www.brevard.edu/clarion
Volume 79, Issue 9 Web Edition SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935
Daylight Savings
ends Sunday
at 2 a.m.
Nov. 1, 2013
Fourth national title won in five years
By Kody Adams
T his last weekend (25th-27th) was the
collegiate mountain bike national
championships held at Beech Mountain, NC
just above Lees-McRae College in Banner
Elk. Brevard’s national team headed out early
Thursday morning the 24th to prepare for the
races starting on Friday morning.
They were met by cold weather and light
snow dusting on the mountain. With a height
of over five thousand feet, cold was to be
expected but the snow would add another
difficult element to the races ahead. Friday
morning brought more cold weather and
the first race of nationals, Short Track, an
endurance based event where riders race
around a track with climbs and descents for
twenty minutes.
Brevard would start with the Division 2
colleges and the Brevard men would be off at
ten o’clock. Fewis Gaffney, Zachery Valdez,
Spencer Fowden and Dylan Johnson would
represent Brevard in this event. Gaffney
would take an early lead, but as racing goes
he had a mechanical on his bike and was
unable to finish the race. Luckily for Brevard,
Gaffney’s teammate Zachery Valdez would
take over the first place spot and continue
the race, taking the first win for Brevard and
for Division 2. Dylan Johnson and Spencer
Lowden also had great rides and grabbed 8th
place and 12th.
Division 2 women started at 12 o’clock.
Brevard’s women attacked the steep climb
and fast decent of the short track showing
why we were conference champions. Erica
Zaveta took home Brevard’s next win of the
day. Sarah Hill also had a great ride only
letting one rider get in between her and her
teammate and took home 3rd for short track.
Nicole Miranda snagged 16th place ending
the day and a great one at that for the Brevard
team. Saturday morning would hold two of
the events. Cross Country, an endurance
based event where riders climb and descend
over a longer course taking up to 2 hours and
downhill, a gravity based event where riders
bombard down a steep, rocky course going
as fast as possible.
Ice still stained the ground when the
Brevard men headed out for their race at
8:40 Cross Country race in the morning.
See 'national champs,' page 5