Kirth and Phillip Take 10-12 Road Race at Jun

WASHINGTON, Texas (July 5, 2003) – Njisane Phillip (Miami, Fla.) and Jacqueline Kirth (Palm City, Fla.) rode to victory in the men’s and women’s 10-12 category respectively Saturday morning at the 2003 USCF Junior Road National Championships in southeastern Texas. The 10-12 category is the youngest group of riders to contest for national championship jerseys. Held in the rural area known as Washington County, the younger riders also had a chance to ride the rolling hills of Texas.

Kicking off the third day of junior competition, the 13-14 women were the first of seven races to be contested Saturday. Under cloudy skies, riders were treated to slightly cooler temperatures than the first two days of competition.

Keely Shannon (Des Moines, IA), 13, won her first national championship jersey with a strong sprint to the line to edge out Colleen Hayduk (Kutztown, Pa.) to clinch the victory in 33:46. Shannon has been riding only a year and a half but still liked her chances going into the final sprint.

“When we drove the course the other day I thought it didn’t look too hard, but when you are out there riding it, it is a lot harder, said Shannon. “It helped that I have been riding the Tuesday night rides in Des Moines - it makes me faster because I ride with older and faster riders.”

Hayduk finished with the same time to clinch second-place with Samantha Schneider (West Allis, WI) securing third in the women’s 13-14 category.

Njisane Phillip pulled away in the final 200 meters to win the men’s 10-12 race in a time of 36:36. Njisane was second in yesterday’s time trial and still had enough left to pull off the win Saturday.

“The race was hard,”said Phillip. “ I put a lot of effort into the sprint. I thought they were going to chase me at the end but I kept at it and was able to win.” Phillip has been riding for three years and is looking forward to his favorite race, the criterium on Sunday. “I like to ride the city blocks and go fast,” added Phillip.

Mitchell Witmer (Lancaster, Pa.) and Connor Simmons (Superior, Colo.) finished second and third respectively in the men’s 10-12 category.

The junior women’s 10-12 category saw Jacqueline Kurth of Palm City, Florida take the sprint over second-place finisher Mandy Marquardt (Plantation, FL). The duo broke away from the pack to finish the 19 km race in 36:08.4. Colleen Gulick (Spring City, Fla.) finished 1:20.9 back to clinch third-place.

Kurth, in her third year of racing, said she had been eager to win today after placing second in the time trial on Friday. “With the rolling hills I was trying to keep away from the pack,” commented Kurth. “I was strategizing the entire race - then, at the end, I went as hard as I could and didn’t worry about falling over.”

The men’s 13-14 field featured 67 riders with eyes on a national championship medal. Staying together for the entire 39 km, the field would see a large field sprint for the top spots. Ricky Cruz (San Ysidro, Calif.) charged to the front to claim another medal for the weekend of racing. Cruz, who has been riding since he was six, was the 2001 10-12 champion in all three events, and claimed second in yesterday’s time trial.

“The course was fun with pretty easy hills,” noted Cruz. “ With 500 meters to go I set myself up in the group and with 200 to go I felt really good.”

Alexander Schneider (Tulsa, OK) finished right on the heels of Cruz to claim second-place in 1:04.22. Alejandro Garcia (Whittier, CA) finished in third-place with the same time.

Shannon Koch (Flower Mound, Texas) captured a gold medal in the women’s 15-16 road race to go with her silver medal in the time trial yesterday. Koch, 16, said she wanted to “redeem herself” and win a national title. The Texas resident finished the 39 km course in 1:23.16.

“It’s our state road course, so I know it well,” added Koch. “I tried several times to get off the front, but I kept getting caught. Everybody went with 1 km to go and I just waited and it worked.”

Natalie Klemko (Bristol, WI) finished second with Kimberly Geist (Emmaus, Pa.) capturing third-place.

The men’s 15-16 race started just before noon and the peloton stayed relatively calm and tight through the second lap of the three-lap 58 km race. Again, a large field sprint would set up in the final 500 meters. Chris Stockbuger (Ft.Collins, Colo.) found daylight in the final 200 meters and added another medal to his collection for the weekend of racing, finishing in 1:28.30.

“Tejay (VanGarderen) and I were trying to get away coming into the last lap, but it never stuck. We worked really hard out there,” noted Stockburger. “In the end, I just put my head down and rode for the line. Tejay totally layed it down for me – leading me out. It’s great it worked out for me today, but really Tejay deserves a lot of credit for his efforts.”

Daniel Holloway (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) rode to second-place with Chris Ruhl capturing the bronze medal.

The women’s 17-18 race featured a smaller field, with 13 riders toeing the line for the 4-lap 78km affair. Under the hottest conditions of the day, a group of five would breakaway and never look back. In the final sprint, it was Karen Amundson (Woodinville, Calif.) taking the victory. Larssyn Staley (Beaverton, Ore.) clinched second-place with the bronze going to Mary Geier (Marion, IN).

The final event of the four-day weekend, the criterium, will take place on the campus of Texas A & M in College Station Sunday, July 6. The junior women kick things off beginning at 7:30 am and finish with the junior men’s criterium at 2:00 pm.

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