Cascade's Lagerstrom Dominant at National Championships
FOREST GROVE, Ore. - The last official day of summer proved to be a day to remember for Cascade's Eric Lagerstrom as he claimed his first National Championship in dominant fashion at Hagg Lake in Forest Grove.
More than 1,000 athletes representing all 50 states converged on Oregon this weekend to take on USA Triathlon's premier event of the season. The "Olympic Distance" event is contested over a 1500 meter swim, 40 kilometer bike course and 10 kilometer run on one of the most scenic and physically challenging venues in the country.
Eric's day began at the water's edge along with all the other men under 25 years old. In order to achieve his goal of a National Championship, he would have to outpace a field packed with the country's most accomplished young multisport athletes. Among those that stood between him and his goal was the World Championship gold medalist Joe Welsh.
As the air horn marked the beginning of the swim it was evident that this was no ordinary race. Lagerstrom's swim strength often separates him from the field almost immediately, but today he found his equal in the water and had to put in a strong surge over the closing 200 meters to exit the lake 3rd in his wave. Both athletes in front were in the 20-24 age group, meaning Eric was the first in the 18-19 category and entered the swim to bike transition with a 2:15 lead over the next athlete in his age group. His swim split of 18:31 was one of the fastest posted by any athlete, pro or amateur, throughout the day.
In his final tune-up race on the Hagg Lake course three weeks ago Lagerstrom struggled with the bike and was prompted to take a hard look at his set-up. "My coach has some equipment that measures efficiency and watts and we were able to make some position changes that increased my power output by almost 10% and allowed me to get into a lot more aerodynamic position," Eric noted, "that really helped my confidence to know I could ride even faster on this course than I already had."
The attention to the bike paid quick dividends as Eric torched the 24.8 mile hilly loop in 1:02:45 bringing him into the bike to run transition in a dead heat with the World Champion Welsh. An efficient transition put Eric more than 20 seconds in front of his closest competitor heading out onto the run course where nobody was able to chase him down.
Eric's lifetime best on the bike left his legs heavy for the start of the 10 kilometer run, but after a couple miles he was clipping off miles at 5:38 pace and cruised to his first National Championship by more than 6 minutes.
The win capped off a stellar 2008 season that began with an overall victory at the University of Oregon's "Duck Bill Thrill" Triathlon in May, a bronze medal at the ITU World Championships in June and overall victories at the Hagg Lake and Scoggins Valley triathlon in July and September respectively.
Lagerstrom added, "My long term goal is to race professionally and see if I can make a run at the Olympics someday, but for right now my focus is on my team at Cascade and trying to get us to XC Nationals in the next couple years. Now is a time for me to focus on team goals."
Eric and his Cascade team-mates will race at the NW Classic on September 27th at Lane Community College.
Cascade College is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college emphasizing spiritual growth and career preparation. Cascade College offers a close academic community within a vibrant metropolitan area. Cascade is a branch campus of Oklahoma Christian University. The 12-acre campus is located within the beautiful city of Portland, Oregon just ten minutes from Portland International Airport, near the Metropolitan Area Express train system (MAX) and a short drive fromstunning natural attractions such as the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Mt. Hood, Multnomah Falls, and the Oregon coast.