BELLE FOURCHE, S.D.— The Colorado Mesa University Women's Triathlon team successfully defended their NCAA Division II Women's Collegiate Triathlon West Region Championship and qualified for November's national championships on Sunday here at the Rocky Point Recreation Area of Belle Fourche Reservoir.

Maverick freshmen Mazzy Jackson and Abigail White placed first and second among Division II athletes, respectively, as the Mavericks recorded a team score of just seven points to defeat meet host Black Hills State, which finished second with 16.  First-year program Montana State Billings also had two finishers but not enough to record a team score.

Jackson finished in one hour, six minutes, 4.8 seconds while White turned in a time of 1:06:17.4 and was just 12.5 seconds behind.  Hannah Croasdell was fourth in 1:10:07.9 to complete the Mavs' winning team score.
The other Maverick finishers were Maggie Simmons (6^th, 1:12.20.8), Madison Batkiewicz (7^th, 1:12.54.7) and Savanna Liedy (10^th, 1:15.20.9).  Lindsey St. Laurent did not finish after a bike crash.

2018 National Champion Arizona State won the Division I title with six points to defeat South Dakota, which had 19.   Division III Northern Vermont also had two athletes finish but not enough to record an official team score.

All of the athletes raced together on the 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike and 5-kilometer run course although results were split out for each division.

The Mavericks will be back in South Dakota next Sunday for the USD Invite in Yankton.