October 31, 2005 – 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.

Mary McConneloug (Chilmark, Mass.) 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 (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and a bronze medal effort from Willow Koerber (Ashville, N.C.).

McConneloug clocked a time of one hour, 55 minutes over the 30km course to finish with a 51-second advantage over Emmett and a 1:40 buffer on Koerber.

Chloe Forsman (Boulder, Colo.) 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 20km contest.

In elite men’s competition, reigning U.S. national champion Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo.) rode to a silver medal behind winner Deiber Esquivel of Costa Rica while compatriot Michael Broderick (Chilmark, Mass.) captured the bronze.

USA Cycling U23 National Team member Sam Schultz (Missoula, Mont.) 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.