Champions repeat on day two of nationals in Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE – The USA Cycling Para-cycling Road National Championships concluded Sunday with road races in each classification. In all but two classes contested in the road race, yesterday’s time trial national champions repeated their performances to earn double individual titles on the weekend.

The exceptions were the men’s C4 class, where CJ Howard (Sacramento, California) earned the win this morning after taking silver behind John Terrell (Converse, Texas) in the time trial yesterday, and the men’s H3 race, where Brandon Lyons (Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) earned his first individual title of the weekend. Lyons topped Steve Chapman (Cedar Springs, Michigan) and Dan Stietz (Dover, Minnesota), who completed the MH3 podium. Time trial national champion Owen Daniels (Fontana, California) finished fourth. Though the win was the first individual title of the weekend for Lyons, he was part of the team that won yesterday’s handcycle relay.

The rest of the races played out much like the time trial competition. Road national championships are serving as the selection event for both the final world cup race of the season and for the UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, set for Quebec next month. The team is expected to be named later this week.

Three-time Paralympic medalist Alicia Dana (Putney, Vermont) and two-time wheelchair basketball Paralympic gold medalist Travis Gaertner (Burien, Washington) were the only two athletes to earn three national titles on the weekend after wins in today’s women’s H3 and men’s H4 road races. In addition to capturing the time trial titles in their respective classes yesterday, Dana and Gaertner teamed with Lyons for the handcycle relay win.

In other handcycle road race action, Freddie de los Santos (Hopewell Junction, New York), Ryen Reed (Riverside, California), Katie Brim (Lowell, Michigan), Barry Wilcox (Gilbert, Arizona) and Delmon Dunston (Moreno Valley, California) all took home their second titles of the weekend.

Aaron Keith (Woodinville, Washington) was the men’s C1 winner and made a case for selection to the world championships team after dominant wins in both of his races. Keith is the 2019 world time trial champion and also took a silver medal at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 in the same event.

Paralympians Allison Jones (Colorado Springs, Colorado), Clara Brown (Falmouth, Maine) and Sam Bosco (Claremont, California), as well as Elizabeth Mis (Medina, Ohio) all picked up their second titles of the weekend in the women’s C2, C3, C4 and C5 classes, respectively. Brown’s victory was especially close, as she bested her Tokyo teammate Jamie Whitmore (Somerset, California) by just seven seconds. On the men’s side, Noah Middlestaedt (St. Cloud, Minnesota) and Kyle Pitman (Lafayette, Colorado), both U.S. Paralympics Cycling national team members, won the men’s C3 and C5 road races for their second titles of the weekend.

Men’s tandem athletes Chester Triplett (Mooresville, North Carolina) and pilot Joey Bacala (Cedar Crest, New Mexico) posted a time of 1:59.33 for victory in their road race. Tricyclists and national team members Jill Walsh (Syracuse, New York) and Dennis Connors (Portland, Oregon) also posted road race wins in the women’s and men’s T2 competitions.

For full results from the USA Cycling Para-cycling Road National Championships, click here.

Athletes selected for the world championship team will be named on the U.S. Paralympics Cycling website. Follow U.S. Paralympics Cycling on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates and continued coverage of the team.

For media requests and photo inquiries, please contact Kristen Gowdy at Kristen.Gowdy@usopc.org.