Written by Matt V

Coming home empty handed from Road Nationals, I decided at the last minute to compete at Track Nationals hoping to repeat my success when I was 14 years old.My parents had to scramble to work out the logistics for me. Luckily Mr. Leong, Justin’s (SJBC) dad, offered to help and Ken Carpenter was able to pull some strings to get me a place to stay until my mom arrived. How lucky was I to stay at Marty Nothstein’s house, an Olympic gold medalist, and be coached by him? I was stoked and it set the tone for my quest for gold.

The first race of the omnium was the points race. I stayed attentive and was ready to move with any attacks. I knew I had to stay consistent with getting points in order to win. After the third or fourth sprint, a break of 4 went off the front. Chazmichael Morales drove the pace to get to the leaders. I looked behind and noticed that the race was breaking up, so I dug deep and bridged to the break away. The break consisted of Zeke Mostov, Broderick Hartley, Jordan Marhanka, and Gavin Hoover. Marty yelled at me saying, "you are in second place, watch number 73 (Zeke Mostov)!" We lapped the field and gained 20 points on

everyone. I won the race on the last lap by winning the sprint. I was now in the driver’s seat, leading the omnium with 7 points and I knew I was a marked man for the rest of the events.

The next day was the match sprints. It had only been my second time doing it, but no excuses, it was Nationals. First, we had to qualify doing a flying 200m and only 8 moved on to the sprints. I got 4th with a time of 12.286. Luckily, I was the only one who qualified with omnium points. I knew that qualifying would separate my omnium lead from the others. After I beat the 5 th place qualifier in one ride, I had to face Chazmichael Morales, the 1st seed. I lost in 2 rides to Chazmichael, so I had to face the 2nd seed for the 3rd place medal. I lost the 1st ride, which gave me only one more chance for 3rd place. I played to my strengths, attacking the other rider as soon as the official blew the whistle. He caught me and I held him to the rail for as long as I could, but he had the strength. He came over the top at turn 3 and beat me to the finish. I ended up fourth and extended my lead to 9 points over 2nd place Chazmichael Morales, who had 7 points.

Marty and I before my match sprints

Determination was on my mind on day 3 of Track Nationals. It was the scratch race and we had the biggest crowd that I've ever seen at T-Town. Team director Larry Nolan warned me not to get overwhelmed and also not to veer away from my race plan with a crowd so big. I relaxed. When the race was about to begin, Marty told me "C'mon kid, this is your race, c'mon!" A break went off right away, but I had to be patient and let it go because I knew that someone would chase it back. After four laps, the break was caught and Zeke Mostov (Garmin) countered, I followed and we opened up a gap immediately. Zeke was trying to drop me after I took my pull, but I wasn't going to give up. Marty at turn 2 yelled at me saying, "short pulls!" I did exactly what he said and conserved my energy for the sprint. Coming into one to go, I was leading Zeke high on the track. In turn 2, I jumped putting Zeke behind me. Marty and I talked about how to win a sprint on this type of track; it’s all about placement. I was in the money, leading through turn 3 and 4, but Zeke came over the top and got the win by a bike throw. I was pissed! I hate losing and especially by how close it was. I ended up with 5 more points, totaling 14 points for the omnium, and Zeke and Chazmichael were tied in second place with 10 points each. That evening, Coach Billy Innes called and talked to me about "leg speed and speed". He also helped calm me down with the reminder that I could still win the omnium.

Before the start of the scratch race

The last day was the 500m time trial. It was time to start, 10 seconds.... I was breathing hard; looked up at the track and took deep breathes to relax. 3 seconds.....2.....1.... A clean start. I pumped my arms, moved my hips fast and went as hard as i could for a lap and a half. I finished with the new best time but I had to wait to see how Chazmichael did. He came in 2nd and I finished 4th This meant I won my second national championship in the 15-16 omnium.



500 meter time trial

Thank you Marty, Ken, Larry, Billy, Team Specialized, Mr. Leong, and my family! This win wouldn’t have been possible without your help and support!