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Frazier Cycling Juniors bring home a record 16 Junior National Road Race Championship Medals

 

by Ralph Frazier

 

July 10, 2014

 

We got a preview of Project 15 last week.  Our Junior National Team competed at the 2014 USA Cycling Amateur & Para-cycling Road National Championships in Madison, Wisconsin, from July 2 to 6, 2014.  The nation's top amateurs and para-cyclists were there to compete for a Stars-and-Stripes jersey in the road race, time trial, and criterium. 

Frazier Cycling was represented by our national team that was comprised of fifteen juniors from ages nine to 15.  Our team gave us, in my opinion, our best road national championships, ever!  Our total medal count was 16 including one national champion, breaking our previous record of nine medals in 2008. 

2014 Frazier Cycling Junior National Road Race Team

  1. Davis Branyon, 14

  2. Sean Branyon, 12

  3. Nico Federico, 13

  4. Luciano Hasko, 12

  5. David Heath, 13

  6. Megan Heath, 15

  7. Stephen "Toaster" Heath, 10

  8. Alexa Hoppenfeld, 10

  9. Eli Hoppenfeld, 11

  10. Ryan Hoppenfeld, 10

  11. Harrison Nguy, 13

  12. Aneesh Shakthy, 9

  13. Esha Shakthy, 11

  14. Jane Tullis, 13

  15. Sam Tullis, 11

On Wednesday, July 2, Megan Heath, 15, was our only racer for the day.  She gave our nationals a great start with her silver medal performance in the Women's 15-16 Road Race.  She was narrowly beaten by defending champion, Hannah Arensman, 16, TWENTY16 Junior Development Team, in the closest race on the day!

Megan had a fantastic nationals!  She was the only 15-16 Woman at this year's nationals to medal in all three events: 2nd in the road race, 5th in the time trial, and 4th in the criterium.  Additionally, Megan is the first ever member of our team over the age of 14 to medal multiple times at a single nationals event!

The next race day was Friday, July 4th, Waterloo Time Trials.  On that day, our whole team competed within their age/gender time trial races.  While many people around the nation were enjoying the holiday with fireworks, our team delivered their own explosives by winning six medals, the most ever a Frazier Cycling Nationals Team has collected in a single day at nationals!  Alexa Hoppenfeld, 10, and Stephen "Toaster" Heath, 10, led the way with bronze medals in the Women's 9-10 and Men's 9-10 age groups, respectively. 

Alexa and Stephen joined Megan by medaling in all three events along with two other teammates: Ryan Hoppenfeld, 10, and Jane Tullis, 13.

Saturday's races were on the Rockdale Short Course for boys and girls 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14.  Once again Stephen was our top finisher by placing second the Men's 9-10 Road Race.  Our team took four medals on the day bringing our total to eleven, breaking our old record for medal count at a single nationals (9 medals, 2008).

Going into the criteriums on Sunday, we had our top medal count for a single nationals, but I wasn't ready to proclaim this nationals as our best because in 2008 we had two National Champions.  For this year, we still didn't have a "Stars-and-Stripes" with all of the hardware the team had collected.  But that changed quickly!  In the first race of the day, Stephen "Toaster" Heath made the decisive move on the final lap and cruised to victory securing our eighth national championship and best nationals ever!  The team kept it's momentum by adding four more medals to Stephen's gold making a total of five on the day!

Although Stephen brought us our eighth national championship, our top performer of the week was Jane Tullis, 13, who placed 5th in all of the events.  We thought Jane had an outside chance of bringing home one medal because her age group, Women's 13-14, was stacked with past national champions, silver, and bronze medalists.  Jane really came through with her clever racing and her strong time trial!

2014 Frazier Cycling Juniors National Road Race Team Medalists

Davis Branyon, 1 medal, 5th time trial

Megan Heath, 3 medals, 2nd road race, 5th time trial, 4th criterium

Stephen "Toaster" Heath, 3 medals, 3rd time trial, 2nd road race, 1st criterium

Alexa Hoppenfeld, 3 medals, 3rd time trial, 3rd road race, 3rd criterium

Ryan Hoppenfeld, 3 medals, 5th time trial, 4th road race, 4th criterium

Jane Tullis, 3 medals, 5th time trial, 5th road race, 5th criterium

 

The team raised our all-time National Road Championships medal count to 55 medals.

Frazier Cycling Juniors' National Road Race Championships All-time Medal Count>>       

Great job, team!  Congratulations!  We are so very proud of you!  Now onward with Project 15!