CLERMONT, Fla.— The Colorado Mesa University women's triathlon team had three of the top 10 fastest Division II swimmers during that segment of a uniquely-formatted Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships, which got underway Friday morning here at the Clermont Watersports Complex.

Freshman Shantelle Tupaz recorded a time of ten minutes, four seconds in a 750-yard open water swim time trial and is in fourth place amongst Division II triathletes heading into Saturday's portion of the weekend event, a pursuit style bike/run race that will be held at nearby Lake Louisa State Park.

Tupaz will start that race 53 seconds after leader Kira Gupta-Baltazar from TCU, who won the time trial in 9:11.  Wingate's Grace Nolan was the fasted Division II triathlete in the swim portion with a time of 9:34 and will have a 30 second cushion over Tupaz entering Saturday.  Nelson is in 15^th place overall.

Tupaz is in 39th place in the field of 203 total triathletes, who have been separated into three waves based on results from last month's East and West National Qualifiers.

Competing in a different wave, Maverick fifth-year senior Shannon Feran recorded a swim time of 10:09 and is seventh place of Division II triathletes and in 44^th place overall.  Junior Nadine Klive was just three seconds behind in 10:12 and stands in tenth place amongst Division II triathletes and in 52^nd overall.

Freshman Mackenzie Mayer also fared well, posting a swim time of 10:19 and is in 16^th place amongst Division II triathletes and 65^th overall.

Josephine Willaims was the next Maverick to finish, recording a time of 10:47 to stand 24^th in Division II.  Torin Lackmann was just one second behind and is in 26^th place. 

Freshman Mariana Batarse Duenes rounded out the Maverick contingent with a time of 11:05 and stands 39^th in the Division II field.

The Mavericks and Wingate, which won a third straight Division II East Regional title last month after taking second at last year's national championships, are the only two teams with three athletes in the top 10 of the Division II standings.  Defending national champion Lenoir-Rhyne has two.