BRISTOL, Tenn. --- Junior Jose Avila earned a win in the Men's B race and sophomore Emma Klingaman swiped fourth in the Women's A while the Lees-McRae cycling program participated at the King CX in Bristol, Tenn. over the weekend.
Avila (Miami, Fla.) cruised to victory while teammates Joe Liston (Limerick, Pa.) and freshman Phil Kmetz (Keene, N.H.) finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
Sophomore Zachary Houlik (Breinigsville, Pa.) grabbed 11th and Eli Wemyss (Cedar Hill, Tenn.) took 15th.
Klingaman (Idyllwild, Calif.) continued her impressive sophomore campaign by leading LMC's women's squad by finishing fourth. Senior Mackenzie Filippi (Cary, N.C.) earned a top-10 finish by taking eighth. Junior Kaitlyn Lawrence (Emmaus, Pa.) secured a 14th-place finish.
"Today was a solid effort by everyone in all three races. Avila came from behind to take over his race with two laps to go to secure a confidence boosting victory," praised Director of Cycling and Head Coach Tim Hall. "Klingaman had a great start by winning the hole shot, then falling back some, but rebounded and placed fourth against some talented riders. Filippi has made tremendous progress in the past year with another top 10 too."
Matthew Zimmer (DeWitt, Iowa) claimed seventh in the Men's A race while Matthew Clements (New Market, Md.) and Elliot Baring (Cumming, Ga.) finished 10th and 11th, respectively.
"Zimmer demonstrated that strength and fitness go a long way in cyclocross. He has been training exclusively on his road bike, but this course suited him with the long grinding climb," said Hall. "Clements and Baring both did a great job moving up throughout the race to be battling for a top 10. In a field of 38 talented riders, it was promising to see our men be in the mix."
Samuel Dobrozsi (Loveland, Ohio) claimed 15th while Jonathan Luck (Bainbridge, Pa.) finished 27th.
"We are looking forward to the conference championship at Clemson in a few weeks. The competitiveness in the SECCC is fierce with much more depth of talented riders than in years past. Our conference ought to do well at nationals in Austin, Texas in both divisions."
LMC will travel to Clemson, S.C. to participate at the Clemson CX Dec. 6.
- LMC -
