BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Jesse Marans, a 14-year-old from Newport Beach, knew he was among the nation’s elite, but he became surprised to learn that he’s the best when it comes to cycling on the velodrome.

Marans stunned himself and dominated the opposition on his way to the boys’ 13-14-year-old national title at the USA Cycling Junior National Track Championships on Monday in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“It was really weird; I wasn’t expecting this at all,” Marans said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I thought I would qualify and maybe get a medal.”

Marans did more than that. He won the 500-meter time trial in 37.679 seconds and the 4-kilometer scratch race to help capture the national title. He also finished second in Monday’s endurance race, the 10K.

On his brakeless track cycling bike, Marans only needed to finish Monday’s race without crashing. However, that’s not a given on the velodrome, a specialty-built banked oval track.

But Marans said he wasn’t nervous about crashing.

“I’ve crashed so many times, I don’t care anymore,” Marans said. “I was just nervous that I wasn’t going to win that race.”

Nerves aside, Marans went to Colorado with confidence, believing he belonged with the nation’s best. That belief became real in April when Marans went to a cycling clinic in Houston, his father, Howard said.

“He just left there really focused and he’s been training really hard ever since,” Howard Marans said. “Some of the kids who were his equal back then, he just blew them away here. It’s a good lesson for him to know all that hard work paid off.”

Jesse Marans won the national title with 19 points. Nick Roeder of Orefield, Pa. was second with 13 points and Amir Merali of Miami, Fla. came in third with six points.

Marans, a 5-foot-10, 140-pounder who just finished the eighth grade at Harbor Day School, has been racing for the past three years. He called his junior national championship his best accomplishment during his time competing in the sport. He said he plans to return home on Thursday.

To qualify for the junior national championships, he won the boys’ 13-14 division at the Southern California-Nevada Cycling Assn. Junior State Track Championships in San Diego last month.

— Steve Virgen