UCLA cycling leads conference after season’s first
race
The Bruin cycling team is in first place in the Western
Collegiate Cycling Conference after an impressive showing at last
weekend’s races at UCSD, the first race weekend of the 2001
season.
Saturday’s road race was dominated by UCLA riders in every
category. In the men’s Category A race (67 miles), Bruin
cyclists dominated the podium, with senior Elijah Pfister placing
first, Alex Smith second, and senior Steve Flynn third. Brian
Tasker placed tenth after riding one 22-mile lap solo ahead of the
crowd. Peter Brown finished 12th.
Pfister is the 2000 WCCC Conference Road Racing Champion. Flynn,
a professional-class mountain-bike racer, won both Road and
Mountain championships in the WCCC.
Two Bruins finished in the top 10 in the Category B men’s
race (44 miles). Daniel Rojas placed fourth in the field sprint,
with second-year Feliciano Aguilar on his wheel to take fifth.
First-year Pat Schmidt was sidelined by a wheel failure after only
10 miles.
The men’s Category C race (22 miles) was won by third-year
music student Nick McBride, who was competing in his first road
race. Second-year law student Patrick Sutton finished eighth after
leading McBride for two miles up the final climb. First-year John
Kurylo and senior Lenard Cuevas finished with the rest of the
pack.
In Women’s Category A (44 miles), animation graduate
student Erika Schwarz finished more than 10 minutes ahead of her
next-closest competitor.
The Women’s Category B team finished strong. Leah Hoyer,
an animation graduate student, took fourth; art history graduate
student Elisa Mandell took fifth; and microbiology graduate student
Melanie Hamon took sixth. Mandell and Hamon were competing in their
first road race.
Bruin cyclists also showed a strong presence in Sunday’s
criterium race in downtown El Cajon. Racers competed on a closed,
0.6-mile course. At predetermined times during the race, an
intermediate sprint was held, with points awarded to the leader of
the next lap.
In the Men’s A race, Peter Brown placed eighth, Brian
Tasker ninth, Steve Flynn 17th, Alex Smith 19th, and Pfister
21st.
In Men’s B, Schmidt finished tenth, Rojas 14th, and
Aguilar 16th.
McBride took second place in the Men’s C race. McBride was
followed by Sutton in fourth, Cuevas in eighth, and Kurylo in
12th.
In the Women’s A race, Schwarz again dominated the field.
This was her second consecutive win after upgrading from
Women’s B at the beginning of the season.
In Women’s B, Hamon won the field sprint for second place,
Hoyer took fourth, and Mandell placed fifth.
Club presidents can send information to sports@media.ucla.edu.