Dartmouth cycling unfazed by muddy course
The Dartmouth cycling team headed to the University of New Hampshire this Saturday where it faced down teams within the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference for the New Hampshire State Cross Championships.
The Big Green's mix of men and women are currently ranked No. 1 in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Division II for Cyclo-cross in their epic fall season campaign against collegiate teams in New England.
Although the cycling team's main season is held from March until June, Cyclo-cross is a great way for the riders to keep in shape and prepare for the road races come spring.
Cyclo-cross, which is a shorter version of the more arduous road races held on roadways and lasts for about an hour or less, is a mixture of intense mixed-turf biking and on-foot sprinting.The riders must be agile enough to fly full-speed down grass fields, dirt roads, mud and short spans of asphalt, but are faced with intermittent barricades where they are forced to dismount, heave their bikes over their shoulders and sprint to the next section of the course.
This Saturday, Dartmouth looked at a heavily muddy course but pulled through with great finishes. Toby Marzot '09 placed first in the Collegiate Men's A category, while Jon Awerbuch '07 took third and Matt Pech '07 came in fifth.
Last weekend, Marzot moved up in the rankings to lead the U-23 Verge Series after a stellar performance at the Verge Series races held at Farmington, Conn. and Northamption, Mass., where he finished first on both days of competition.
Jen Stebbins '09 also put Dartmouth ahead with a first place finish in the Division II category.
"The success our team has seen in the past few weeks makes me really excited for Nationals in December," said Stebbins of the team's efforts.
Women's rugby falls to Army in season finale
In rugby, the women's team finished the season on Nov. 5 with a heartbreaking 19-3 loss to Army at West Point.
The loss leaves them with an 8-4 win-loss record for the fall season but a hopeful outlook for their spring matches, starting in March.
