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Sports
The Clarion \ Oct. 15,2010
BC's cycling team travels cross-country to defend national title
By Park Baker
Staff Writer
Last fall, the cycling team brought home
BC’s first varsity national championship from
the Collegiate Mountain Bike National race in
Truckee, CA. The cycling team travels returns to
Truckee this weekend to defend their title.
Throughout the fall season the Tornados
mountain bike team racked up points at each of
its races against top schools in the SAC. After
qualifying for a spot at the collegiate national
championships, the teams’A-riders traveled and
competed in the Sierra Nevada’s.
Each rider competed in one of four disciplines.
Cross country riders climb up the mountain and
then descend racing their competitors in a pack
sprint for almost two hours. Contrasting it is the
downhill race, where each racer speeds down a
steep twisting trail with jumps, drops and rock
gardens while the clock ticks off each rider
individually at 30 second intervals. The short
track race features minimal climbing, instead the
racers turn over a huge gear at a sweating pace
until the slackers get lapped and pulled from the
race leaving the first few to battle it out until the
buzzer sounds.
The last event of the weekend was the Four
Cross race. Riders assemble on a gate and hold
steady until the gun goes off Usually the first
rider off the gate has the clear advantage, but
the trail crew at Northstar Bike Park had built a
challenging track that was steep and riddled with
rocks and colossal jumps. Four-X racers must
also contend with their opponents, elbows and
knees get thrown around mercilessly, all while
contending with the jumps and high speeds
attained while sprinting down the course.
At the end of the weekend, the Brevard
athletes had worked hard and earned the most
points collectively and earned the Division II
National Championship title. The team lost a
few key riders in the spring 2010 graduation, but
Senior and 2008 XC Champion Tristan Cowie
remains optimistic.
“Yeah, we lost a few strong girls last year,
but we have fresh talent this year and they have
the right attitudes about it, and they'll only get
stronger We have a really solid Men’s AXC
team, and our gravity boys have stepped it up
this year We had a few injuries this season but
those guys are ready for nationals,” said Cowie
about the team trip this year.
The team will again travel to Northstar Ski
Resort in Lake Tahoe, California this weekend
where temperatures have been in the low 20's
overnight and reports of snow above 7000 feet
are coming in more and more. This is the second
year the resort has hosted Collegiate Mountain
Bike Nationals, and the high altitude will favor
Brevard freshman, Lewis Gaffney.
“I'm from New Mexico, yet the team’s 2009
accomplishment definitely confirmed my
decision about where I wanted to go to college.
I didn't have a lot of expectations for this season,
I knew we had a really strong program and we
would do the best we could,” said Gaffney.
Gaffney’s acclimation to the high altitude
will help the team’s chances out immensely. He
says breathing the air in Pisgah is like breathing
underwater due to the humidity and lower
altitude.
If the team does well again this year, the
Brevard cycling program will have laid more
foundation for creating a competitive program,
attracting talent abroad, and concreting the
Southern Appalachians as a place that breeds
high caliber athletes.
Volleyball plays tough fought loss against Lenoir-Rhyne
Kortney Conner placed five of her 11 kills
in the Tornados victory in the third set and
Rebecca Schoonover led all players with 20 digs,
but Brevard was unable to overcome Brooke
Christenbury’s double-double of 17 kills, 16
digsinthe25-17,25-17,25-27,
25-14 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne on
Tuesday afternoon.
Conner recorded more than
10 kills for her eighth time this
season to lead Brevard (2-16,
0-12 SAC) on the evening.
Jamie Atkinson added eight kills
and three total blocks, while
Jordei Osby led the Tornados at
the net with seven blocks.
Christenbury led Lenoir-Rhyne (8-9,5-7 SAC)
with her 17 kills as the Bears hit 17.9 percent on
the evening in the victory. Chelsea Hill added 11
kills and five blocks, while Kaitlyn Burton had a
match-high 40 set assists. Marrissa Church led
the Bears defensive efforts with 18 digs on the
evening as Lenoir-Rhyne completed the season
sweep against Brevard.
Church led the Bears
in the first two sets
as the junior libero
served a pair of runs in
each of the sets to give
Lenoir-Rhyne the 2-0
lead heading into the
third set.
Both sides battled
back and forth in the
third set as the teams
were tied at 16 after a kill by Brevard’s Erin
Cox. Brevard went up 24-20 late in the set after
a kill by Conner, but the Bears rallied to score the
next four points, capped by a kill by Cheyenne
Cash to tie the set up at 24. After Conner and
Christenbury traded kills to keep the set tied at
25, Atkinson found a gap in the Bears defense
to put the set at 26-25 and the Tornados closed
it out on a Lenoir-Rhyne attack error
The fourth and final set was tied at 11 after
a Conner service error and the Bears went on
a 10-1 run following the error Cay la Crawley
placed in a pair of service aces during the run to
put Lenoir-Rhyne up 21 -12 and the Bears closed
out the set on a kill by Hill and a BC attack error
to take the win.
The Tornados continue their conference home
stand on Friday, October 15th, as Brevard hosts
Anderson University. First serve in Boshamer
Gymnasium between the Tornados and the
Trojans is set for 6:30 p.m.
Totme SeegiBma
Football
BC 21, Catawba 31
Volleyball
Tusculum 3, BC 0
Mars Hill 3, BCO
Lenoir-Rhyne 3, BC 1
Women's Soccer
L Oct. 9 Wingate 5, BC 0 L Oct. 9
Anderson 2, BC 1 L Oct. 12
L Oct. 8 Men's Soccer
L Oct. 9 Wingate 6, BC 1 L Oct. 9
L Oct. 12 Anderson 8, BC 0 L Oct. 12