HUDDLESTON, Virginia— Placing three amongst the top 30 overall finishers, the Colorado Mesa University women's triathlon team finished a strong second in the NCAA Division II team standings at the USA Triathlon Women's Collegiate Triathlon East Region Qualifier on Saturday here at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.
 
Megan Buchanan led the Mavs with a 20^th place overall finish.  She was also the eighth Division II finisher, completing the 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike and 5k run draft-legal event with a time of one hour, five minutes and five seconds. 
 
Abigail White and Shannon Feran were less than a minute behind as they placed 26^th and 27^th overall while taking tenth and 11^th amongst Division II finishers.  White was timed in 1:05.41.9 while Feran turned in a time of 1:05.44.2.  Natalie Mitchell then completed CMU's 4-person team score of 105 points with a 32^nd place finish in 1:06.03.4.
 
Only Queens (N.C.), the 5-time defending national champions defeated the Mavericks as the Royals scored 76 points.  Davis & Elkins was third with 114 while Wingate took fourth with 116.
 
Wingate's Finja Schierl was the top overall finisher in 1:01.54.9.

Denver won the Division I scoring battle with 51 points while South Dakota took second with 97. 
 
A total of 93 Division I and II athletes raced together in the event, which was part of the Kinetic Cup Triathlon Festival.
 
CMU had seven of those as Emma Polenske (1:07:33.1), Hannah Croasdell (1:09:09.7) and Paloma Suarez Davila (1:10:39.6) finished 38^th, 49^th and 54^th, respectively.
 
The Mavericks will next compete on Oct. 30 at the West Region Qualifier in St. George, Utah.