- Greenville, South Carolina -
Final ResultsPhotos Album 1Photos Album 2Going into the SECCC’s Furman race weekend, Mercer Cycling hovered at fifth of the 16 teams in the Division II SECCC Conference standings despite only racing 3 of the 5 events this spring. Hoping to have a strong showing in their final SECCC team event of the spring, Mercer Cycling answered with another team time trial victory, three Top-10s in the men’s ‘C’ road race (including one in the women’s A race), and a Top-3 finish during the rain-soaked Criterium. Traveling to Pelzer, South Carolina, about 30 minutes south of Greenville, the team time trial was a held on a surprisingly tough 15.5 mile course that exposed teams to plenty of elevation, head-winds, and chilly weather for a Saturday morning.
Mercer’s first entry (Jason Glow, Andrew Lockwood, and Kevin Roberts) posted the fast time in the ‘C’ team time trial at 41:53, only 21 seconds ahead of 2nd place King College. Mercer’s second entry (Gabe Denes, Paul Rush, A.J. Sholly) came in minutes later at 46:26 to finish in 4th. Saturday afternoon’s road race event was the longest for the ‘C’ riders thus far in the season, stretching to nearly 44 miles as the peloton completed three laps on a course that provided more than 3,000+ feet of climbing during the 2 hour race. With a field of 53, odds were that no attack at the front would survive for very long (as no attack during the course of the race had survived for more than 5 minutes at the previous three road races).
However, the dynamics of the race changed when eventual winner Brooks Bostick (College of Charleston) would blow up the field only 10 miles into the race, holding off the peloton for another 7-8 miles before being caught on the hill section of the course. Soon after, Mercer rider Kevin Roberts followed the lead of Brian Arne (CoC) in another attack that lasted the longest (nearly 14 miles) during the midsection of the race. Several teams worked up front to help the peloton reel in the attack groups. South Carolina, Georgia, Florida State, Clemson, King College, and ETSU all did work to stay in the front 1/3 of the field. With two miles to go, the Mercer team started to work as a team up front but a costly official ruling sent team member Andrew Lockwood to the back of the peloton with only minutes to go (Lockwood passed a rider on the yellow line instead of squeezing into the peloton when the field slowed).
Nevertheless, the Bears worked up to the top-10 for the final sprint. Lockwood would lead out Gabe Denes and Kevin Roberts to outstanding finishes at 4th and 6th respectively while he’d finish tenth. Jason Glow had a quiet, but consistent day in the peloton and stayed out of trouble to capture 20th while A.J. Sholly and Paul Rush dropped out of the race after the 2nd lap after falling off the back of the lead group.
“It was a long-grueling, painful end to the race. It was quite a challenge for me with all the hills but our team was certainly outstanding today,” said Denes after his best collegiate finish this season. Not known as a climber, Denes did the work he had to in order to position himself in the peloton for the final sprint. It was certainly a testament to the hard work the freshman has put into his training this spring.
In the women’s ‘A’ field, Elizabeth Lee repeated another strong showing, perhaps her best collegiate performance yet, with a 4th place finish.
The
Criterium held on Sunday morning on Furman’s campus was perhaps the most technical race of the season as it featured seven turns on a rain-soaked 0.8 mile course. Part of the course was composed of a 270 degree loop of cobblestones while several 90 degree turns came into play. The field of approximately 50 started out fast and furious again, so much so, that sophomore Kevin Roberts was unable to work his way up front after a late clip-in at the start line.
Gobbling up attacks that went off the front, Andrew Lockwood rode a safe race, staying within the pack until the last few laps in order to position himself near the end. In eighth place with one lap to go, Lockwood passed all seven riders in front of him on the wet cobblestones to lead the pack out of the final turn. A Lees-McRae rider attacked to the right out of the final turn but had both wheels slip out from underneath him en route to his second wreck of the day (he wrecked midway through the event over his handlebars after his tire popped, cracking his helmet).
CoC’s Brooks Bostick found himself in the victory circle again with another Criterium win holding off South Carolina’s Eric Cash at the line. Lockwood would finish third after nudging out Furman’s Michael Bingham by only two inches. Despite the tough luck at the start, Kevin Roberts would record an 11th place finish while Jason Glow and A.J. Sholly barely missed the cut-line at 23rd and 26th respectively. In total, there were 6-7 wrecks during the 37 minute, 14 mile affair as the precipitation came in spurts.
“That was quite a race,” said Lockwood following Sunday morning’s event. “My bike felt extremely loose in the turns with the slick pavement and I was just fortunate not to get caught up in a wreck today as two happened right in front of me and one behind me. I was extremely proud of our team’s efforts all weekend long.”
Elizabeth Lee would endure constant rain in her 30 minutes + 3 lap event to finish 6th in a talented women’s ‘A’ field.
“This was probably the most fun and relaxing weekend of racing we’ve had,” said Roberts. “This weekend showed how strong our team really is and we worked together to use our strengths to post top results in the team time trial, road race and Criterium.”
A special thanks goes to Jason [Mercer Alum 1995] and Amy Daly of Greenville, South Carolina for providing lodging and delicious meals all weekend long.
Kevin Roberts and Gabe Denes interview post-race [Road Race]
