Issue date: 5/5/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy of Paul Mooney Sophomore Rita Klofta races in the criterium at Collegiate Cycling National Championships in Fort Collins, Colo. on Saturday, May 9.

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy Paul Mooney Klofta sports her stars-and-stripes jersey and gold medal on the podium after winning the individual omnium at cycling nationals.

The ability to endure pain makes a great cyclist, and sophomore Rita Klofta has mastered the art of pain management.

Riding through the thin Colorado air on Friday and Saturday, Klofta earned the title of Div. II U.S. Cycling Collegiate National Champion.

"Cycling is all about pain, you just have to learn to control it," Klofta said.

Competing with her teammates in the championships in Fort Collins, Colo. Klofta's efforts in the road race and criterium combined for her first place individual omnium score.

Klofta described the intensified pain that was brought on by the high altitude in Colorado.

"I could definitely feel the altitude from the start of the road race on Friday to the end of the crit on Saturday," Klofta said. "It was just a pain in my throat and lungs that you don't feel in the Midwest, because the air is thinner and drier."

Klofta tallied 146 points with a second place finish in Friday's road race and 115 points in a fifth place effort in the criterium on Saturday. Klofta's 261 points finished just two points ahead of the second place rider, Greencastle native and Whitman College junior Kendi Thomas. Thomas won the criterium and was sixth in the road race.

Klofta pointed to her performance in the prime laps as a key to her success. Prime points are awarded to the top five finishers in the designated sprint laps within the race.

Expected to be a top competitor in the omnium, Klofta realized she had a chance at the title after her strong performance in the road race, which she sees as her weakness.

"A top 5 finish in the road race would have been amazing because road races aren't my thing, and after I got second in the road race I knew I had a shot at winning the omnium," Klofta said.

The cycling team has accumulated a record of success at the national level in recent years including a second place finish in the September's Div. II U.S. Cycling Collegiate Track National Championships. However, with her national championship, Klofta becomes the first DePauw cyclist to earn the title.

A perk of being the national champion comes to Klofta in the form of an invite to be a part of the Ryan Collegiate Women's All Star cycling team. Six women from six different schools are selected to the team based on their standings at the Collegiate Cycling National Championships. The riders are invited to race in the Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minneapolis as a part of the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival June 10-14.

As national champion, Klofta says she wants to continue to raise her level of riding this summer as a part of the all star team.

"I guess being a national champion makes me want more, makes me want to challenge myself more," Klofta said.

In her preparation for the cycling season this spring, Klofta and her senior teammates Neil Broshears and John Stallings spent their Winter Term training in Tucson, Ariz. Klofta credited her success in Colorado to the many miles of training the three did together in Arizona.

"That trip transformed me as a climber, which is crucial out here in Colorado with all the foothills," Klofta said.

After her podium appearance Saturday evening, Klofta raced with her teammates in the team time trials on Sunday morning.

In 42-degree, rainy weather, the DePauw women took fifth place out of six teams, and the men placed 11th out of 12. Following the time trial performances, DePauw finished sixth in the team omnium with 222 points, five points below fifth-place Mesa State College.

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