, who was tactfully being the good teammate and covering moves in the main field.

Also absent from the break, initially, was Mars Hill, a fact not lost on the varsity team as they made many attempts to launch a rider into the break. They would eventually succeed, and the field eased up for a bit once the right number of riders was up the road. This truce would prove short-lived, as the members of the break began to attack one another, seeing Padilla and Baker facing off against Zach Felpel and Nathan Larson (Lees McRae) at the front of the race. The rest of the break began to shatter, and in the field, Chris Butler (Furman) launched his own bid at a top finish. Despite erasing a two-minute deficit on the final lap, Butler was unable to reach the front group, where teammate Andy Baker took second to Lees McRae’s Felpel. Larson would take third and Cumberland’s Padilla fourth. Kerry Werner of Lees McRae would finish fifth and Butler barely edged Florida’s Kyle Rohan for sixth.

In the B Race a gutsy move by Stephen Lewis of Lees McRae on the second lap of the 55-mile race would last to the finish as he took the win several minutes ahead of the B field. Austin Hilliard of Clemson would take the field sprint and second for the day.

College of Charleston found itself shut out of the top spot in the Men’s C race for the first time in two weeks as Eric Cash (South Carolina) took the field sprint in an otherwise procedural C race. While many C riders found themselves unprepared for the steep rollers of West Georgia, the C field remained largely intact throughout its race, leading to the most impressive field sprint of the day.

The Women’s A and B fields were again run together, and in a seeming case of déjà vu, Rynas of Tennesee-Chattanooga again won the B race, and the Lees McRae train again dominated the A race. Cinthia Lehner would take the win over her teammates, who would occupy the next three spots.

Curtis Grace is a Communications Major at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he is also the President of the UAH Cycling Team. Curtis races Category 3 and Collegiate A on the road.

FILED UNDER: Collegiate / Race Report TAGS: georgia tech