FORT WORTH, Texas— The Colorado Mesa University triathlon team took sixth place and topped the group of NCAA Division II squads at Sunday morning's Battle in the Fort, hosted by TCU here at Marina Creek.
The Mavericks' top five combined for a team score of 104 points, finishing ahead of Drury's 85. Humboldt State had three finishers but was not given a team score in the current results.
Arizona won the event with 257 points after placing five individuals in the top eight while Arizona State, the 7-time defending Division I National Champions, had the individual winner in Naomi Ruff and five in the top 15 to finish second with 242 team points.
Race host TCU, ranked No. 1 in the Collegiate Triathlon Coaches Association's Rankings, were third with 205 while San Francisco (187) and Denver (178) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Ruff won the race in 1:02.45, 13 seconds ahead of Arizona's Kelly Wetteland.
The Mavericks were led by fifth-year senior
Shannon Feran, who finished 36
th with a time of one hour, eight minutes, zero seconds on the sprint course that included a 750-meter swim, 20K bike (12.4 miles) and 5K run (3.1 miles.).
Freshman
Mackenzie Mayer was the second Maverick across the line, finishing in 1:08.22 to place 39
th and score 24 team points.
Torin Lackmann took 43
rd in 1:09.19 while
Shantelle Tupaz was 45
th in 1:10.16.
Nadine Klive rounded out the Mavs' team score with a 53
rd place finish and time of 1:13.03.
The Mavs had ten total finishers as
Mariana Batarse Duenes took 55
th in 1:14.47 while
Audyn Setzer (59th, 1:16.40),
Jaycee Stephens (60
th, 1:19.09),
Josie Williams (61
st, 1:21.17) and
Emma Meyers (62
nd, 1:21.56) rounded out the finishers. Ten other triathletes did not finish.
Later in the morning, many of the triathletes compete din a super sprint relay featuring 3-person teams. The Mavs "A" team of Tupaz, Ferman and Lackmann finished seventh in 1:01.47.5 as Tupaz turned in the top split of 19:48.
Another trio of Mayer, Batarse Duenes and Stephens had a combined time of 1:07.43.
The Mavericks will return to action in 13 days, competing at the West National Qualifier in Springfield, Missouri on Oct. 12.
