On Nov. 13, ETSU’s triathlon team traveled to Tempe, Arizona, for the Collegiate National Championship, placing fifth among the other teams.
“We are looking to go out there and do our best. We’ve got a good group and they work hard together,” said head coach Allie Nicosia, ahead of the race.
Earlier in the fall season, the team placed third at two qualifying races, and seventh at the Firetower Project 5K in Boone, North Carolina.
Freshman Izi Belogay (Sterling, Virginia) came in 11th place after entering the running portion in 21st place. This was her fourth race as a Division I athlete, finishing the race at 1:07:14.4.
Freshman Sarah Plant (Chandler, Arizona) finished with a time of 1:08:35.8 also placing in the top 20 of the event.
“Our season has been pretty successful so far; we’ve had very few hiccups I’d say. Most of us are holding up really well with the amount of training we have had leading up to this nationals. Overall, I think we are all pretty well prepared,” said senior Lane McDonald (South Bend, Indiana).
McDonald finished the race shortly behind Plant with a time of 1:09:29.3. While freshman Abby Church (Chantilly, Virginia) finished with a time of 1:10:25.4.
Belogay, Plant, McDonald and Church all finished the race within the top 30 people on the field.
Junior Lindsey Batkiewicz (Johnston, Iowa) finished with a time of 1:11:09.8, junior Holle Guntz (Indianapolis, Indiana) with a time of 1:12:37.3, and senior Cameron Seeley (Blacksburg, Virginia) with a time of 1:17:56.5.
The individual time winner was Kira Gupta Baltazar from San Francisco, with a time of 1:04:20.8, while the Arizona State University won overall, winning their fifth consecutive national championship.
The Bucs are done for the rest of the fall, but they will be back in action in the spring semester. Kicking off March 13 and 14 in Clermont, Florida, at the Clermont Draft Legal Challenge.
