Stockburger and Amundson Go Three for Three

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (July 6, 2003) – Chris Stockbuger (Ft. Collins, Colo.) and Karen Amundson (Woodinville, WA) both scored hat tricks with their respective victories in the criterium race Sunday afternoon. Held on a deserted Texas A & M University campus, the one-mile circuit was the final event of the 2003 Junior/Espoir Road National Championships.

Stockburger clinched his third medal of the weekend with his win in the men’s 15-16 criterium. Tejay Van Garderen (Bozeman, MT) made a solid attempt to breakaway early on but was eventually absorbed by the pack. The race came down to a large field sprint to which Stockburger played out perfectly. The Colorado rider surged to the front in the final 100 meters to win by one second over second-place finisher Ryan Keels (Tulsa, OK) who finished in 34:41. Daniel Holloway (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) captured third-place in the same time.

On the women’s side, Karen Amundson made her mark with three victories in the women’s 17-18 category over the weekend of junior racing. Amundson and second-place finisher Larssyn Staley broke away halfway through the race to put a 30-second advantage on the main field. Staley and Amundson would jockey positions until the final straightaway when Amundson came on the right of Staley and moved ahead to win by a bike length. Third-place went to Rebecca Much (Chicago, Ill.).

The 10-12 men race started the final day of racing off and Njisane Phillip (Miami, Fla.) showed that he has the power to pull away from the pack. Phillip would lead the pack throughout the race to clinch the victory by several bike lengths to claim his second national championship jersey in 26:21. Mitchell Witmer (Lancaster, Pa) captured second-place with Ethan Rae (Santa Maria, Calif.) taking third.

Mandy Marquardt (Plantation, Fla.) rode to a convincing victory in the women’s 10-12 category taking a flyer for the win in 25:47. Shelby Reynolds (Cypress, Texas) and Jaqueline Kirth (Palm City, Fla.) would contest the sprint to the line for an exciting finish for second and third-place respectively.

Teammates Lauren Shirock (Emmaus, Pa.) and Samantha Schneider (West Allis, WI -Coyote Racing) would claim the one-two spots for the 13-14 women finishing in 34:46 and 34:47 respectively. Shirock edged out Schneider at the line with Taylor Boglioli (Sammamish, WA) right behind the pair in 34:48 for third-place.

The men’s 13-14 race saw many familiar faces at the final sprint for the line. Alejandro Garcia (Whittier, CA) captured the gold medal in a large field sprint. Daniel Summerhill (Englewood, Colo.) finished in second-place with Ricky Cruz (San Ysidro, Calif.) claiming the bronze.

Kimberly Geist (Emmaus, Pa.) took the gold medal in the women’s 15-16 category edging out Lauren Trull (Greensboro, NC) in 32:43. Third-place went to Shannon Koch (Flower Mound, Texas).

The final event of the day featured the 100-plus field of the men’s 17-18 race. Zak Grabowski (Lafayette, Colo.) and Zach Taylor (Marietta, GA) rode to an impressive one-two finish for the Hot Tubes Cycling Team in the final event of the 2003 Junior National Championships.

Grabowski finished the 50 km race in 1:12.25 to win his second gold medal of the weekend clinching the victory in commanding fashion with a 53-second advantage over the main group of chasers. Grabowski’s teammate Zach Taylor helped to hold off a organized chase and thus added another medal to his collection taking the silver medal in the criterium finishing in 1:12.25. David Guttenplan secured third on the heels of Taylor.

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