Nebraska Cycling News

Bishop Leads Four Men into Top-Ten as U.S. Claims Three Medals 

Colorado Springs, Colo. (October 17, 2006)—The United States Mountain Bike Team captured a Continential Championship courtesy of Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Mass.)/Seven Cycles) and scored 12 top-ten finishes at the 2006 Pan American Mountain Bike Championships in Santa Catarina, Brazil this past weekend.

The men also made significant progress with four top-ten finishes.  Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonburg, Va./Trek-Volkswagen) led the U.S. with a fourth-place effort in the 19.76-mile race behind gold medalist Hector Leonardo Paez Leon of Colombia, silver medalist Mathieu Toulouse of Canada, and bronze medalist  Cristobal Silva of Chile.  Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo./Subaru-Gary Fisher) placed fifth for the U.S. and Todd Wells (Durango, Colo./GT-Hyundai) placed seventh.  Strong performances were also had by Michael Broderick (Chilmark, Mass./Seven Cycles) and Adam Craig (Bend, Ore./Giant), who placed 10th and 12th respectively.

Entering the Continental Championships, the men’s squad was ranked fifth in the world with 1950 points. Switzerland was the latest leader in the standings with 3937 points followed by France (3549), Spain (2329) and the Netherlands (2036).

Sam Schultz (Missoula, Mont./U23 National Team) gave the U.S. another spot on the podium, placing third in the men’s U23 race behind Max Plaxton of Canada and Dario Alejandro Gasco of Argentina. Sam Jurekovic (Colorado Springs, Colol./U23 National Team) was the only other American competitor in the men’s U23 race, placing 20th.

Jenna Zander (North Mankato, Minn./Cannondale) earned a third medal for the U.S. with a second-place effort behind Francisca Campos of Chile in the women’s U23 race.

Other U.S. finishes at the Continental Championships included a fourth-place ride by Rachel Throop (Escondido, Calif./Devo) in the junior women’s event while Tristan Uhl (Smithville, Texas (Balance Bar-Devo) placed seventh and Chris Barton (Ojai, Calif./Bicycles of Ojai) placed 14th in the junior men’s event.