App State Home Mountain Race - Day 2

Sunday morning saw another day of action at Dark Mountain, hosted by the Appalachian State Cycling Team. Short track kicked off the day with a short loop from the start of the XC course run in reverse. A steep jeep trail climb followed by heinous uphill switchbacks created separation among riders who tried to keep any lead gained through the fast, flowing downhill back to the start. In Men's C action, Zach Parker created an early lead that only grew bigger over the 20 minute race. By the end he was a few minutes ahead of his closest rival and took home a big win to counter his mechanical in the prior day's XC race. Kyle Dubois was looking good on the course, too, but the tight and fast downhill on the back side of the course got the better of him, and he had to abandon after a close encounter with a large pine tree. In Men's B, Noah Niwinski was the big story, using his well honed handling skills from cyclocross to weave through the course, winning with little effort. Dan Wendover came up big again, taking fourth. They both upgraded to As after the Men's B short track and raced the A race as well, where Noah was able to bring in a respectable seventh, even after having just raced the B race. Alex Ryan again shot off the starting line and again made it into the woods first, just like the day before. After trading pulls with Matt Rotroff of NC State, Alex came up the strongest and brought home first place. Ryan Fawley, resident XXC guru, showed he wasn't afraid of a little intensity, taking fourth place in the 25 minute effort, with Michael Koballa and Alex Hannah bringing in fifth and sixth just behind.

On the gravity side of things, Appalachian again hosted a downhill event utilizing part of the XC course along with a few sections specific to the downhill course. In Men's C, newcomer Robert Sztukowski put in the fastest time of the field at 1:45.02. Thatcher Hurt exchanged his cross country bike for something a little beefier, taking fouth in his first gravity event with a respectable time of 1:46.09. In Men's A, domination was once again the name of the game. Craig Folsom upgraded to Men's A overnight after his win in Dual Slalom and took seventh place in the field. Daniel Sapp had a good starting run and was looking fast through the rock garden before a flat tire slowed him down, but not enough to keep him from getting sixth place. Of course, the last three riders to go off - Mike Thomas, Steven Trottier, and Andrew Mueller - ended up the fastest of the day. The three finished one, two, three on Saturday in Dual Slalom, and sure enough repeated the feat and in the same order. Mike Thomas set the fastest time at 1:25.64 with Steven Trottier barely edging out Andrew Mueller with times of 1:29.64 and 1:30.93, respectively.

Overall, Appalachian was by far the best team of the weekend, scoring the most points and winning just about every event we entered. As such we're solidly in the lead for conference, a position we plan to hold all the way until Nationals. Check back next weekend for more stories of glory from the Appalachian State Cycling Team!