Case Cycling traveled to Columbia, Ky., for the Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference 2015 road season opener. Case Cycling sent a record 13 riders along with Coach Ryan Pierce to the full race weekend, which consisted of a team time trial and criterium on Saturday and a road race on Sunday,
Starting things off with the team time trial in the morning, the original course was shortened from 16 kilometers to 8. First off the line was the Men’s D team, with Dan Muskin-Pierret (junior), Conrad McGarry (junior) and Nick Merchant-Wells (sophomore). Clocking in at 14:27, they earned second place. Next up was the Men’s C team of Henry Bermet (junior), Jasper Stallings (first-year) and David Scannapieco (first-year). They crossed the line in 14:53, taking third place. Rolling out next was the Men’s B team of Evan Guarr (junior), Matt Swartwout (junior), Sam Gaylin (junior) and Adam Johnston (sophomore). Flying across the line in 13:03, they set the team’s best time of the day and claimed third place. Last up was the Women’s A team of Daniela Mehech (medical student), Mallory Miller (graduate student) and Jessica Lalonde (first-year). They took fifth place with a time of 18:00.
The afternoon criterium took place in downtown Greensburg, Ky. Lining up first was the Men’s D field, racing for 30 minutes with 51 riders including Stallings, McGarry, Scannapieco and Merchant-Wells. All except Stallings were racing their first mass-start cycling event ever; Stallings earned eighth place in the final sprint. McGarry took 23rd, Muskin-Pierret 39th, and Scannapieco and Merchant-Wells took 41st and 42nd, respectively. Johnston, Gaylin and Bermet toed the line in the Men’s C field, but a malfunctioning finish line camera failed to record the finish order.
Next were the Men’s B, with Swartwout finishing 23rd and Guarr 27th. In the combined Women’s B/C field Miller and Lalonde both rode in their first mass-start event. Miller had the team’s best individual result of the day, sprinting to sixth place. Finally, in the Women’s A field, Mehech finished 10th.
Sunday was the classic Lindsey Wilson Road Race Course, a 25-mile lap with four major climbs.
The Men’s D did just one lap, with Stallings taking fifth in the sprint. McGarry came in 30th, Merchant-Wells 40th, and Muskin-Pierret and Scannapieco 44th and 45th, respectively.
The Men’s C race, for the first time ever, was two laps, as was the case in the Men’s B and Women’s A. Johnston finished 15th and Bermet 20th. Gaylin placed 30th, and 15 riders did not finish the race. In the Men’s B, Guarr and Swartwout took 22nd and 23rd. In the Women’s B/C Miller took 5th in the finale, with Lalonde breaking into the top 15 at 14th. Lastly, in the Women’s A, Mehech took 9th on the day.
The weekend was a strong start to the season for Case Cycling. After taking second place in Division II last year, they come in hoping to maintain their place this year and close down the gap to year-after-year DII champion Notre Dame. In the conference team standings, Case Cycling is fifth overall and second in Division II, trailing Notre Dame by 52 points and leading DePaul University by 104 points. In the individual standings, Mehech is sixth overall and first in Division II.
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