It is nationals week for the triathlon world, as ETSU will compete for the NCAA Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championship in Tempe, Ariz. on Saturday, Nov. 12.
ETSU placed fifth overall in last year’s championship in Arizona. Izi Belogay (Sterling, Va.) led the Bucs with an 11th place finish. Sarah Plant (Chandler, Ariz.) also notched a top-20 finish and will once again represent ETSU in her home state this weekend.
In addition to ETSU, the eight-team NCAA Division I field consists of Queens University of Charlotte, Arizona State, Delaware State University, University of South Dakota, University of Denver, University of San Francisco and Wagner College.
The race will begin at 3:30 p.m. EST (1:30 p.m. local time) and will consist of a 750-meter swim in Tempe Town Lake, followed by a 20-kilometer bike and 5k run near downtown Tempe. Awards will take place two hours later.
National team titles will be awarded from the individual race scores. Scores will be determined by the total points of up to the first five scoring athletes (DI and DII) and the first four scoring athletes (DIII) of each NCAA varsity team.
To date, more than 40 schools offer women’s collegiate triathlon at the varsity level, an important benchmark reached earlier this year as the NCAA Emerging Sport for Women now has a few more steps to take on its way to being fully managed by the NCAA as a Championship Sport, including committee, council, divisional and budget approvals, according to USA Triathlon.
There are seven competitors for the Bucs Saturday: Taylor Bartlett, Lindsey Batkiewicz, Izi Belogay, Abby Church, Carla Garcia, Delaney Hammill and Sarah Plant.
Temperatures are expected to be low-70s with sunshine for tomorrow’s race.
For more information on Buccaneer triathlon, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s triathlon page.
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