Marian College cyclists win 10th national championship

Daniel Elsener, Marian College president, left, cycling coach Dean Peterson and Joe Haklin, director of athletics, back row, far right, are pictured with members of the Franciscan college’s cycling team after they recently captured the school’s 10th national ­championship in 13 years. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

The smile still comes quickly for Dean Peterson as he recalls the latest chapter in the story of a small Catholic college that has an amazing tradition of winning national cycling championships against much larger schools.

As his smile grows, Peterson looks back to the last day of the three-day competition that determined the winner of the 2007 National Collegiate Cycling Association Championship in San Diego, Calif.

Peterson’s team was still in contention for the championship at that point—a remarkable reality considering there were six freshmen and two other new student-athletes on the 12-member team from Marian College in Indianapolis.

Yet defying the odds has become a tradition for the Marian cycling program, which was gunning for its 10th national championship in 13 years—a feat that has been accomplished by continually competing against colleges with enrollments that exceed 15,000 students, including Indiana University, Penn State University and the University of Minnesota. Marian’s enrollment this year is 2,010.

In fact, when the third day of competition began this year, Peterson figured his team would likely finish second to a team from the University of California at San Diego.

“I had prepared them for second,” says Peterson, Marian’s second-year coach. “I told them if we did our best, we should be happy with that. Then they went out and rode beyond their expectations and my expectations.”

On Sept. 16, the team won its 10th national championship, adding to a legacy that has been extraordinary since Marian College decided to compete in cycling in 1992.

“It was a great idea by Marian College to utilize a very unique sporting venue near the campus—the Major Taylor Velodrome,” Peterson says. “Marian decided it would be a cool thing to have a cycling team.

“In the 15 years since then, it’s allowed us to market the school. The school has seen great benefit in terms of diversity and where kids come from. We have a student from Australia, two from Los Angeles and three from the East Coast. We literally have kids from all over the world looking at our program.”

This year’s ­championship team featured four women and eight men: Taylor Brown, Jeff Carl, Stephen Chiselko, Matt Jones, Paddy Kilmurray, Abby Nicks, Sierra Siebenlist, Loren Somerville, Megan Somerville, Bennet van der Genugten, Alex Wieseler and David Williams. The team’s assistant coaches are Jake Rytlewski and Doug Robinson.

“There are a lot of good things happening with the team in terms of looking out for each other and holding each other accountable,” Peterson says. “It’s a great thing to see.”

Peterson believes that connection as teammates is just as important as the team’s success.

“I’d like to think I’m known as an educator as well as a coach,” Peterson says. “I use a lot of my education background when I’m coaching. I’d like to think we’re giving them life lessons about teamwork and hard work, and where it can take them in life. Winning is certainly fun, but it’s that other part that really gets me going.” †