< the Carleton cycling team clinched the Division II Omnium, and Sean Noonan ‘08 won the Conference Road Race Championship against both Division I and Division II schools in Iowa City, IA. Strong rides from Noonan, Andrew Olson, ‘09 and Nate Ryan ‘10 throughout the year resulted in the Conference Title over St. Olaf.
Noonan has finished 1st in two races this year, including the conference road race championship, and finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the others. Olson has also had several top 5 finishes. The team has qualified Noonan for the National Championships May 10-11 in Ft. Collins, CO. This will be the 4th year in a row that Carleton has competed at the national championships.
Carleton races in the North Central Conference with teams from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota. The road races, which range from 50 to 70 miles, make no distinction between schools of separate sizes, so Carleton riders must compete against much larger schools such as the Universities of Minnesota and Kansas. The team also compete in criteriums, which are 45 to 60 minutes long at full speed through short downtown circuits.
Carleton has had a particularly successful year in part because of help from Jake Boyce, a senior St. Olaf cyclist. In past years, the Northfield rivals have competed fiercely against each other and been unable to clinch victories against the DI schools. However, this year the two schools worked together to set each other up for a series of victories that resulted in the smaller schools being able to beat out the DI schools despite their larger teams. Boyce and Noonan dropped their competition and finished 1st and 2nd in every collegiate road race.