By USA Cycling's Andy Lee
The U.S. National Mountain Bike Team collected seven medals over the weekend--two of them gold--at the Pan American Mountain Bike Championships outside Mexico City. Taking place yearly, the Pan American Championships is the UCI designated continental championship. It's open only to the countries on the American continents.
Mary McConneloug (Kenda-Seven Cycles) rode to a Pan American Championship in the elite women's race to lead an all American podium that included a silver medal performance from Kelli Emmett (Ford-Specialized) and a bronze medal effort from Willow Koerber (Subaru-Gary Fisher).
National Champ McConneloug clocked a time of one hour, 55 minutes over the 18.6 mile course to finish with a 51 second advantage over U.S. Super D Champ Emmett and a 1:40 buffer on Koerber.
Junior Expert National Champ Chloe Forsman (Tokyo Joe's) earned a second Pan American title for the U.S. squad with a victory in the junior women's race. Forsman bested Ecuador's Alexandra Serrano by nearly four minutes in the 12.4 mile contest.
In elite men's competition, reigning U.S. National Champion Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) rode to a silver medal behind winner Deiber Esquivel of Costa Rica while compatriot Michael Broderick (Kenda-Seven Cycles) captured the bronze.
USA Cycling U23 National Team member Sam Schultz rounded out the medal count for the U.S. squad with a silver medal in the men's U23 race. Schultz finished second to Emmanuel Valencia of Mexico.
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