Day 1 of the USA Cycling Junior, Elite, and Para-cycling Track National Championships saw four titles awarded to the junior athletes at the VELO Sports Center in Carson, Calif.
Racing was centered on two events – the sprints and the international omnium, for both Junior Men and Women.
Sprints
The day started off with the 200-meter sprint tournament qualification rides, where JeanLuc Contant-Gallitello (Coconut Creek, Fla.) clocked 11.038 seconds as the fastest time for the Junior Men.
On the women’s side, Kayla Hankins (Scottsdale, Ariz.; LUX Cycling) set the fast time with 11.995 seconds. In the end it wasn’t speed but tactics that would win the day, as both Contant-Gallitello and Hankins would be knocked out during the sprint tournament rounds.
Sophia Shuhay (New Tripoli, Penn.; Star Track Racing), the US record holder in the 200m, would end up earning the stars-and-stripes for the second time in this event, repeating her win from 2018.
“It feels really good. It feels… I’m really happy I could defend my title,” Shuhay said.
Shuhay, 17, said she’s planning on doing all Elite sprint events this week as well.
“I’m definitely going to be tired, because I’m doing all the sprint events for Juniors as well,” she said. “But I think I’m going to do pretty well. I’m going to do team sprint with Maddie Godby, and she’s really fast.”
Shuhay bested McKenna McKee (Vancouver, Wash.) in two rides in the finals to earn her title. McKee took home the silver.
Kaia Schmid (Marblehead, Mass.; New England Devo p/b Cadence Wealth Management) earned bronze.
On the Junior Men’s side, Geneway Tang (Queens Village, N.Y.; Edge Cycling) and Jackson Capela (Detroit, Mich.; American Cycling League – Detroit) pushed their finals match to a decider ride, after each winning one of the previous rides in the final.
Tang took control of the final ride early on, coming out victorious. Tang’s Edge Cycling teammate, Owen George (Schnecksville, Penn.) took the third step of the podium.
Endurance
For endurance events, riders competed in the International Omnium.
In the Junior Women’s event, last year’s 15-16 omnium winner Megan Jastrab (Apple Valley, Calif.; Rally UHC Cycling) dominated in the 17-18 event, claiming top place points in all of the events within the omnium.
Zoe Ta-Perez (Orange, Calif.; LUX Cycling) was close, earning silver by taking second place points in every event. Last year’s bronze medalist, Vanessa Romano (Allentown, Penn.; Young Medalist), duplicated her performance, earning another trip to the podium.
The bronze medalist for the 2018 international omnium, Peter Moore (St. Paul, Minn.; Donkey Label Racing), improved his placing, earning the 2019 title.
“It was a crazy race,” Moore said. “I went out there and really raced my own race. I took it to them. My calves were cramping for the last 40 laps, and I was deep in the box, but I got the job done.”
In second place was Ian Oelrich (San Diego, Calif.; Team Velosport Junior & U23 Development Rock N Road Cyclery). Oelrich gave Moore a run for his money. Having their final position in the race came down to the final sprint and six points.
Rounding out the podium for this event was Eddy Huntsman (Newport Beach, Calif.; iCademy).
Wednesday’s schedule and how to watch
Wednesday’s schedule features junior team pursuits, team sprints, keirin, and the start of the 13-14 competition.
The event will be live streamed during the evening sessions beginning Thursday July 4 through Sunday July 7 on USA Cycling’s YouTube channel.
You can follow the action on USA Cycling’s @usacyclinglive Twitter account as well as the @usacycling Instagram account, and follow along with others posts by using the hashtag #TrackNats.
Content provided by USA Cycling’s Tom Mahoney