Capitola’s Steffen Andersen, Santa Cruz’s Tobin Ortenblad take silver at MTB cross country nationals

Two junior racers from Santa Cruz County earned silver, and a handful of other mountain bikers secured top-10 finishes, at the 2012 USA Cycling MTB Cross Country Nationals in Sun Valley, Idaho, on June 5-8.

On the opening day of racing Thursday, Capitola’s Steffen Andersen finished runner-up in the junior men’s Cat 3 15-18 age division, crossing the finish line of the cross country race in 1:51:03. Daniel Riley of Park City, Utah, won in 1:46:16.

And on the closing day Sunday, Santa Cruz’s Tobin Ortenblad [Ritte Elite U23 Development Team] finished runner-up to another Park City product, Keegan Swenson, in short track cross country action. Ortenblad crossed the finish line of the junior men’s Cat 1 15-18 age division race in 31:42.7, and Swenson clocked in at 31:19.4.

Ortenblad also earned a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s junior men’s 18-and-under Super-D for what was his second top-10 finish at nationals following a DNF on Friday. He had a time of 23:06.6. Swenson also won that race, crossing the finish line in 21:57.1.

Ortenblad wasn’t the only Santa Cruz County product to secure two top-10 finishes. Soquel’s Jacob Albrecht [Whole Athlete] also managed the feat with two sixth-place finishes. One was in the junior men’s Cat 1 15-18 age division race, and the other was in the junior men’s Cat 1 17-18 age division race Friday, where he finished in 1:20:56. Swenson [Cannondale Factory Racing] again won, taking that race in 1:17:08.

Several other county racer earned top-10 finishes. They were as follows:

• Santa Cruz’s Loren Gregg placed seventh in the women’s under-23 cross country race[1:44:05]. Fairfax’s Lauren Catlin [Durango Devo] won in 1:32:48.
• Capitola’s Richard Latorraca [unattached] placed 10th in the master men’s 60-64 cross country race, which was won by Montana Velo’s Randy Beckner of Helena, Mont., in 1:52:50.
• Aptos’ Ron Riley [Bike Station Aptos] placed seventh in the master men’s 77-and-over cross country race [3:12:40]. Sun Valley’s Hans Muehlegger [Durance-Colnago] won in 2:10:39.

Results included in this report are from USACycling.com.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Felton’s Kim Midstroke leads standings after fourth Central Coast Cycloross Series XC race

Felton’s Kim Midstroke went into Saturday’s Central Coast Cyclocross Series’ cross country mountain biking race with a three-point lead in the overall standings. He left with another victory and the max of 50 points to add to his total as the series reaches the halfway point of the season.

Midstroke, who competes in the men’s Cat 2 35-44 age division, finished four laps in his fourth CCCX race of the season — which was held at Toro Park in Salinas — in 1 hour, 27 minutes, 45 seconds. The Midstock Construction/Spokesman rider had almost a minute cushion over runner-up Sherwin Tangonan [Food Source] of Salinas, who finished in 1:28:47.

The tightly contested standings may see a small shakeup once the most recent race points are tallied. Tangonan was in third headed into the race with 331 points while Saturday’s ninth-place finisher Chris Coble had been holding on to second with 333 points.

Other Santa Cruz County winners from Saturday were as follows: Ben Lomond’s Gerry Hatcher [Scotts Valley Cycle Sport] in the men’s Cat 2 45-54 age division, going four laps in 1:28:26; Scotts Valley’s Scott Martin [Bicycle Trip] in the men’s Cat 2 55-plus age division, going four laps in 1:37:49; Capitola’s Richard Latorraca [Family Cycling Center] in the men’s Cat 1 55-64 age division, going five laps in 1:59:25; Santa Cruz’s Andrew Parker [unattached] in the Clydesdale division, going four laps in 2:19:26; Santa Cruz’s Barnaby Lee [Santa Cruz County Cycling Club] in the Cat 2 single speed division, going four laps in 1:47:12; Ben Lomond’s Graham Dittman [unattached] in the men’s Cat 3 19-34 age division, going three laps in 1:12:30; Aptos’ Dan Russ [unattached] in the men’s Cat 3 55-plus age division, going three laps in 1:26:42; and Aptos’ Anya Thrash [unattached] in the women’s Cat 3 19-34 age division, going three laps in 1:28:15.

The next cross country race is scheduled for Sunday, May 27, again at Toro Park.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter at CGullTweets