Sylmar’s Rayner Wins Gold Medal at National Cycling Championships

Matt Rayner of Sylmar won a gold medal in the senior men’s division of the 4,000-meter team pursuit race at the United States Cycling Federation national track racing championships in Trexlertown, Pa.

Rayner’s four-man team completed 12 laps of the velodrome in 4 minutes, 33 seconds Saturday. In individual competition, Rayner placed seventh in the 4,000-meter individual pursuit in 4:58 and eighth in the kilometer time trial in 1:09. Rayner placed fourth overall in individual competition to qualify for the Pan American Games Trials in Colorado Springs, Colo., July 23-24.

It was Rayner’s first gold medal in five years of cycling.

“It wasn’t a real coordinated effort,” he said. “We just all did really well and probably were the strongest guys there.”

Rayner and Tim Bengston of Brentwood represented California on the gold-medal winning team, which included Dave Lettieri of Scranton, Pa., and Carl Sundquist of Indianapolis.