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Collegiate omnium podium. © Matt Lasala

Smart and Fast: The D1 Collegiate omnium podium. © Matt Lasala

When the collegiate racers battled it out in the relay on Friday, they weren’t just battling for school pride. Nor were they when Kaitie Antonneau and Kerry Werner took the D1 wins on Saturday and Sunday, respectively; and the same went for Christina Birch and Lewis Gaffney as they took the D2 wins.

Their schools were fighting for the overall collegiate title, and Marian won the D1 Division, while Brevard took the D2 overall win.

This year, it was about more than just individual race performances in the omnium scoring, as the 2014 Cyclocross National Championships featured a first-ever cyclocross team relay that required at least two racers, one male, one female, from a school to race the four-lap race. It was a nice, flexible format that allowed smaller schools to compete, while larger teams could enter two male and two female racers to do one lap each. See the full rules here.

Marian University won the collegiate relay, helping it build a lead over its rivals heading into the weekend’s individual races.

The interesting aspect of the relay was that it was not broken into D1 or D2 races, giving a small school a great chance to gather valuable point gaps over their D2 rivals heading into the weekend, and it showed. Brevard, finishing third in the relay behind two D1 schools in Marian University and Fort Lewis College, with the next D2 school in Rippon finishing sixth, would go on to win the D2 title.

With such scoring importance put on the relay, we’re excited to see the event return to Austin in 2015 with new strategies and more entrants.

Many of us believe the key to healthy growth in our sport is junior cycling, and while it certainly is an channel of new racers, collegiate cycling is an invaluable ecosystem to bring more people into cycling and cyclocross. Because of the built-in peer support of collegiate teams, and the continuous influx of new potential racers and team leadership, it’s undervalued and under-recognized in terms of its importance.

Collegiate racing falls under the radar of most at the Cyclocross National Championships, but for many of these athletes, it’s the highlight of the year. With the new relay and a suspense-filled scoring system, perhaps it will become the highlight for more fans as well.

2014 Collegiate Cyclocross Omnium Results - Division 1

RankSchool
1MARIAN UNIVERSITY
2FORT LEWIS COLLEGE
3LEES-MCRAE COLLEGE
4LINDENWOOD UNIVERSITY
5UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
6APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY
7COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
8CUMBERLAND UNIVERSITY
9UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
10UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
11THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
12UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA-RENO
13UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER
14OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
15NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY
16SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
17NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY AT RALEIGH
18OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY
19UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
20UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SANTA CRUZ
21UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON-SEATTLE
22UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
23NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
24NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
25UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
26UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-TWIN CITIES
27UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA-COLUMBIA

 

2014 Collegiate Cyclocross Omnium Results - Division 2

PlaceSchool
1BREVARD COLLEGE
2COLORADO MESA UNIVERSITY
3RIPON COLLEGE
4KING UNIVERSITY
5MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
6MARS HILL UNIVERSITY
7FURMAN UNIVERSITY
8EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
9BROWN UNIVERSITY
10MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
11UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
12VIRGINIA INTERMONT COLLEGE
13UNIVERSITY OF DENVER
14US AIR FORCE ACADEMY
15RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
16RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
17COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY
18WESTERN STATE COLORADO UNIVERSITY
19ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
20MILLIGAN COLLEGE
21THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT CHATTANOOGA
22NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
23FRONT RANGE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
24OHIO DOMINICAN UNIVERSITY
25UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME

For more 2014 Cyclocross National Championships coverage, please visit our 2014 Nationals page.