LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Sophomore Caelan Billings from the University of Maine at Farmington made history by becoming the first athlete in the program to secure a National Championship. Billings clinched gold in today’s boardercross event at the USCSA National Championships.
The event commenced with 49 athletes participating in time trials, and the top 32 finishers were seeded and grouped into heats based on their rankings. Seeding 3rd overall after the trials, Billings completed his run in 47.85 seconds, just a second and a half behind Jakob Craver of Lees-McRae College.
In his first heat, Billings outperformed Curren Cook and Jayden Horrocks of Liberty University, along with Jack Dougherty of Boston University.
Advancing to his second heat, Billings led the field, competing against Cook, Michael Zeimentz of the University of Wisconsin Madison, and Max Duffy of Westminster University.
After the second heat, Billings secured a guaranteed top-eight finish with two heats remaining to determine the final standings. Continuing his impressive run, Billings once again led the field in his third heat, overcoming Zeimentz, Hunter Bernard of Springfield College, and Kenneth Stanford of Lees-McRae College to guarantee a top-four finish.
In the final heat, Billings reached new heights, defeating Craver, Zeimentz, and Aj Beery of the University of Wisconsin Madison to claim the historic gold medal.
