GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's triathlon team will continue their season this weekend, competing in a pair of races in the state of South Dakota and hosted by Black Hills State University this weekend.
On Saturday, the Mavericks will compete at the Yellow Jacket Relays in Spearfish and on the BHSU campus. The Mavs will then head to nearby Belle Fourche and the Rocky Point Recreation Area for Sunday's Black Hills Collegiate Cup.
Race Formats
Saturday's event will consist of 3-person relay teams, who will each complete a 200-meter pool swim and a 1,000-meter "lollipop" style running course through the BHSU campus. The transitions and relay exchanges will be in the pool lobby.
That race is slated for a 10 a.m. start
Sunday's race, which will begin at 1 p.m., is more traditional and will feature a 750-meter loop swimming course in the Belle Fourche Reservoir, followed by a 2-lap, 18-kilometer bike race and a 3-lap, 5K run.
Live results for Sunday's event will be posted at
https://next.zone4.ca/
Who's Racing
The Mavericks and Head Coach
Jen Mathe have entered nine athletes for both competitions this week.
Mathe's planned relay team groupings for Saturday include:
A-
Shannon Feran,
Fiona Graves,
Nadine Klive
B-
Natalie Mitchell,
Emma Polenske,
Torin Lackmann
C*-
Maha Akl,
Abby Croasdell,
Yoana Tohom
*-Non-Scoring Team
The competition
A total of seven NCAA Division I and Division II teams are expected to compete in Sunday's event, which has 51 total entrants. The list of competitors includes four NCAA Division II squads, including the host Yellow Jackets and the Mavs. Cal Poly Humboldt and MSU Billings are also on the list. Division I squads Denver, San Francisco and South Dakota are also entered.
Last Time Out
The Mavericks were last in action on Sept. 16, when they raced closed to home at the Desert's Edge Triathlon, organized by the Grand Junction Sports Commission and held at Highline Lake State Park in Loma. The Mavericks did not compete against any other collegiate teams but raced against community triathlon members in the sprint distance portion of the weekend festival.
Maverick all-American
Shannon Feran had the fastest time in all three segments besting the total field of 52 finishers with an overall time of one hour, seven minutes, 9.7 seconds. She was 3:25.3 ahead of CMU men's triathlete Alex Linenberg, who took second in 1:10.35.0.
In the process, Feran duplicated her 2022 win, but went 1:42.1 faster than she had on the same course in 2022.
Fiona Graves was the second female third overall finisher in 1:11.58.6.
Torin Lackmann took fourth in 1:12.16.6 while
Nadine Klive rounded out the top five in 1:12.32.8.
Emma Polenske (1:12.37.5) and
Abby Croasdell (1:16.03.) took sixth and seventh while
Maha Akl was the next finisher in around one hour, 19 minutes, but was not listed in the official results due to a timing issue.
Racing her former team
Abby Croasdell, a redshirt junior on the Maverick team, will return to Spearfish this weekend after attending and competing for BHSU in her first two collegiate seasons. The native of Sedalia, Colorado transferred to CMU for the 2022-23 season becoming a Maverick after her older sister Hannah was a standout for the Mavs from 2018-21.
Up Next
The Mavericks will begin the championship portion of their fall schedule in two weeks when they head to Springfield, Missouri for the Women's Collegiate Triathlon West National Qualifier. That race, which will include all of this week's competition plus others, will be held on Oct. 14 as part of the Heartland Triathlon Cup and will serve as a qualifier for the Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships on Nov. 11 in Tempe, Arizona. The Mavs will also be looking to win their fifth consecutive team regional title in Missouri.
