The first race of the omnium was the points race. I stayed attentive and was ready to move
with any attacks. I knew I had to stay
consistent with getting points in order to win.
After the third or fourth sprint, a break of 4 went off the front. Chazmichael Morales drove the pace to get to
the leaders. I looked behind and noticed that the race was
breaking up, so I dug deep and bridged to the break away. The break consisted of Zeke Mostov, Broderick
Hartley, Jordan Marhanka, and Gavin Hoover. Marty yelled at me saying, "you are in
second place, watch number 73 (Zeke Mostov)!" We lapped the field and gained 20 points on
everyone. I won the race on the last lap
by winning the sprint. I was now in the
driver’s seat, leading the omnium with 7 points and I knew I was a marked man
for the rest of the events.
The next day was the match sprints. It had only been my second time doing it, but
no excuses, it was Nationals. First, we
had to qualify doing a flying 200m and only 8 moved on to the sprints. I got
4th with a time of 12.286. Luckily, I
was the only one who qualified with omnium points. I knew that qualifying would separate my omnium
lead from the others. After I beat the 5th
place qualifier in one ride, I had to face Chazmichael Morales, the 1st seed. I lost in 2 rides to Chazmichael, so I had to
face the 2nd seed for the 3rd place medal. I lost the 1st ride, which gave me only one
more chance for 3rd place. I played to my strengths, attacking the other rider
as soon as the official blew the whistle. He caught me and I held him to the rail for as
long as I could, but he had the strength.
He came over the top at turn 3 and beat me to the finish. I ended up fourth and extended my lead to 9
points over 2nd place Chazmichael Morales, who had 7 points.
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| Marty and I before my match sprints |
Determination was on my mind on day 3 of Track Nationals. It was the scratch race and we had the biggest
crowd that I've ever seen at T-Town. Team
director Larry Nolan warned me not to get overwhelmed and also not to veer away
from my race plan with a crowd so big. I
relaxed. When the race was about to
begin, Marty told me "C'mon kid, this is your race, c'mon!" A break went off right away, but I had to be
patient and let it go because I knew that someone would chase it back. After four laps, the break was caught and Zeke
Mostov (Garmin) countered, I followed and we opened up a gap immediately. Zeke was trying to drop me after I took my
pull, but I wasn't going to give up. Marty
at turn 2 yelled at me saying, "short pulls!" I did exactly what he said and conserved my
energy for the sprint. Coming into one
to go, I was leading Zeke high on the track.
In turn 2, I jumped putting Zeke behind me. Marty and I talked about how to win a sprint
on this type of track; it’s all about placement. I was in the money, leading through turn 3 and
4, but Zeke came over the top and got the win by a bike throw. I was pissed! I hate losing and especially by how close it
was. I ended up with 5 more points,
totaling 14 points for the omnium, and Zeke and Chazmichael were tied in second
place with 10 points each. That evening,
Coach Billy Innes called and talked to me about "leg speed and
speed". He also helped calm me down
with the reminder that I could still win the omnium.
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| Before the start of the scratch race |
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| 500 meter time trial |
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