MARS HILL COLLEGE CYCLING

Possinger joins Mars Hill for fall.

Mars Hill Cycling is excited to announce the signing of Jake Possinger, a senior at Crestwood High School in White Haven, PA. Jake will initially join our mountain bike and cyclocross teams. Jake won the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Super Series as well as the 2011 Pennsylvania State Mountain Bike Championships. He also finished 2nd in the PACX cyclocross series last year.

Jake has been racing bikes for the last three years and is currently a member of the Cedar Bike Team out of Scranton, PA.  He also brings to the team a diverse background off the bike that includes membership in the National Honor Society and competition in track and field. Jake is an accomplished mechanic who wrenches for Pocono Biking. He’s also an avid runner, cross country skier, and hiker.

Possinger brings depth and talent to Mars Hill's mountain and cyclocross teams.

Before joining Mars Hill in the fall, Jake will focus on winning the Mid-Atlantic Super Series and the PA State Championships for a second year in a row with a goal of qualifying for the 2013 National Mountain Bike Championships held in his home state in the Lehigh Valley.

Welcome to the team, Jake! We plan to announce another exciting addition to our men’s roster very soon.

Addy is national champion on the track

Mars Hill Cycling is delighted to announce the addition of junior cycling phenom Addy Albershardt to the team for next fall. A recent graduate of East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, Addy brings international and professional experience to our growing women’s team.

Addy is a member of the NOW and Novartis for MS team, which competes nationally on the professional women’s cycling circuit. Addy is a current national champion on the track in the team and individual pursuits, and she also placed 2nd at last year’s national road time trial championships. These results earned her the right to compete at both the World Road Championships in Copenhagen and the World Track Championships in Moscow in 2011.

Representing the US at the World Championships

Addy recently completed the 2012 Women’s Tour of New Zealand as part of the US National Team, which was won by teammate Eveyln Stevens. The team placed 2nd overall in the team competition.

While Addy’s cycling ability brings a boost to our cycling program, we’re equally excited about the well-rounded perspective Addy brings to Mars Hill College off the bike. A strong student, accomplished musician (violin, cello, piano), and engaged community member, Addy exemplifies the caliber of student Mars Hill is especially excited about joining our college community. This spring she will travel to Haiti on a mission trip to offer support to those still recovering from the earthquake.

Keep up with Addy’s racing, travels, and adventures at her entertaining and insightful blog: addyalbershardt.blogspot.com.

Welcome to the team, Addy!

With help from teammates, including Michael Robinson (on right), Sebastian Scherf took the men's first win of the season.

The Mars Hill team raced at Cumberland University over the weekend, netting the men their first victory of the season in Sunday’s criterium around Titan Stadium in downtown Nashville, TN. Sebastian Scherf finally got the opportunity to sprint for the win and didn’t disappoint, clearly taking the sprint from a four man breakaway that formed in the closing laps of an open, fast, and very windy race. Tim Jenkinson helped set up the winning move and then took the sprint for fifth out of the second four man group. The race was a battle amongst six strong teams, including large squads from King, Lees-McRae, Brevard, Clemson, and of course Cumberland. Mars Hill was represented in every move and craftily set up a perfect tactical scenario in the final laps.

Klara Rossouw took the field sprint for 3rd in Saturday's road race.

Other strong results from the weekend included Klara Roussow’s field sprint win in the road race for 3rd in the A women, beating a Lees-McRae leadout train and strong sprinters from the King team as well. Timothy Jenkinson infiltrated the break in the road race and also claimed a podium position in 3rd place. In the B men, Barry Wilcox made the breakaway too, and claimed a strong 5th place. The C men ran into a little bad luck when both were taken out in separate crashes. Both are okay and ready to return to action.

In the TTT, the Mars Hill men lost to Cumberland but their fast time was enough to claim 2nd over Lees-McRae and Brevard. The women claimed 2nd in the TTT with the LMC women taking the victory.

See full results Here.

The team’s next race is at Dalton State on March 17-8.

Thanks to all our Sponsors!

Mars Hill kicked off the 2012 road season at Georgia Southern University over the weekend, competing in the team time trial and road race events on Saturday and the criterium on Sunday. The GSU race weekend in Statesboro, known as the “Battle in the ‘Boro,” has served as the first team race of the year for the last three years, and has become an indicator of overall team strength and cohesiveness.

The women started the weekend well by winning the TTT over Cumberland and King. The men followed with a strong 2nd place performance with Cumberland taking the win and King a close 3rd. Mars Hill’s B team took 2nd to Lees-McRae.

Saturday’s road race, held on a flat 13.6 mile circuit, was made challenging by a strong wind and a rough road surface. After 3 laps of aggressive racing, the women’s field came to the line together with Stephanie Cucaz of King taking the field sprint win over Mars Hill’s Mariske Strauss. Klara Rossouw finished 4th. The men’s race was fast from the gun with a 9-man break escaping on the first lap. With no representation in the break, Mars Hill organized a chase but couldn’t bring back the large group. Sebastian Scherf finished in 11th, and Corey Davis in 20th. Mars Hill’s two B riders, Barry  Wilcox and Jake Dixon, both finished in the top 20, as did Jake Mills in the C race.

Sunday’s criterium was held at the Paulson Stadium and featured a technical circuit with two S-turns per lap. The Mars Hill women were aggressive from the gun with Klara Rossouw helping launch Mariske Strauss off the front. Despite a strong chase, Strauss held on for the win with Roussouw taking 5th. Steph Bunnett finished in 10th. The men’s race split in the first several laps with Tim Jenkinson and Sebastian Scherf making the front group of 14 riders. Scherf finished 5th and Jenkinson in 8th. The B and C men finished their races in the top 20.

Full results and rankings can be found at the conference website: www.seccc.net.

Next race for the team is this weekend at Cumberland University near Nashville.

(Photos courtesy of Tom Reed)

Timothy Jenkinson leads the pack on the first lap at cyclocross nationals.

USA Cycling released the current national rankings earlier this week, and Mars Hill is the number one ranked team in division two after three of four events have been completed. After track, mountain bike, and cyclocross nationals, Mars Hill leads Cumberland University by 26 points with the US Military Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Western State College of Colorado rounding out the top five.

Collegiate road nationals, the final event of the school year, takes place in Ogden, Utah, on May 4-6. With points fairly close amongst the top four schools, there’s sure to be a shakeup in Utah.

Top 20 National Team Rankings as of February 1, 2012

 
For full report and complete rankings visit USA Cycling.

Mars Hill won the Div. II National Championship last weekend at USA Cycling’s Collegiate Cyclocross Nationals in Madison, Wisconsin. Mariske Strauss won the women’s race, with Laura Rice finishing 7th. Tim Jenkinson finished 2nd in the men’s race, and Corey Davis was 8th. Those top-10 finishes, along with strong performances from Steph Bunnett, Lacey Douglas, and Michael Robinson, brought a decisive victory in the team competition, and also increased MHC’s lead in the overall D2 national team rankings.

Mars Hill celebrates the team championship. Cumberland University takes 2nd and the US Military Academy 3rd.

Check out the great blog reports from Laura Rice and Mikey Keith on CX nats:

Laura Rice: DAY ONE, DAY TWO

Mikey Keith: DAY ONE, DAY TWO

Mariske Strauss brought home the team's first women's individual championship.

Tim Jenkinson claimed an excellent silver medal in men's race.

Cate Wood (in yellow) wins a moto.

Cate Wood joins the team next fall as a leader on our newly minted BMX team. With national level experience in BMX, Cate’s addition to the team couldn’t be more timely–on December 16th, USA Cycling announced that BMX would be added to the national championship schedule for collegiate riders. BMX will join road, mountain bike, cyclocross, and track as one of five collegiate disciplines sanctioned by USA Cycling. The first Collegiate National BMX Championship will take place April 1st in Chula Vista, California.

Cate Wood

Cate started racing in 2007, chasing trophies that were taller than she was, and quickly moved up to the expert class. After two years of training and hard work, she won her first moto at a national event in 2010, and then followed up with another big win on her birthday that year. Along the way, Cate demonstrated resilience by bouncing back from a hard crash that sidelined her with a concussion and broken ribs. During the 2011 NBL (National Bicycle League) season, Cate led the national points ranking all season before finally finishing 2nd on the year. In 2012, she will race the Junior Elite class before she joins Mars Hill in the fall.

While Cate will focus on BMX, she’s also excited to try the other collegiate cycling disciplines, where her skillsets promise to translate well. Cate is currently a senior at Cox Mill High School in Concord, North Carolina.

In the interim before Cate joins the team, we are strategizing on how we can grow BMX internally at Mars Hill, and we hope to send a representative to nationals in April. Talks are also underway on how we can best partner with the local BMX track in Weaverville, which is only 10 miles from campus and will become our “home” track and training grounds.