Bobcats’ cycling team

wins national title
From staff reports

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Lees-McRae’s lone Division I team captured a national championship.

The Bobcats, who are Division II in the NCAA, captured the USA Cycling Division I omnium championship, overtaking Fort Lewis (Colo.) 473-424.

Pacing the Bobcats were Andrew Talansky and Carla Swart, who both captured Division I individual omnium championships.

Talansky finished with a overall individual championship 244 points, while Swart won the women’s overall championship with 281.

Swart and Talansky both won individual victories in the road races held Saturday in downtown Fort Collins, which is close to host school Colorado State. Their victories left the Bobcats just 10 point behind Fort Lewis, another Division II institution, which was granted Division I status, and University of California at Davis.

The Bobcats went into the final event, held Sunday, looking to make up points by marking Fort Lewis and Cal-Davis riders, and also by winning mid-race point primes.

The Bobcats made the strategy work. Kacey Manderfield, the 2007-08 college cyclocross champion, was third in the field sprint, while Swart was fourth.

The two helped put Lees-McRae in the omnium lead. The men’s team made that lead hold up, despite challenges from Fort Lewis challengers Joey Thompson and Ben Sonntag.

Colorado State finished third overall with 362 points. Cal-Davis was fourth with 342 and Stanford finished fifth with 290.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology won the Division II with 394. Dartmouth was second and Western Washington was third.