GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The SCAD cycling team traveled to Gainesville, Fla. to open the season at the Swamp Classic.
 
Over the two days, the Bees competed in the road race, team time trial, and criterium, delivering strong results across all categories.
 
DAY 1: Day one consisted of the road race and the top results are as follows:
 

• Men's D: Mauro Ramos (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) - 5^th
• Women's B: Jette Aelken (Haltern am See, NRW, Germany / Architecture) - 1^st
• Women's B: Andrea Castro (Valencia, Venezuela / User Experience (UX) Design) - 3^rd
• Women's A: All four women competing finished in the top 10.
• Men's A: Andrew Sparks (Cape Town, South Africa / Creative Business Leadership) - 2^nd
• Men's A: Eugenio Mirafuentes (Monterrey, Mexico / Sound Design) - 4^th

 
Sparks had this to say after a large crash early in the men's A road race impacted the field: "The race was very punchy; it was difficult getting stuck behind the crash. I had to chase for a long time, and then didn't have anything when I got back, so I recovered while everyone was chasing breaks."
 
Once back in, Sparks began chasing the breaks, too, and ended up being in one that stuck. 
 
"I think anyone from our group could have made the winning break, and won" says Sparks, "but it ended up being me out of luck." Sparks went on to contest a photo-finish sprint, coming in second by millimeters.
 
In the women's B race, Aelken and Castro took first and third.
 
In the first road race of her career, Aelken had this to say: "Maybe 1km before the finish line, Andrea told me to do a sprint" says Aelken. "At first, I thought, "this isn't going to work", but then I did it and it worked well." Aelken won from a long, decisive sprint, which she would go on repeat in the next day's criterium.
 
Following the road race, the men and women competed in the team time trial. The men's team, consisting of Eugenio Mirafuentes, Colin Patterson (Palo Alto, Calif. / Design for Sustainability), Matthew Armstrong (Anahilt, County Down, Northern Ireland / Creative Business Leadership), and Skyler Diacou, took first place by over 40 seconds.
 
The women's team consisting of Jette Aelken, Lauren Dodge (Bekersfield, Calif. / Service Design), Dagny Palmer (Phoenixville, Pa. / Design for Sustainability), and Kara Lilly took second in a tight battle against last year's national champions. Both teams set a high opening bar for what promises to be an exciting TTT season.
 
 
 
DAY 2: The Bees competed in the criterium on day two, improving on the previous day's performances and landing on the podium in every category. Top results were as follows: 
 

• Men's D: Mauro Ramos - 5^th
• Women's B: Jette Aelken - 1^st
• Women's B: Andrea Castro - 2^nd
• Women's A: Lauren Dodge - 4^th
• Men's A: Emiliano Mirafuentes (San Nichols, Mexico / Social Strategy and Management) - 1^st
• Men's A: Eugenio Mirafuentes - 4^th
• Men's A: Andrew Sparks – 5^th

 
The theme on the day was teamwork, with the men's and women's A teams weaving harmonious race tactics. 
 
In the women's A field, four SCAD bees disrupted a Milligan team that was two-times larger. 
 
"The race went super well today in the women's A field" says Dodge. "We all did a good job covering attacks. Dagny and I were active covering early, and Kara took on all the late attacks, keeping the field together so that we could do a bunch sprint at the end. Anya and Dagny took a hard pull up to the front to help string the field out and keep the pace high, so that Kara and I were in better positions for the sprint finish. We didn't seal the win, or second, which was of course the hope, but fourth placed on the day with disruption of Milligan was a good move. So, bigger and better next week."
 
In the men's A field, the Bees established control from the start. Eventual race winner Emiliano Mirafuentes had this to say of the race: 
 
"The race went just as we expected. We took control of it from the first lap and communication was the key. I mean, the sprint won the race, but the race was won since the beginning because the team did a great job. I was just the last push — this was a whole team effort."
 
Sparks concurs: 
 
"Today was great. I chased as many attacks as possible. Jumped on Milligan and let Matthew bridge up to us - which worked well. We did that repeatedly. And then the team caused chaos in the end, sending Skyler up the road, which messed with other teams plans until we came to the sprint — where Emiliano demolished everyone." 
 
Coaches Alec Hoover and Kyle Kimball were pleased with the unity demonstrated this weekend. Coach Kimball, new to SCAD this year, was effusive: 
 
"I had an exciting first road weekend with the team. It was great to see the teamwork and so many successes out there. I think we have a great base to work on throughout the season. I'm super proud of the team."
 
Head Coach Hoover agrees with the assessment: 
 
"Typically the first race of the season is our gauge of fitness and we use it to test our legs and see what we need to work on" says Coach Hoover. "This past weekend, the legs were clearly there, and we found ourselves instead coming together as a team and actively working to win. Both the men's and women's squads are showing the best camaraderie in the program history. I'm looking forward to what we can accomplish this year."
 
WHAT'S NEXT? The Bees will return to action on March 4-5 at the Conference Championship at Milligan University.