Watsonville cyclist Matt Schaupp takes bronze in criterium at road nationals

Santa Cruzans Devon Gorry, Tobin Ortenblad each have top 25 finishes

Watsonville resident Matt Schaupp secured the bronze in the junior men’s 17-18 criterium at the USA Cycling Juniors U23 Elite Road Nationals in Augusta, Georgia, on Friday.

Schaupp, who rides with the Ritte Elite U23 Development Team, finished the race in the same time as winner Brendan Rhim of Norwich, Vt. They crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 21 seconds as did runner-up Alexandre Darnville of Santa Barbara. Rhim rides for Woodstock Bicycle Club/Killing and Darnville rides for Hammer Nutrition-CMG Racing Team.

The first 14 riders came across the finish line with the same time.

Schaupp also raced in the road race Sunday, when he placed 75th [2:26:48]. Ritte teammate Tobin Ortenblad took 23rd [2:25:22] in that race after suffering two DNFs in earlier races. Miami’s Miguel Bryon won in 2:25:22. The first 39 cyclists across the finish line recorded the same time.

Santa Cruzan Devon Gorry [NOW and Novartis for MS/Now Cycling] placed 14th in the time trial, crossing the finish line in 41:59.355. Specialized-Lululemon’s Amber Neben of Lake Forest won in 39:27.375.

Gorry also took 23rd in the criterium, finishing in 1:10:04. Theresa Cliff-Ryan [Exergy TWENTY12], of Cedar Springs, Mich., won in 1:09:27.

Results in this report are from USACycling.com.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Aptos’ Tommy Zaferes does two triathlons in one weekend, passes out at finish line

Aptos native and pro triathlete Tommy Zaferes did double duty over the weekend, and it caught up with him as he passed out at the finish line of the Banyoles World Cup, an ITU-sanctioned event, in Spain on Sunday.

“I passed out from heat and exhaustion right across the line and spent 20 min in the medical tent,” Zaferes tweeted after the race. “All better now. My next blog should be fun.”

On Saturday, Zaferes — who is training in Europe over the summer — placed sixth with his St. Rafael team in the French Grand Prix super sprint relay at Toulouse. St. Rafael finished the  400-meter swim, 10-kilometer bike and 2.5k-run triathlon with a time of 1 hour, 27 minutes, 7 seconds.

In Spain, Zaferes ended up placing 17th [1:49:33] and finishing the 1.5k-swim,  40k-bike and 10k-run race with a temperature of about 102 degrees, according to his blog.

Zaferes regularly blogs about his races with an in-depth, blow-by-blow style. For his race report of the Frnach GP, go here, and for a report of the World Cup, go here.

The French GP was won by Les Sables Vendee’s team [1:26:18]. The World Cup race was won by fellow American Lukas Verzbicas [1:47:28].

Results included in this report were from the ITU website and the GP website.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

UC San Diego surfer Shaun Burrell takes 6th in NSSA championship

UC San Diego surfer Shaun Burrell, who is from Capitola, placed sixth in the men’s college final of the National Scholastic Surfing Association’s Interscholastic Championships at Salt Creek in Dana Point over the weekend.

Burrell scored 9.56 points in the final heat. Mira Costa’s Dayton Silva won with a whopping 17.03 points.

Burrell’s finish helped his team to eighth place overall with 58 points. Mira Costa’s Red team won the overall team title with 152 points.

Results in this report are from the NSSA website.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CgullTweets

Watsonville’s Brett Gotcher misses USA Half Marathon title by 3 seconds

Brett Gotcher, a Watsonville native now living in Flagstaff, Ariz., finished a close second to Abdi Abdirahman in the USA Half Marathon Championships on Saturday in Duluth, Minn.

Gotcher clocked in at 1 hour, 2 minutes and 49 seconds — just 3 seconds behind Abdirahman.

– Santa Cruz Sentinel, on Twitter @scsentinel

High school student Andrew Walgren makes top 15 of Trail Quake Run Half Marathon

Aptos’ Davis, Watsonville’s Bejar have strong showings in 5- and 10-kilometer races

Only one runner from Santa Cruz County made the top 100 of the Trail Quake Run Half Marathon in Saratoga on Saturday, and he was the youngest one in the field: Andrew Walgren.

The 14-year-old Santa Cruz High student finished the 13.2-mile race in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 6 seconds for 12th place. He was 31:31 behind winner Ivan Medina of Hayward [1:39:35].

Aptos’ Tom Davis, 60, was the sole area runner to place in the top 100 of the 10-kilometer race, which was run in conjunction with the half. He placed 16th in 1:13:05. San Pablo’s Selvin Henriquez won in 51:48.

Watsonville’s Marisol Bejar, 29, placed 79th overall in the 5k [45:26] as the only Santa Cruz County runner to make the top 100 of that race. Tyler Hansen of Orinda won in 21:41.

Results in this report are from Active.com.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Capitola’s Valarie Jenkins ties for second in Disc Girls Gone Wild tournament

Capitola resident Valarie Jenkins, who is one of the top professional female disc golfers in the country, settled for a tie for second in the Disc Girls Gone Wild tournament in Laingsburg, Mich., over the weekend.

Jenkins and Sue Stephens tied with 5-under 157s after three rounds, while Paige Pierce — the defending world champion — won with a 7-under 155.

Results in this report are from the Professional Disc Golf Association’s website.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Capitola disc golfer Avery Jenkins wins Sula Open by one throw

Capitola resident and professional disc golfer Avery Jenkins traveled to Norway and won the Sula Open by one throw over the weekend.

Jenkins finished with a 34-under-213 in the men’s open division. Karl Johan Høi Nybo placed second [under-33], and StÃ¥le Stai Hakstad and Espen Møkkelgjerd were third and fourth, respectively, at under 14.

Results in this report are from the Professional Disc Golf Association’s website.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Santa Cruz’s Tobin Ortenblad finishes 26th in Mount Hood Cycling Classic criterium

Just a week after winning the junior division of the Steve Dunlap Time Trial, Santa Cruz’s Tobin Ortenblad finished 26th in the pro division of the criterium at the Mount Hood Cycling Classic, which ran from Friday to Sunday in Hood River, Ore.

Ortenblad finished in 1 hour, 2 minutes, 4 seconds — a time which matched that of winner Jeff Perrin of Lakewood, Colo — according to results on USACycling.com. Ortenblad’s other finishes in the stage race were 65th or farther back.

Ortenblad, who rides for the Ritte Elite U23 Development Team, was also recently selected to represent the USA at the UCI Cross Country World Cups this summer, according to the team’s Twitter feed.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Capitola’s Dan Perry, Santa Cruz’s Kimberly Sperling win Central Coast Circuit Races

Capitola resident Dan Perry and Santa Cruz resident Kimberly Sperling won their respective divisions in the Central Coast Circuit Races’ fourth event of the season at Fort Ord near Monterey on Saturday.

Perry [Team Bicycle Trip/Semantec] won the men’s Cat 4 race. He was followed by Fresno’s Zach Eurich [VOS Racing] in second place and San Luis Obispo’s Gary Willey [SLO Nexus Cycling Club] in third.

Sperling [Red Racing] won the women’s Cat 1/2/3 race ahead of runner-up Joan Meiners of Logan, Utah, and third-place finisher Ginger Snell of Seaside.

The fifth and second-to-last circuit race on the Central Coast slate is scheduled for July 8, also at Fort Ord.

Results in this report are from USACycling.com.

For photos of the event, check out the CCCX site.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Aptos’ Tommy Zaferes takes fifth in European Cup sprint triathlon

Aptos resident Tommy Zaferes placed fifth in the Cremona ITU Sprint Triathlon European Cup in Italy on Sunday.

Zaferes finished the race in 55 minutes, 47 seconds, coming in 50 seconds behind winner Thomas Bishop of Great Britain [54:57]. Russia’s Igor Polyanskiy was second [55:26], Switzerland’s Florin Salvisberg was third [55:32] and Australia’s Ryan Fisher was fourth [55:40].

“Racing a sprint triathlon on legs that aren’t fully rested is a challenge, so I’m very happy with that result and being able to see first-hand the benefits of getting back into my own personal training groove,” Zaferes wrote in the race recap on his blog.

Zaferes, who is training in Europe this summer, completed the 750-meter swim in 9:01, the 20-kilometer run in 29:42 and the 8k run in 16:29.

Zaferes will next compete in the French Grand Prix in Toulouse this Saturday, according to the schedule on his website, before he does double duty with a World Cup race in Spain on Sunday.

The results in this report are from the International Triathlon Union website.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets