Aggeler scores title two on short-track; FLC grabs silvers

Dirt, grass, concrete, cobble stones and some metal stairs through Purgatory Resort’s base village comprised the course for Saturday’s short-track cross-country finals at the USAC collegiate mountain bike nationals.

Durangoan Lauren Aggeler captured her second national title in two days for North Arizona University in the women’s club division. Aggeler attacked on the first hill to take the lead and then never let it go. The win was similar to her cross-country victory Friday, where she blasted out of the gate and had a five-second lead before she even got to the first climb.

“Two for two! I’m stoked,” Aggeler said, calling short-track course “super fun.”

“I loved it through the stairs,” she said. “That was a great idea.”

Aggeler also won the U.S.A.C. national cross-country title this summer in the 17-18 division at Winter Park, giving her three stars-and-stripes jerseys this year. She’ll race once more at 2 p.m. Sunday in the club team relay with three of her teammates. The varsity relay will follow at 2:45 p.m.

In the varsity short-track championships, Michaela Thompson and Carson Beard led the Skyhawks with second-place finishes while Toby Hassett reached the podium in fifth.

Thompson beat Colorado Mesa’s Ruby Ryan at Ryan’s strength, on a climb, to move up from third to second during the race and kept pushing to score the silver.

“I’m super proud of Michaela,” said FLC coach Chad Cheeney. “Usually she gets outclimbed by Ruby Ryan, but she put the wood to her today.”

Thompson’s childhood friend from Boulder, Madigan Munro, won the race for her second title at the championships.

Beard’s twin brother, Austin, who races for Mesa, finished one spot ahead of him Friday in cross-country. On the short-track, however, Carson progressively picked people off throughout the race, including his brother, to grab second. Colorado Mesa’s Torbjorn Roed, who won Friday’s cross-country race, also won short-track.

Hassett led the men’s race for a couple laps, but dropped his chain on the stairs. Hassett kept fighting though and reached the podium in fifth.

Robbie Day of Colorado College won the club men’s title.

On the dual slalom course Friday night, Fort Lewis College senior Fiona Dougherty won a national title while Kaia Jenson (fifth), Keanu Smith (third) and Cole Fiene (fifth) also scored podium finishes for FLC.

“It’s super exciting,” Dougherty said. “I came in with literally no expectations. My goal was to reach the round of eight.”

To reach the round-of-eight quarterfinals, Dougherty beat her opponent by .07 seconds.

In the finals, she won by .009 seconds.

“She was ahead of me until the last two gates,” Dougherty said. “Then I threw down a couple pedal strokes and was able to pass her.”

“I didn’t believe it at first,” she continued. “I saw the the time difference and looked at my teammate and asked her, ‘did I do that?’ Then I fell to my knees. It was my first podium at nationals and to win it, it was a crazy feeling.”

On Saturday, Dougherty scored the No. 3 seed for Sunday’s downhill finals on World Cup. “It’s going to be intense,” she said. “It’s gnarly.”

The downhill championships will begin at 10:30 a.m. Sunday with the female club race, followed by the female varsity, male club and male varsity.

See Wednesday’s edition of the Durango Herald for the complete stories.