WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The Missionary women's contingent was as dominating as ever, but the Whitman College cycling team fell just a little short of a third consecutive National College Cycling Association (NCCA) Division II championship last weekend in Lawrence, Kan.
Western Washington University finished the three-day Collegiate Road National Championships in the Division II top spot with a total of 478 points in the combined women's and men's scoring. Dartmouth College overtook Whitman on the final day of competition, placing second with 448 points. Whitman, which trailed Western Washington by just 25 after the first two days of riding, settled for third place with 405 points.
The Whitman women's team got off to a strong start in last Friday's team time trial. With temperatures in the 80s and high humidity creating muggy conditions along the 12-mile course, senior Rebecca Jensen (Mukilteo, Wash.), junior Mara Abbott (Boulder, Colo.), sophomore Mia Huth (Turlock, Calif.) and first-year rider Kendi Thomas (Greencastle, Ind.) posted a winning time of 28:14.8. Western Washington was about 65 seconds back in second place with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) taking third.
The Whitman women have now won four consecutive team time trial national championships. Both Jensen and Abbott were part of the last three titles.
"It was fun out there," Abbott said after Friday's race. "I haven't been able to do as many collegiate races this year, so to be able to come back and be with the girls is just awesome." Abbott spent part of her spring season making a successful debut with the Webcor Builders Women's Professional Cycling Team. She made her mark at two high-level National Racing Calendar events, winning the Tour of Gila and placing second overall at the Redlands Bicycle Classic.
In Friday's team time trial for the men, a young Whitman squad finished ninth in 25:00.4, seven seconds out of fifth place. The Missionary riders -- junior Jamie Wendell (Orinda, Calif.), sophomore Nick Littman (Novato, Calif.), and freshmen Duncan McGovern (Peterborough, N.H.) and Ian Delaney (Flagstaff, Ariz.) -- competed at a disadvantage in that they lacked the team trial equipment (disc wheels) used by other teams. The Western Washington men took first in 23:46.0, beating runner-up Princeton by nearly 14 seconds.
On Saturday, Abbott outclassed the field in the women's 56-mile road race, winning that event for a third consecutive year. Her winning time of 2:57.15 was 33 seconds better than Megan Guarnier of Middlebury College. Whitman's Thomas finished a strong ninth in 2:59.08 while Devon Spika (Ontario, Canada), another of Whitman's first-year riders, was 14th in 2:59.12. Jensen, who placed 14th in the event a year ago and was gunning for a top 10 finish, fell victim to a flat tire.
The men's road race, which totaled 86 miles or three laps around a 28-mile course, was marred by a bit of controversy. A portion of the original course was underwater due to recent flooding, forcing race organizers to use a section of gravel road that proved disastrous for many riders. With numerous competitors falling victim to flat tires and crashes in the gravel, less than half of the 115 riders finished.
"It was unfortunate that so much of that race was decided as much by fate as by talent," Whitman assistant coach Malcolm Dunn said. "But there wasn't anything else the organizers could do. Part of the original course was still under one to two feet of water."
Whitman's McGovern, one of the fortunate few to survive the gravel graveyard, placed third in a three-man sprint to the finish. Dartmouth's Toby Marzot was the winner, nipping both runner-up Todd Nordblom of Colorado College and McGovern. "That is the highest finish ever in the men's road race for Whitman," Dunn said.
Whitman's other entries in the men's road race -- Littman, Delaney and junior Chris Thomas (Portland, Ore.) -- were among the riders unable to finish the race because of crashes and/or bike problems.
In Sunday's concluding event, the criterium, the Missionary foursome of Jensen, Abbott, Huth and Thomas dominated the women's race, which ran for 55 minutes plus a final three laps on a one-mile, figure-eight course on the narrow, tree-lined streets of downtown Lawrence. In the final sprint to the finish line, Jennifer Bodine of George Washington University won with a time of 1:03.29.7, edging Thomas into second place and Abbott into third. Huth and Jensen, who set the early pace for Whitman, placed 21st and 30th, respectively.
The final placings fail to tell the whole story, Dunn said. "Mara only needed to finish among the top riders to win the women's all-around championship, but she didn't need to win the criterium," he said. "Our goal as a team was for Mara to score enough points for the all-around, which she did, and to set up Kendi, our best sprinter, to win the criterium."
"Mia and Rebecca did a great job of attacking early in the race and setting the pace, allowing Mara and Kendi to draft and save some energy," Dunn added. "Rebecca had a couple of solo breaks and had an 11-second lead at one point in the race. Everything worked well until the final turn on the final lap, when the rider from George Washington got the edge."
Abbott, who won last year's criterium, finished this year's championships with a total of 274 points in the criterium and road race. That gave her the all-around individual title by 48 points over her closest competitor. It was Abbott's second consecutive individual crown.
In her first trip to nationals, Thomas finished fifth in the individual standings with 196 points. Spika placed 19th overall with 84 points.
The Whitman men's team, still battered and bruised in mind and bike from crashes in the previous day's road race, struggled in Sunday's criterium. Duncan crashed on the last lap and failed to finish, and Littman dropped from the race with his bike malfunctioning. Wendell managed to finish in the 53rd spot, and Thomas bounced back from a crash to place 57th.
Based on his strong showing in the road race, McGovern finished sixth in the final men’s individual scoring with 148 points.
The NCCA divides its national championships into two divisions by size of school enrollment. As a member of Division II, Whitman competed against all schools with enrollments of less than 15,000. Whitman has about 1,450 students.
Stanford University won this year's NCCA Div. I championship.
For a look back at the 2006 NCCA National Championships, please click here.
And click here for a news release on the 2005 national championships.