The MSU Cycling team hit the road to Norman, OK to compete in the University of Oklahoma Land Ronde Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8. 

The Mustangs are led by Director and Head Coach Charlie Zamastil. He said even with adversity hitting the team, he was pleased with everyone’s performance.

“On balance, I’m pleased. We were without a few of our riders due to illness, but we still managed to pick up several individual race wins, and even where we came up short, we were in contention until the end,” Zamastil said.

With multiple victories, the Mustangs contested their success with 5 months of rigorous physical and mental training. 

“Preparation began at the start of October. For us to be on peak, or nearly-peak form during the racing season requires doing thousands of miles on the bike in the fall and winter. On top of the training, we’ve been really focusing on team strategy this season, practicing race scenarios and watching films. It’s paying off in that we’re conserving as much as possible and relying on our depth of talent that the rest of the conference can’t match,” Zamastil said. 

The Mustangs will host the 2020 South Central Collegiate Cycling Conference Championship in Downtown Wichita Falls April 4-5 hoping to take conference title and qualify for the national championship. 

“It’ll be a great spectator event around the downtown area where you can sit at the brewery or a coffee shop & watch our local university’s team rip around corners at 30mph. If that goes well, we’ll win our 14th consecutive conference title & qualify for the national championship in Augusta, GA on May 8-10,” Zamastil said. 

Results:

Road Race

• In the College Men A of the road race, Pablo Cruz finished 2nd place, Pavle Kalaba finished 3rd place, Jason Perkins finished 5th place and Charlie Zamastil finished 12th place
• In the College Men B, Sharon’s Burton finished 3rd place, Morgan Ballesteros finished 7th place and Reid Hutchins finished 8th place 
• In the College Men D, Jose Rodrigo Quezada finished 2nd place and Julian Rubio Blanco finished 5th place
• In the College Women C, Bridget Reilly, Dominique Shepard, Aimee Cavazos, and Bianca Zuleta all finished, taking the top places. 

Time Trial

• In the College Men A of the time trial, Kalaba finished 2nd, Zamastil finished 3rd, Cruz finished 4th and Perkins finished 6th.
• In the College Men B, Burton finished 2nd, Ballesteras finished 5th, Hutchins finished 6th and Blanco finished 7th.
• In the College Men D, Avezado finished 1st with a time of 20:06.3.
• In the College Women C, Reilly finished 1st, Cavazos finished 3rd and Zuleta finished 4th.

Criterium Race

• In the College Men A of the criterium race, Cruz finished 2nd, Kalaba finished 4th and Perkins finished 11th.
• In the College Men B, Ballesteras finished 6th and Burton finished 7th.
• In the College Men D, Avezado finished 2nd and Blanco finished 6th.
• In the College Women C, Reilly finished 1st, Shepard finished 2nd, Cavazos finished 3rd and Zuleta finished 4th.