The Illini cycling team is fighting to hold their spot as one of the five Midwest Collegiate Cycling Conference teams to advance to Nationals, which are held in Kansas City, Kans. on May 11-13.

The team is in third place going into regional competition which commences this coming weekend.

“We took a big step to securing our third-place spot this weekend,” said Jamie Kimberley, a Class A cyclist on the team. “We had a good showing both days of racing in Men’s A and Women’s A racing.”

The team had strong finishes in both the road race in Greenbush, Wisc., on Saturday, and the Criterium in Madison, Wisc., on Sunday.

In the men’s races, Jon Meyers and Kimberley placed third and eighth, respectively in the road race. They placed fifth and fourth in Sunday’s Criterium.

Kimberley gave an early push during Sunday’s race and led for 10 laps, but the main field of riders reeled him back into the main group of riders.

“Sometimes the field will give up chasing you down if you get far enough ahead,” Kimberley said. “But it was really windy, and the hill on the backside (of the course) made it really difficult (to get a good lead).”

Meyers tried to break away during Sunday’s race, but was unable to.

“The course was not prone to breakaways,’ said Meyers. “I made many attempts, just did not have the strength (to hold the breakaway),” Meyers said.

Meyers, junior, managed to stay near the front and was in great position for the final sprint to the finish, finishing right behind Kimberley in fifth position.

The Illini cycling women’s Class A team also showed well with Lindsay Koren and Jessica Cole placing fifth and seventh, respectively, in the road race. The duo then finished fifth and second, respectively, in the Criterium.

“I’ve been away from team sports for a while,” Koren said. “It’s been a blast competing again as a member of a team, and a good team at that.”

With the top two teams in the Midwest conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Northwestern, out of reach, the men’s team needs to stay focused on next weekend’s regional races, which will take place at Butler University in Indianapolis on April 28-29.

“Currently, we’re placed third, but we’ve got Michigan State, Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee very close behind us,” said team captain Craig Erbach. “Regional races count for twice as many points as the regular season, so a good performance could really boost one of those teams ahead of us if we’re not careful.”

This coming weekend will be the first time Illini cycling will travel to Butler and race.

“Nationals qualifying really rests on how well we do at Butler,” Kimberley said. “But it is fairly common to race in an area for the first time, so it really isn’t anything new.”

To prepare for the regional races, the team will taper the training a bit to remain fresh for the races this coming weekend.

The Illini have heard some reports about the road course in Indianapolis. It consists of a 14-mile loop with a couple gradual climbs.

“All we have to do is be careful and not let all three of those teams place better than we do (at Butler),” Erbach said. “We’ve got more dedicated new members than we ever had; I have a feeling that this will be the first year of many that we’ll be sending a team to Nationals.”