ALEXIS MONTGOMERY | Reporter

The Lindenwood cycling team got a victory over Marian University and Ripon College on Oct. 5 and 6 in St. Charles.

The weekend began with the downhill challenge. Freshman Byrne Dobrient led the team in men’s A with a winning time of 07.48.810, Joseph Leto grabbed second place with a time of 08.03.710 and Callum Holloway won third place with a time of 08.42.490.

As for men’s B downhill, junior Austin Gomes led with a time of 07.48.810, Jacob Slosar got a close second with a time of 07.51.240 and Tyler Curtis got third with 08.32.070.

Skylar Schaetz won the women’s A downhill with a time of 10.52.640.

Saturday concluded with the cross country race. Dobrient received his second win of the day, receiving 458.51 points. Freshman Austin Buttlar got second and earned 479.14 points and Cadyden Whitehill won 499.77 points for third.

Coach Julie Carter said she has high expectations for the team this year.

“Nationals are coming up on Wednesday, we’re hoping to get fourth or fifth this year since we have a little bit more depth and talent this year so that’s what we’re expecting down the line,” Carter said.

Hosting a race so close to home gives Lindenwood a leg up. The team also does preparation for other trails that they will see later down the road.

“They come here because this is their home race, they ride these trails all the time so it can give an advantage. We also go to other trails that will be similar to the trails we will see at nationals,” Carter said.

Gomes, who got first in the men’s B downhill and sixth in the men’s A cross country, believes that they will compete well at nationals.

“I think we will have our best nationals in the 4 years I’ve been here, we have some strong riders that should be able to go head to head with some of the nations best,” Gomes said.

Lindenwood was on the podium for all of the events that they competed in during the Open Mountain Bike Challenge.

“Today we did well, we swept the podium in most if not all the events we entered, we also retained the leaders jersey for the conference championships which will be a big help at nationals,” Gomes said.

Dobrient is the Midwest Conference champion jersey leader and is leading the conference coming into this weekend, which will give him a front row call up at nationals.

The Lindenwood squad hits the road today to compete at nationals in California.