WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) – The South Central Collegiate Cycling Conference, first conference road race of the spring season, yielded 17 total podium finishes for MSU Cycling and a fantastic start to their 2026 season.
The Men’s and Women’s A omniums were won by sophomore Blake Keeling and sophomore Gabby Wrightsman respectively, with teammate Emma Kasza-James taking second in the women’s competition. In the men’s category, Keeling was first in the criterium, second to teammate Sebastian de Leon in the road race and third in the time trial. In the women’s category, Wrightsman won the time trial and criterium, while Kasza-James won the road race.
The team additionally sported a 1-2-3 finish in the Men’s A road race with Brody Burnham finishing third to join de Leon and Keeling on the podium. In the Men’s D time trial, MSU’s Romain Gireme would take first and Jayden Munoz took second. De Leon took third in the Men’s A criterium. Newcomer Erich Kohlberg also notably won the Men’s B criterium and road race, taking the omnium.
“I’m very excited and enjoying being here with the teammates and my coach,” said Kohlberg, a Business Management major from Bolivia. “I wanted to come here when they showed me the possibilities for international students. Coach made me feel comfortable and gave me confidence to reach great goals in future races.”
“The team came into College Station knowing that the (Texas A&M) Aggies would be in full force, being that it was their home race,” said MSU Cycling Director Mario Arroyave. “They brought some momentum into the weekend, but we were able to stay focused and execute on what we needed to do to perform at a high level.”
Keeling, the current mountain biking conference champion, had expressed his desire to show his improvement in road racing and succeeded in underscoring it with a fantastic performance at the conference.
“We can bring some competition to these bigger programs and show them that just because we’re this little school, doesn’t mean they can just mess around,” Keeling said.
The Mustangs will be facing Texas State University on March 14-15, and host their conference championship right here in Wichita Falls on April 18-19.
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