Recently on Cyclingnews.com

US MTB Worlds team announced

USA Cycling announced its automatic and discretionary picks for the U.S. National Teams for MTB Worlds August 22-27 in Rotorua, New Zealanda dn Marathon Worlds, August 13 in Oisans, France.

In the elite men’s cross country category, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo.) earned an automatic nomination with a fifth-place finish at the fourth round of the UCI World Cup series in Fort William Scotland. Ryan Trebon (Ventura, Calif.) earned the only other elite men’s cross country automatic nomination with a win Saturday at the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships brought to you by X-Fusion.

Automatic nominations went to Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Mass.) and Georgia Gould (Ketchum, Idaho) in the elite women’s cross country category. Ranked ninth in the world, McConneloug earned her nomination with a top-10 overall ranking in the UCI standings, while Gould’s win at nationals solidified her nomination.

In the gravity disciplines, newly crowned national champion Duncan Riffle (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and top-ranked rider in the National Mountain Bike series standings, Justin Havukainen (Castro Valley, Calif.), earned nominations to the elite men’s downhill squad. Tara Llanes (Los Alamitos, Calif.) and Jackie Harmony (Tucson, Ariz.) qualified for the elite women’s downhill team as national champion and series leader.

Reigning 4-cross world champions Brian Lopes (San Clemente, Calif.) and Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash.) will defend their titles from a year ago. Joining the owners of the rainbow jerseys are Chris Powell (San Diego, Calif.), Rich Houseman (Temecula, Calif.), and Eric Carter (Winchester, Calif.) on the men’s 4-cross squad and Tara Llanes, Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz.) and Jessica Vogt (Boulder, Colo.) on the women’s squad.

Automatic nominees in the men’s marathon division include Clint Muhlfeld (Whitefish, Mont.) as the top American in the UCI Marathon World Series rankings, Travis Brown (Durango, Colo.) as the current national champion and winner of the Deer Valley National Mountain Bike Series event and Even Plews (Dallas, Ore.) as the number-one ranked rider in the 2006 National Mountain Bike Series marathon standings. Women who received automatic nominations include Josie Beggs (Capitola, Calif.) as the winner in Deer Valley, Melissa Thomas (Boulder, Colo.) as the national champion and Mandy Eakins (Newport Beach, Calif.) as the top-ranked woman in the National Mountain Bike Series standings.

In addition to those athletes that have met the automatic nomination criteria, several athletes were named to the team based on coaches’ selection.

U.S. Team Automatic Nominations and Coaches’ Selection

Elite Men’s Cross Country
*Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo.)
*Ryan Trebon (Ventura, Calif.)
Adam Craig (Bend, Ore.)
Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonburg, Va.)
Todd Wells (Durango, Colo.)

Elite Women’s Cross Country
*Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Mass.)
*Georgia Gould (Ketchum, Idaho)
Shonny Vanlandingham (Durango, Colo.)
Willow Koerber (Horseshoe, N.C.)
Heather Irmiger (Boulder, Colo.)

U23 Men’s Cross Country
*Sam Schultz (Missoula, Mont.)
Sam Jurekovic (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Colin Cares (Boulder, Colo.)

U23 Women’s Cross Country
*Jenna Zander (North Mankato, Minn.)
Chloe Forsman (Boulder, Colo.)

Junior Men’s Cross Country
*Michael Cummings (Snellville, Ga.)
*Chris Barton (Ojai, Calif.)

Junior Women’s Cross Country
*Danae York (Indio, Calif.)
*Rachael Throop (Escondido, Calif.)

Elite Men’s Downhill
*Duncan Riffle (Santa Barbara, Calif.)
*Justin Havukainen (Castro Valley, Calif.)

Elite Women’s Downhill
*Tara Llanes (Los Alamitos, Calif.)
*Jackie Harmony (Tucson, Ariz.)

Junior Men’s Downhill
*Daniel Hultgen (Santa Barbara, Calif.)
*Hank Cadle (Lake Forest , Calif.)

Junior Women’s Downhill
*Christina Pinney (Concord, Calif.)

Elite Men’s 4-Cross
*Brian Lopes (San Clemente, Calif.)
*Chris Powell (San Diego, Calif.)
*Rich Houseman (Temecula, Calif.)
*Eric Carter (Winchester, Calif.)

Elite Women’s 4-Cross
*Jill Kintner (Seattle, Wash.)
*Tara Llanes (Los Alamitos, Calif.)
*Melissa Buhl (Chandler, Ariz.)
*Jessica Vogt (Boulder, Colo.)

Trials - Junior 26"
Edward Gildea (Westfield, Mass.)

Trials - Elite 26"
Jeremy VanSchoonhoven (Williams, Ore.)
Cameron Kowall (Gates Mills, Ohio)
Nathan Goodhue (Honolulu, Hawaii)

Trials - Elite 20"
William Hendrickson (Phoenix, Ariz.)
Peter Hellenbrand (Seattle, Wash.)

Elite Men’s Marathon
*Clint Muhlfeld (Whitefish, Mont.)
*Travis Brown (Durango, Colo.)
*Evan Plews (Dallas, Ore.)
Chris Eatough (Ellicott City, Md.)
Jay Henry (Avon, Colo.)
Michael Lee (Mission Viejo, Calif.)
Michael Janelle (Avon, Colo.)

Elite Women’s Marathon
*Josie Beggs (Capitola, Calif.)
*Melissa Thomas (Boulder, Colo.)
*Mandy Eakins (Newport Beach, Calif.)
Kyia Malenkovich (St. Cloud, Minn.)
Monique Sawicki (Mililani, Haiwaii)
Louise Kobin (San Jose, Calif.)
Kristy Lanier-Mantz (Marlinton, W. Va.)

*Denotes Automatic Selection

Retrurn to News

(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2006)