2016 Olympian Bobby Lea won the omnium on Tuesday as he took two of the four events on Tuesday and second in the two others. Lea was second in the elimination race to open the day behind Zachary Kovalcik with Roger Ainslie in third before holding off Kovalcik and Zachary Carlson in the 1000m time trial. Lea’s time of 1:07.351 was just over three tenths of a second faster than Kovalcik and just under four tenths faster than Carlson. Later in the day Lea came in second to Kovalcik in the flying lap in 18.926 to Kovalcik’s 18.819 with Jordan Marhanka third in that race. Lea closed out the omnium and defended his title by winning the points race with 234 points compared to 210 for Kovalcik and 184 for Carlson.

On the women’s side Tela Crane, last year’s runner-up, won the title this year winning all four events on the second day. Crane was first in front of Danielle Mullis and Cathering Moore in the elimination race while she beat Cheryl Fuller-muller and Clarice Sayle in the 500m time trial. Her time of 37.736 was over 2.5 seconds faster than Fuller-muller. Crane won the flying lap by over 0.6 seconds over Sayle and Fuller-muller. Sayle came in second with 219 points in the point race while Crane won with 235. Mullis was third in the event with 196 points.

Lea also won the individual pursuit final for the second straight year by topping Dean Phillips by over nine seconds while Charles Cassin won the bronze medal. On the women’s side Christina Birch held off Jasmine Zamora for gold by 4.5 seconds while Esther Walker won bronze. Zamora had finished seventh in the event last year.

Mandy Marquardt and Madalyn Godby met for the sprint final again but this year it was Marquardt that got the better of the matchup. McKenzie Browne finished third, a big step up from 13th last year. On the men’s side David Espinoza held off Dominic Suozzi to win the national title after finishing third last year. Suozzi had been seventh last year. James Mellen finished third after a fifth place finish in 2015.

In the keirin event James Mellen took the top spot over Edward Horvet and Jamie Alvord. Mellen had been fifth with Horvet 11th last year. On the women’s side Marquardy won another title with Colleen Gulick and Kimberly Ann Zubris in the next two spots. Gulick had finished fifth in 2015.

Previous USA Cycling Track Nationals Coverage:
Preview
Monday Update

2016 Olympian Bobby Lea leads the omnium at the USA Track Nationals after the first day by virtue of winning both the scratch race and the individual pursuit. Lea took the scratch race over Zachary Kovalcik and Zachary Carlson while finishing five seconds ahead of Cahrles Cassin in the individual pursuit with Carlson in third. On the women’s side returning runner-up Tela Crane won the scratch race ahead of Danielle Mullis and Clarice Sayle while she came second in the individual pursuit eight seconds behind Catherine Moore as Sayle was again third.

The individual pursuit in the omnium was also used with a few additional competitors to do qualifying for the stand alone individual pursuit event where the top two will compete in the gold medal final and the next two in the bronze medal final on Tuesday. The men’s gold medal final is Lea vs. Dean Phillips who just edged Cassin while Cassin will face Timothy Rugg in the bronze final. On the women’s side it’s Christina Birch vs Jasmine Zamora in the gold medal final while Esther Walker will face Laurel Green in the bronze final.

Previous USA Cycling Track Nationals Coverage:
Preview

One of the more interesting sports, because of the wide variety of competitions, is track cycling. Over the next seven days in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania that sport will be on display with the USA Nationals. Monday’s first day of competition will feature the start of the men’s and women’s sprint competitions with the qualifiers through the quarterfinals. Also beginning will be the men’s and women’s omnium events, with the scratch race and the individual pursuit events taking place.

Last year’s women’s runner-up in the omnium Tela Crane is competing this year while on the men’s side 2016 Olympian and defending national champion Bobby Lea leads the way. Last year’s bronze medalist, Jeremy Shirock, is also back for another ride at it. The top two from last year in the women’s sprint, Madalyn Godby and Mandy Marquardt, are back to compete for the title again while the men’s bronze medalist from last year, David Espinoza is competing again.