DURANGO, Colo. - This past week, eight athletes on the Piedmont cycling teams traveled to Purgatory Resort in Durango, Colorado to compete in the USA Cycling Collegiate National Championships. The team started the long drive out on October 9th and arrived in Durango the night of October 10th. They spent their Tuesday and Wednesday exploring the area and the local trail. 
 

Racing began on Thursday afternoon with Dual Slalom Qualifying. Four athletes had to race against the clock and fight hard for a spot in Friday's Dual Slalom Finals. QUILL MARTIN was the only Piedmont athlete competing in the Men's Varsity Dual Slalom race. Thursday was also used as a practice day for the Cross Country race for many athletes.

Friday hosted two events, Cross Country in the morning and Dual Slalom Finals in the afternoon. In the XC race, athletes were battling stacked categories and altitude. Varsity Men's XC started the morning off where Freshmen BEN KOLBIE raced hard into 36^th place. Three of Piedmont's female athletes fought to get top 40. 
 

Saturday started out with Downhill Seeding where athletes raced the clock to get a preferred call-up for Sunday's Downhill race. Then the team competed in Short Track and had many extraordinary results including RHYLEE WITTROCK with an 18^th place finish in Varsity Women and JADEN GRIMES with 20^th in Varsity Men. 

Sunday, the final day of racing, started with Downhill finals where MARIAJOSE MONTOYA had a fantastic 6^th place finish. Following her amazing race, four of the athletes competed in team relay. DYLAN LINDSEY helped move the team up many places. After a long 4 days of racing the team took 10^th place for Varsity team Omnium. KATIE PROWELL and EMMA FROST both raced Gravity and Endurance events earning them 15^th and 16^th in individual omnium for varsity women.