Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday starting April 1 throughout the Spring of 2020, bctornados.com will be featuring senior student-athletes from Spring sports to honor their dedication and commitment to Brevard College Athletics through their Tornado careers.
Below photos courtesy of Thom Kennedy '21, Victoria Brayman '22, and Christie Cauble
BREVARD, N.C. – Senior Hannah Arensman, a four-year member of the Brevard College Cycling team, is the next honoree in BC Athletics' Spring Senior Profile series, highlighting and honoring 2020 seniors in Spring sports who had their respective seasons cut short due to the impact of COVID-19.
Arensman, a native of Valdese, North Carolina, will graduate from Brevard with a double major, as she will complete Master's degrees in both Exercise Science and Wilderness Leadership Experiential Education (WLEE). Post-graduation, Arensman plans to guide outdoor activities in North Carolina for the next couple of years, followed by exploring the possibility of guiding opportunities in the Western part of the United States alongside other countries. Alongside her career in outdoor guiding, Arensman plans to continue to race Cyclocross professionally.
On the bike, Arensman was a renowned member of the cycling program at BC, helping the program maintain heightened success within the USA Cycling Collegiate Division I ranks. At the national level, Arensman was a key part of a pair of USA Cycling Collegiate Team National Championships in her freshman season – the first two at the Division I level for BC – as the Tornados claimed gold in the disciplines of Mountain Biking and Cyclocross during the 2016-17 campaign.
At the 2016 Mountain Bike National Championships, Arensman finished fifth overall in the Women's Individual Omnium with 277 points that helped lift BC to the program's first Division I title. Just over two months later at the 2017 Cyclocross National Championships, Arensman raced alongside classmate Carson Beckett, sister Allison Arensman '17, and BC alumnus Scott McGill '19 and clinched the Team Relay victory that pushed Brevard to its second USA Cycling Collegiate National Championship of the season, as the Tornados took home gold in Hartford, Connecticut. Arensman's stellar campaign was capped off at the 2017 USA Cycling Road National Championships where she finished second behind teammate Janelle Cole '18.
In her sophomore campaign at Brevard, Arensman helped BC to a runner-up finish in the Team Relay at the 2017 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships before leading the Tornados to their second consecutive Team Relay title at the 2018 USA Cycling Collegiate Cyclocross National Championships, as Arensman raced two laps in the relay alongside Beckett and McGill. Also while in action in Reno, Nevada, Arensman claimed a victory in an individual race. These efforts lifted the Tornados to a third-place overall finish in the Team Omnium standings.
Arensman helped lead Brevard to more success in her junior season. The Tornados finished the 2018 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships with a fourth-place overall team finish, as the relay squad of Arensman, Beckett, and McGill claimed second place, with Arensman enduring two laps for her team once again. Alongside BC's fourth-place team finish, Arensman claimed a fourth-place spot in the Individual Women's Omnium.
For the third-straight year, Arensman and the Tornados claimed a Cyclocross Team Relay National Championship, as she this time teamed up with Tyler Clark and Tyler Orschel and raced a pair of laps in the relay to claim gold for her school. The Tornados would go on to claim a third-place finish in the Team Omnium standings at the 2018 USA Cycling Collegiate Cyclocross National Championships, giving the Tornados their fourth straight top-three finish in Divison I Cyclocross National Championships.
Arensman's senior season put a bow on what was a historic career at Brevard College. The senior once again helped lead the Tornados to a runner-up finish in the Team Relay at the 2019 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships, as she teamed up with Beckett, Clark, and Emma Schwab in the relay event. The Tornados finished in the third-place spot in the Overall Team Omnium standings to wrap up Arensman's final Mountain Bike season at BC.
In her final Cyclocross campaign in a Brevard College kit, Arensman and her team were runner-ups at the 2019 USA Cycling Collegiate Cyclocross National Championships, as the three-time Team Relay National Champions were narrowly edged out for a second-place finish, with Arensman once again completing two of the four relay laps.
Throughout her career, Arensman was able to represent Brevard and her country numerous times at the National and International levels. Over the course of her four years racing collegiately at BC, Arensman took part in the 2016 UCI Road World Championships in Doha, Qatar, the 2017 UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Bieles, Luxembourg, 2018 UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Valkenburg-Limburg, Netherlands, and the 2020 UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Dubendorf, Switzerland, among various other events.
Arensman was named the Female Athlete of the Year at Brevard College for the 2017-18 academic year and took home the 2019 Female Cyclist of the Year at BC.
Off the bike, Arensman has racked up several academic accomplishments. In 2019, she earned the Highest GPA in the Exercise Science program at Brevard, while being a three-time USA Cycling Academic All-Star selection.
"My favorite memory at Brevard College will always be rolling back to the house after winning the D1 team omnium title in my freshman year," commented Arensman. "We beat teams with twice our numbers and budget that year. The whole team was singing together 'We are the Champions' by Queen which I might add had never before happened and was very off-key. Everyone had put in their absolute best effort for the team and only as a team could we have ever pulled that off."
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