The USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships kicked off on Friday as coeds from around the nation gathered at the Northstar at Tahoe Resort to begin their quests for the 22 national titles up for grabs over the weekend.
The first day of racing saw the student-athletes battle it out for individual titles in the cross country competitions.
In the Division I men’s contest, Rotem Ishay (Fort Lewis College) successfully defended his title from a year ago. Although the Israeli National led the race in its entirety, he consistently found himself fighting off attacks from Lees-Mcrae rider Brad Perley, California Polytech rider Menso Dejong, and Colorado State’s Nicholas Enjalbert. The men went for four laps of the 6.5-mile course for a total of 26 miles. Ishay completed the test in two hours and nine minutes, four minutes and 45 seconds ahead of Enjalbert who claimed the silver medal. DeJong crossed the line in third while Perley and Jack Hinkens (Fort Lewis College) were fourth and fifth … Details