March 22, 2019 (Philadelphia, PA) – The Queen’s University Cycling Team sits first in the U.S Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) standings after a stellar performance in the TTT, road race, and criterium events last weekend in Philadelphia, PA. As one of the only Canadian teams to compete in U.S cycling division, the Queen’s team fought hard against the American squads to take top spots in both the men’s and women’s Elite events.

Queen’s riders Andrew Jonker, Ryan Jonker, Adric Heney, and Ryan Rudderham took first overall in the Men’s Elite TTT event on Saturday, battling intense headwinds throughout the entirety of the 13.5 km course. The team finished first overall with a time of 18:49.41, followed by Penn State in second and the University of Vermont in third.

The Queen’s Women’s TTT team also put up a strong performance on the day, as riders Chloe Desroche, Hanna Girndt, and Melissa Wong took third place in the event with a time of 25:04.20, following MIT in first and Northeastern in second.

Twin brothers Ryan and Andrew Jonker continued their success that afternoon as they took first and second place positions in the 65km road race event. The Queen’s riders were joined in a 30km breakaway by two members of the Penn State team, gaining a 5-minute lead over the main group. The brothers outsprinted the Penn State riders for the podium, with Ryan Jonker taking first and Andrew Jonker second.

On the women’s side, ex-rower and master’s student Desroche took first in the elite road race after a bunch sprint to the line. She was joined on the podium by Tori Wuthrich from MIT in second, and Katherine Rush from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Third. Queen’s rider Girndt finished just off podium in fourth to round off the day.

Sunday would prove just as promising for the Queen’s team, as Andrew Jonker took first overall in the Elite Men’s 30km criterium. Jonker was joined in the breakaway by U-Conn rider Geno Villafano and Penn State rider Derrick Butler who worked together to miraculously lap the field after 40 minutes of riding. Jonker ended up taking five out of the six preems on the day before winning the bunch sprint to the line, with Villafano in second and Butler in third.

Desroche would also see success in the criterium as she would go on to place second in the Elite women’s event. Girndt took her second consecutive fourth-place result of the weekend to finish things off for the women.

Other notable highlights amongst the Queen’s results include a first-place finish from Lyle Porter in the Men’s C criterium, as well as Beth Stulen taking top spot in the women’s intro road race.

Queen’s now sits in first place overall in the team standings with 279 points, followed by MIT in second with 218, and Northeastern in third with 163. The team looks to keep Desroche and Jonker in yellow as they head into two more weekends of racing at Bucknell and Dartmouth.

Full results can be found here.