Compton Makes it Ten With Elite Women’s Win Over Anderson at the 2014 National Cyclocross Championships – Report, Full Results

Boulder, CO  — There were no surprises at the sharp end of the Elite Women’s national title today, as Katie Compton (Trek Cyclocross Collective) continued the streak that has seen her win every national title since 2004, establishing an early gap and time-trialing her way around the dry, windy Boulder course to take her tenth consecutive title. Only slightly less expected was silver medalist Elle Anderson (Cal-Giant), who has stormed onto the Elite cyclocross scene and proved this is where she belongs, clinging to Compton for the first half of lap one before conceding to the World Cup champion and working to consolidate her second place.

The battle of the day belonged to the third step, as Meredith Miller (Cal-Giant) slowly hunted down Crystal Anthony (Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), making contact halfway through the final lap and setting up for an exciting finish. Miller opened a bike length on Anthony moments before the finishing stretch, and held off Anthony’s charge to take bronze. Georgia Gould (Luna) overcame a slow start to round out the top five, followed by Rachel Lloyd (Cal-Giant) and then Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld), who again claimed the U23 win.

“It feels pretty good,” Compton said. “It was hard today with everyone talking about number ten. It was a little more pressure. It builds every year. It was amazing, everyone was so loud and cheering. It was pretty special, that last lap, I took some time to take it all in and appreciate it.”

“It was a great day out there,” said Elle Anderson. “I’m really excited to be out here. It was an honor to ride with Katie and give it my best shot. I was out front, and Katie came steamrolling by me. Kudos to her, because I could not hold her wheel. This is only my third championships I’ve ever ridden, so it’s really special to have come this far.”

“Oh my god,” said Miller. “Let me just say that A, [Anthony] made me fight like hell for that, and B if it were not for this crowd cheering for me I never would have been able to do that. They helped me dig even deeper. I heard my name all around, which was so amazing. Going up the stairs was deafening.”

A Miss, A Surge, and a Surprise
At the gun, Compton – not known for fast starts – missed her pedal, shaking her head as the rest of the first row swarmed past her, with Anthony taking the holeshot ahead of Nicole Duke (Marin Bikes/SPY). Within moments, however, Compton was at the front and looked ready to follow the familiar script. “Of course I missed my pedal on the start,” she said, “but I slotted in. Once I changed bikes I just settled in and raced.”

In only her third national showing, a blitzing Elle Anderson, however, hoped to write a new chapter as she overtook Compton and drilled the pace, quickly opening a gap that only Compton, Duke and Anthony could follow.

Then it was two, as Anderson shed Duke and Anthony while briefly capitalizing on a pit by Compton, who later said she felt her front wheel had a slow leak.

And Then There Was One
Halfway through the first lap, Compton took the reigns from Anderson and surged ahead. It was the last any of the other races saw of the World Cup champion. “I think accelerating and being smooth in turns was key,” she said. “I just attacked on the backside of the course and got a bit of a gap. I wanted to just be smooth and time trial it. This course takes a lot of focus to not make mistakes. This is one of the most challenging courses we’ve had that wasn’t weather related. It was fun in a different way.”

Anderson did what she could to hang onto Compton’s wheel, maximizing the gap back to Duke, Anthony, and Chloe Woodruff (Crankbrothers Race Club), before conceding the win to Compton and working to consolidate the second podium spot. “The start was good,” she said. “A little chaotic. But I made it out of there and really tried to get to the front knowing I had to be there to see how it played out. Katie put in a really good attack on the backside of the course and I tried to catch her wheel but with this thin air and her power, I couldn’t catch her wheel.”

The Fight for the Podium
As the battle went on for the remaining podium spots, Kaitlin Antonneau began to work her way up the field, distancing herself from her main U23 rivals, Emma White and Ellen Noble. Further behind, Georgia Gould began to warm up her diesel after getting caught behind Compton’s missed pedal. Gould, who started in the second row just behind Compton, was also caught out by Compton’s pedal miss. “I was joking around,” she said. “I lined up right behind Katie and was like, ‘Katie, have a good start.’ And she’s like, ‘I don’t know, I’m 50-50 these days.’ And then she missed her pedal. I was like, ‘Come on!’ It was funny. I didn’t want to be too crazy in this first corner. There was some sketchiness in the first straight so I was back in about 20th.”

From there, Gould spent the race working her way up the field, ultimately overtaking Antonneau and then battling Rachel Lloyd to claim fifth. “I’m happy with it!” Gould said of landing the final podium spot. “I didn’t know what to expect. Actually, I did know what to expect: a really hard-ass race. I wish I could have been up there at the start more. Once the gaps go, you close a gap and you have to recover.”

“I was battling with Rachael [Lloyd] at the end,” she continued. “I attacked her on the stairs. I knew I could use them to get a little bit of a gap, and then I was like, OK, murder yourself until the end of the lap. And I did. Overall I’m happy. It was a solid ride.”

“I’m a little disappointed,” said Lloyd. “I thought I had top five in me. I just didn’t have it in me today. It just felt like there was nothing in my legs.”

Ahead of the two, however, was the fight for third. Crystal Anthony, after shedding Nicole Duke early on, had been alone in third until the final lap, when Meredith Miller, propelled by the crowds, fought her way back. The two battled into the final turns, but when Miller accelerated over a berm just prior to the finishing straight, Anthony found herself lacking the gas to follow. “I was in third for 95% of the race and really wanted to hang onto that,” Anthony said. “But I feel like I rode the best I could and Meredith Miller just rode a really good race.”

“I got the holeshot and I was happy about that,” she continued. “I didn’t want to go crazy the first lap because of the altitude, and so I settled into third and just started riding consistently from there. When Meredith caught me, I just tried to stay on her wheel but I couldn’t get around her at the end.”

Full results below the photo galleries. Read about Jeremy Powers’ second National Championship in our 2014 Cyclocross National Championships Men’s Report.

Elite Women 2014 USA Cyclocross Nationals Gallery by Brian Nelson

Elite Women 2014 USA Cyclocross Nationals Gallery by Steve Anderson

Elite Women 2014 USA Cyclocross Nationals Gallery by Mike Albright

Elite Women Full Results 2014 US Cyclocross Nationals

Place	Bib	Last	First	Team
1	1	COMPTON	Katherine	Trek Cyclocross Collective
2	4	ANDERSON	Elle	California Giant Cycling
3	3	MILLER	Meredith	California Giant Cycling
4	5	ANTHONY	Crystal	Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit St
5	10	GOULD	Georgia	LUNA PRO TEAM
6	16	LLOYD	Rachel	California Giant Cycling
7	2	ANTONNEAU *	Kaitlin	Cannondale pb Cyclocrossworld
8	7	DUKE	Nicole	Marin Bikes/SPY
9	15	WOODRUFF	Chloe	Crankbrothers Race Club
10	8	BRUNO ROY	Maureen	Bob's Red Mill p/b Seven Cycles
11	6	KEMMERER	Arley	Charm City Cycling LLC
12	115	NOBLE *	Ellen	Trek Cyclocross Collective
13	32	NAUMAN	Amanda	SDG Felt
14	18	GILBERT	Sunny	Michelob Ultra - Big Shark Raci
15	23	KACHOREK	Emily	#GHETOMOTO
16	43	FINCHAMP *	Hannah	Team LUNA Chix
17	48	BARKER	Melissa	GS Boulder/Organic India
18	37	FREEMAN	Judy	Crankbrothers Race Club
19	17	CUTLER	Jessica	Market Street Cycling Club
20	19	ARENSMAN *	Allison	Bob's Red Mill Cyclocross
21	12	THIEMANN	Nicole	Team CF
22	24	STACHER	Ally	Specialized-Lululemon
23	39	WHITE *	Elizabeth	University of Vermont
24	60	LEPIKHINA *	Ksenia	Trail Master Coaching
25	30	GROSS	Rebecca	Donnelly Sports
26	22	HUNTER	Julie	Phaup St. Journal
27	68	GOMEZ VILLAFANE *	Sofia
28	46	HOGAN	Karen	Team Kappius
29	95	GOKEY-SMITH	Christina	Colonel's /Sho-Air
30	44	WEBER	Kristin	Boulder Cycle Sport
31	50	VESTAL	Caitlyn	Feedback Sports Racing
32	26	BLATT	Rebecca	Van Dessel Factory Team
33	49	RATHBUN *	Laurel	TWENTY16 Pro Cycling
34	47	BONI	Kristal	Rapid Racing
35	70	HUDSON	Lisa	Feedback Sports Racing
36	21	BIRCH	Christina	Tenet Racing
37	85	MOORE	Catherine	Squadra Di Servitori
38	28	SWARTZ *	Emma	Brazen Dropouts
39	13	ORTON	Beth Ann	Team S&M
40	109	SHERRILL	Ellen	Bicycle Bluebook/HRS/Rock Lobst
41	33	NORTHCOTT	Katherine	Ness Team New England
42	116	PENNINGTON	Alice	LUNA PRO TEAM
43	86	CATLIN *	Kelly	NorthStar Development
44	40	CUMMING	Kathryn	Team Yacht Club
45	54	PETERSON	Kristen	Evol Elite Racing
46	42	MELENA	Katie	Bicycle Blue Book/HRS/Rock Lobs
47	14	ZAVETA	Erica	Team Redline
48	65	POWLISON	Kate	Evol Elite Racing
49	63	ABEL	Margell	Natural Grocers Cycling Team
50	56	FAHRINGER	Rebecca	Jam Fund/NCC
51	53	SANSOME	Carol Jeane	Grand Performance Cyclocross Te
52	55	D'AMATO	Jessica	Evol Elite Racing
53	27	SHIELDS *	Emily	Mock Orange Bikes
54	102	SKARDA	Alexis	Colorado Mesa University
55	57	MARSHALL	Brianne	Tough Girl Cycling
56	34	BOWMAN	BrittLee	Connecticut Yankee BC
57	67	DUNN	Emma	Feedback Sports Racing
58	71	STURM	Sarah	Bear Development Team
59	62	BECK	Heidi	Twin Six
60	118	BAUM	Nina	Stan's NoTubes P/b Proferrin
61	94	BRANDT	Nicole	Velo Club LaGrange
62	29	KOROL	Meghan	Asheville Cyclocross
63	80	ZINN	Emily	Naked Women's Racing
64	89	COSTANTINI	Lauren
65	35	WOODRING	Mackenzie	Foundry Cycles
66	87	AREND	kristie	Boulder Running Company Cycling
67	31	COOGAN CISEK	Corey	The Fix Studio
68	72	VETTER	Jauron	Blue Steel Cyclery
69	75	YATES	Tracy	Tough Girl Cycling
70	51	NOWLIN	Jennifer	The Fix Studio
71	84	BLISS	Michele	Team Small Batch
72	61	SEIB *	Melissa	Bikeman.com
73	52	SO	Elizabeth	Team TATI
74	38	AMBJORN	Cooper	Team Hungry
75	97	MELCHER *	Madelaine	The TEAM
76	83	BARCHECK	Elizabeth	Team Small Batch
77	59	GATES *	Victoria	Tenet Racing
78	64	STEEN	Victoria	Team Six One Four
79	69	TIMM	Leslie	Ladies' First
80	103	CHANG	Kelly	SYCIP RACING
81	105	DEHORNEY *	Tiziana	Get Out! New Mexico
82	77	PHILLIPS	Emily	Ladies' First
83	106	DONOHUE *	Erin
84	78	SEVERN	Alyssa	Team Yacht Club
85	90	BEAM	Cristienne	Tough Girl Cycling
86	58	GREEN *	Mackenzie	NorthStar Development
87	82	BLANDFORD	Jenna	VO2
88	74	CHURCH	Kristine	Peanut Butter & Co. Human Zoom
89	81	ADAMKOVICS	Susan	Naked Women's Racing
90	41	HURFORD	Molly	Colavita Racing Inc.
91	79	MILTON *	Anna	Ladies' First
92	76	MASCELLI	Erin	SRAM Factory
93	99	SAMA	Victoria	Adventures Edge
94	96	OLEWINSKI	Luci	Rockstart Games/Signature Cycle
95	73	THOMPSON	Stephanie	WD Racing / NYC Velo
96	98	MELCHER *	McKenzie	The TEAM
97	66	KNIGHT	Lindsay	Heritage Race Club
98	113	DITTMER *	Ariana	COMototion Sports
99	92	NUFFER	Kimberly	Boulder Orthopedics
100	114	HARDEMAN	Missy	Squadra Di Servitori
101	117	MEAD	Marian	GS Boulder/Organic India
102	88	BERNSTEIN	Jessica	Boulder Running Company Cycling
103	104	KOBZA	Bethany	Portland Bicycle Studio
104	108	POMEROY	Lorna	GS Boulder/Organic India
105	91	CHRISTOFALOS *	Alex	Kona
106	93	GARVEY	Deirdre	High Peaks Masters
107	101	KRANTZ *	Nathalie
108	36	SHIELDS *	Katherine	Mock Orange Bikes
DNF	9	MCFADDEN	Courtenay	Bicycle Bluebook/HRS/Rock Lobst
DNF	11	WHITE *	Emma	Cyclocrossworld
DNF	45	DYGERT *	Chloe	Midwest Development Cycling Inc
DNS	20	CAREY	Amanda	Stan's No Tubes
DNS	111	ZUCCO	Lindsay	PSIMET Racing
DNS	107	HERRELL-RHOADES	Jennifer	Midwest Cycling Community NE
DNS	112	WALKER	Melanie Starr	GPM Sport

For all the best Cyclocross Nationals 2014 coverage, including bike profiles, race reports, results and video interviews, check out our 2014 Cyclocross National Championship Page here.