The Midwestern State University cycling team came away victorious last weekend at the Collegiate Road Cycling Nationals in Albuquerque, New Mexico. MSU Texas won the men’s varsity criterium as a team, and Dušan Kalaba won the criterium individually.

MSU Cycling Director Pablo Cruz Trochez said there was great teamwork involved from Pavle Kalaba, Carlos Maldonado, Noah Reinertz, and Juan Restrepo to accomplish the championship.

“It was a challenging weekend for the team racing at altitude, but I'm happy that we were able to have a training camp in that same location in April to pre-ride the courses, and familiarize ourselves with the weather that we were going to face at Collegiate Nationals,” Cruz Trochez said.

The team last won the overall championship in 2016. And Stefan Rothe won a mass start national championship that year.

Dušan Kalaba, from Serbia, won the criterium with a time of 1:20:36. He finished third in the individual time trial. Kalaba was the men’s omnium winner, edging Colorado Mesa’s Ian Anderson, 148 points to 141.

Anoud Awamleh of MSU Texas placed second in the women’s time trial.

Note: Rothe completed his Master of Education in Sport Administration at MSU Texas in 2016. He is currently a founder and coach of ROTHE Training, LLC.