IU cycling takes top honors at Nationals

In a state known for its love of basketball, a new sport is becoming more and more popular and IU students are having no trouble finding success.\nNine cyclists from the IU Cycling Club competed in the 2004 TREK Bikes Collegiate Road National Championships in Madison, Wis. The team traveled to Madison Friday for three days of intense racing.\nThe riders, many Little 500 veterans, included sophomores Rahsaan Bahati and Steven Ballinger and seniors Mike Kehrberg and Chris Vargo. The women's team was made up of seniors Bri Kovac, Nicole Vincent, Jenn Wangerin and Liz Milne and sophomore Jessica Lindemann.\nThe riders competed in three different competitions -- the Criterium, Road Race and Team Time Trial and pulled out a few wins during the weekend. \nAs a team IU finished in second place for the Team Omnium, according to www.little500.com. But that honor wasn't the only successful finish the cyclists had over the weekend.\nWangerin, who took time off from school last year to train with the U.S. Olympic team, finished the weekend as the Women's Omnium Champion. She also finished in first place in the Women's Criterium, which is mostly a flat circuit that snakes through downtown Madison between the university campus and Madison's political center, according to www.usacycling.org.\nWangerin also finished eighth in the Women's Road Race and third in the 32-kilometer Team Time Trail along with teammates Milne, Lindemann and Kovac.\nThe men also had a successful weekend individually. Though as a team the men finished a disappointing 13th in the Team Time Trial, Bahati finished third in the Road Race, a 15-mile loop that winds through the hilly Wisconsin back roads just 20 minutes west of Madison. \nOther honors went to Kehrberg who finished eighth in the men's Criterium and Vincent who finished 12th in the Road Race. \nVargo said in order for riders to compete with IU at Nationals, riders must have the most racing points accumulated throughout the year from racing with IU at regional and national races. The club then sends the best riders to compete as a team at Nationals.