GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's triathlon team will aim for another high national championship finish and to cap the season on a high note when the Mavericks head to Tempe, Arizona for Sunday's Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships.
 
The Mavericks have finished amongst the top four NCAA Division II teams in each of the last seven national championships since 2018 and are ranked third amongst those teams heading in this time as well.
 
CMU is ranked 13^th overall in the latest Collegiate Triathlon Coaches Association's National Rankings.
 
Sunday's event, hosted by Arizona State University, will be contested over three waves, begins at 10:30 a.m.
 
A live stream can be found on YouTube at the link above.
 
Live results from the event can be seen at the link above.
 
More information can be seen on the event webpage, also linked above.
 
Format Explainer
 
Three separate waves of will be contested on Saturday at the Tempe Town North Lake Park, with the first wave set to go off at 10:30 a.m.  That wave will include the Mavs' two top finishers from the West Regional Championships in Rosa Schmidt-Moll and Shantelle Tupaz.  Four of the seven Mavericks (Alexandra Schipai, Macy Arch, Maddie Cox and Sylvie Aardema Gagnon) will race in Heat B, which will begin at 12:30 p.m.  The third wave, set for a 2:45 p.m. start, will feature CMU's Kaia Merrill.
 
The wave assignments were determined based on the CTCA's season-long national rankings with an emphasis on regional championship performances.
 
The top 75 seeded triathletes were placed in Wave A, which includes the top 20 overall finishers from both the East and West Regional Championship events plus wild cards, determined by the rankings.
 
The "B" Wave has the next 75 seeds while the "C" wave has the lowest seeded entrants.
 
Triathletes from all over the country qualified for their respective waves through their performances at their respective regional qualifiers two weeks ago or at various cup races earlier in the season.
 
The final times from all three waves of Saturday's event will be merged together to determine the overall individual standings.  Overall team scores will then be calculated from those individual standings.
 
Although the individual and team standings will be calculated from the overall all-encompassing results, awards will be presented to the top individual and teams in each of the three NCAA Divisions.
 
Up to five individuals will be counted in each team's score while the sixth and seventh finisher from a given team will displace other teams.
 
Teams are limited to seven entries.
 
Course Preview
 
Saturday's races will include a 750-meter swim on a rectangular course in the Salt River followed by a 20-kilometer big segment over three laps in the area.  The races will then conclude with a 5K run over two laps on an out-and-back course along the edge of the river.
 
A complete course map can be seen here.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks were last in action two weeks ago the Women's Collegiate Triathlon West Regional Championships in Fort Worth, Texas on Oct. 18.
 
FULL RECAP: https://cmumavericks.com/news/2026/10/18/triathlon-schmidt-moll-wins-d2-individual-title-as-mavs-take-second.aspx
 
The Mavericks recorded their eighth straight top-2 finish in the Division II standings, placing second in the division and eighth overall out of 14 teams with a score of 556 points.
 
Maverick freshman Rosa Schmidt-Moll won the Division II individual title, placing 22^nd overall with a time of 1:06.06.47, 96 seconds ahead of any other Division II triathlete.
 
Shantelle Tupaz, who finished 43^rd overall, was the fifth Division II finisher in 1:09:08.13.
 
Regional Honors
 
Rosa Schmidt-Moll and Shantelle Tupaz both earned Collegiate Triathlon Coaches Association All-Region honors, which were awarded to the top seven finishers in each division at both of the regional championships.  Schmidt-Moll was also named as the CTCA All-Region Freshman and is the first Maverick regional champion since 2023.
 
The Mavs have now won claimed 24 CTCA All-Region honors since beginning their program in 2017, claiming at least one each year other than in 2020, when no races were held due to COVID. 
 
The Mavs have now had the All-Region Freshman in three straight years and have won that award seven times.  Current Mavericks Alexandra Schipai (2025) and Shantelle Tupaz (2024) had won the award before Schmidt-Moll.
 
Schmidt-Moll is the Mavs' fourth individual regional champion, joining Mazzy Jackson (2019), Megan Buchanan (2022) and Shannon Feran (2023) in that elite company.
 
Tupaz has now earned all-region honors in three straight seasons and is the only Maverick to have ever done so.

A look at the lineup
 
Fifth-year Head Coach Jen Mathe's 7-woman lineup for Sunday's championship is the same as the Mavs' regional championship lineup.
 
Three of the Mavericks have previous national championship experience.
 
Junior Shantelle Tupaz is a returning honorable mention all-American and finished 71^st overall and 17^th amongst Division II finishers after placing 100^th overall and 30^th amongst D-II finishers as a freshman in 2025.
 
Alexander Schipai, who raced apart from her teammates last year, finished 106^th overall and 33^rd in Division II as a freshman last season.
 
Fellow sophomore Sylvie Aardema Gagnon finished 93^rd  overall and 26^th in Division II last season.
 
Junior Kaia Merrill, sophomore Macy Arch and Maverick freshmen Maddie Cox and Rosa Schmidt-Moll will be making their national championship debuts.
 
Quest for All-America honors
 
The top 21 Division II finishers in Saturday's races will earn CTCA All-America honors with the first seven garnering first team accolades while the eighth through 14^th place finishers will take home second team honors.  The 15^th-21^st place finishers from the Division II will be named as Honorable Mention All-Americans.
 
The Mavs have had 12 different women earn 20 combined All-America honors since founding their program in 2017 and have had at least two honorees in each of the past five seasons.

Shantelle Tupaz, an honorable mention performer in 2025, is amongst that group.
 
Rankings
 
The Mavs entered the regional championships ranked 13^th in the overall  Collegiate Triathlon Coaches Association's overall national rankings. They are ranked third amongst Division II teams, the spot they have held throughout the season.
 
The Mavericks had 453.98 points in the team rankings, which are calculated by adding each of the team's top five individual rankings, based on each individual's top performance from the season.
 
Wingate, which is ranked fourth, and Lenoir-Rhyne, which is ranked seventh, are the only two Division II squads ahead of the Mavs.  No. 14 Drury, which edged the Mavs at the West Regional, No. 17 Cal Poly Humboldt, No. 19 UIndy and No. 20 Emmanuel are also Division II teams ranked inside the top 20.
 
Arizona State is ranked first overall with 492.66 points, just ahead of Arizona (490.05), which has won the last two national titles.  Queens, Wingate and TCU round out the top five.

North Central, ranked 16^th, is the top-ranked Division III team.
 
The CTCA also has individual rankings, which are the basis for the wave assignments for Sunday's races.
 
Rosa Schmidt-Moll is ranked 49^th with 94.53 points from her regional championship performance.  Alexandra Schipai, ranked 62^nd, and Shantelle Tupaz, ranked 99^th, are also inside the top 100.  Their scores of 93.59 points and 90.83 points, came from the Desert's Edge Collegiate Cup.
 
Mackenzie Mayer (124^th, 88.59) and Sylvie Aardema Gagnon (147^th, 86.44) are also contributing to the Mavs' team ranking.
 
National History
 
The Mavericks began their program in 2017, taking ninth place out of 11 overall teams.   Standings were not split by division that year.  The Mavs have since recorded top four finishes amongst Division II teams every year since, placing second twice (2018, 2022), third in 2024 and fourth out of eight teams in both 2019 and 2021.  They were fourth out of 12 teams in 2024 and out of 11 teams in 2025.
 
There was no championship in 2020 due to COVID ramifications.
 
Up Next
 
Saturday's race will conclude the fall championship season.  The Mavericks have not yet announced their spring exhibition season race schedule.