UC Santa Cruz cyclist Christine Weir goes down at Nationals

Nevada City’s Christine Weir, a UC Santa Cruz team cyclist, crashed during the criterium at the 2012 USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals in Ogden, Utah, on Saturday. Then, she got back up, and finished her race, placing 44th.

Crash and all, Weir crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 1 minute, 32 seconds — 2:03 off winner Eileen Mazzochette of Stanford.

Hard weekend at #collnats Christine went down in the crit but still pulled off a top half in the road race all bandaged up!

— UCSC Cycling (@UCSCCycling) May 7, 2012

Earlier in the competition, Weir placed 32nd in the road race [3:03:58], which Heather Fischer of the University of Colorado-Boulder won [2:54:47].

Weir’s teammate Nicholas Newcomb was also representing the Slugs at nationals. The Nalisco native placed 38th in the road race [3:08:57], which was won by Josh Yeaton of the University of Colorado-Boulder [3:04:12].

In the criterium, Newcomb finished 83rd [1:14:39]. Yeaton won, finishing in 1:14:14.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

UC Santa Cruz cycling teammates qualify for road nationals

UC Santa Cruz’s cycling team had two riders – Nicholas Newcomb and Christine Weir — qualify for the upcoming collegiate road nationals, according to its Twitter feed, after last weekend’s Western Collegiate Cycling Conference races at the University of Nevada-Reno.

Newcomb was the runner-up in the individual time trial over the weekend — which landed him on a rusted-pipe podium (I’m not kidding, I’m pretty sure I see some rust there) – and he placed 13th in the criterium to boost his points in the season-long “A” omnium. He finished the regular season in ninth place overall with 470 points.

Men’s conference champion Mackenzie Champlin of UCLA had 770 points.

Weir placed fifth in the road race and sixth in the women’s criterium to finish the regular season in sixth place in the women’s “A” omnium with 520 points.

Women’s conference champion Danielle Haulman of UC Davis had 1,079 points.

UCSC finished ninth out of 20 teams in the conference omnium with 520 points, according to the WCCC site, and it is ranked No. 7 in the conference according to national rankings, which are calculated slightly differently.

The Collegiate Road National Championships will be held May 4-6 in Ogden, Utah.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets