Through the majority of the women’s individual time trials Wednesday afternoon, Kappa Alpha Theta had the lead in one way or another.
Evelyn Malcomb took the top spot in heat nine with a time of 2:41.75. That lasted through 20 heats – four riders in each – before she was bumped to second by Gamma Phi Beta’s Allison Eschbach.
Malcomb's teammate Liz Lieberman didn’t let that last long. In the very next heat, the Theta rider took the lead by more than five seconds, coming in at 2:36.76. That stood atop the women's leaderboard for the rest of the night.
Phoenix Cycling’s Tabitha Sherwood, the top seed entering ITTs, took second in 2:38.60.
Theta as a whole placed better than any other team with three riders in the top 10. Two of those – Malcomb (fourth) and Lieberman – were top-5 finishers, followed by Abby Rogers in eighth.
The IDS caught up with Liz Lieberman after her run Wednesday night.
How does it feel being the top women’s rider?
“Really good. I’ve been putting in the work all year and it just feels really good to have it pay off. It feels fantastic.”
What was your strategy out there – were you trying to catch the rider in front of you?
“We have a really strict strategy that (Coach Ryan Knapp) makes us follow. We just try to build into it. You can’t go out too hard and kind of crash and burn at the end. So just build into it.”
How does your time today compare to how you’ve been training?
“Obviously better than I’ve done in practice, but I was beating my time from last year during practice so pretty steady.”
(Theta) has three riders in the top ten. Did that exceed expectations?
“It feels good. Like I said, we’ve been putting in the work, so it’s great to see that pay off. I think the adrenaline and the excitement of being here kind of makes us more in the zone.”
How do you guys feed off each other out there, if at all?
“It’s just a support system that we have, such a great community. Like I told you the other day, we’re all best friends, so it’s great – we can celebrate each other’s wins and push each other to do the best we can.”
