GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The Colorado Mesa University women's triathlon team will compete against many of the nation's top teams  close to home on Sunday morning when they race in the Desert's Edge Collegiate Cup at and near Highline Lake State Park in Loma.
 
The collegiate sprint race will begin at 7:30 a.m. and will feature ten teams, including the defending national champions and four of the top six teams in the latest national rankings.
 
The Mavericks are ranked 13^th overall and third amongst NCAA Division II squads and have entered all 11 of their triathletes for the race.

Sunday's race is part of a full festival weekend of community triathlon action, organized by the Grand Junction Sports Commission.
 
Course Details
 
Saturday's collegiate race will feature 750-meter swim in Highline Lake, a 20-kilometer draft legal bike segment and a 5-kilometer run.  The transition area is just up a small hill from the lake.
 
The bike segment will mostly be contested over a 2-lap circuit along country roads to the south and west of the state park.  The run will be contested on an out-and-back-course along the lake's dam and on to the western end of the lake.
 
Course maps for all three aspects can be found here.
 
Follow the Mavs/Fan Recommendations

Fans are welcome to attend Sunday's race but will need to pay the normal state park entry fee to access.  It is also worth noting that the road in and out of the park will be closed at 7:30 a.m. and throughout the collegiate race, so fans will need to arrive before the race begins if wishing to drive into the park.

Parking will be tight, so car-pooling is suggested.

Live results will be available at https://www.grandjunctionsports.org/dets-collegiate and a full race recap will be posted on www.cmumavericks.com following the race on Sunday.

Fans are also encouraged to follow the Mavs' triathlon Instagram account (@CMU_Triathlon) for all sorts of behind the scenes content throughout the season.
 
Last Time Out
 
The Mavericks last raced nearly three weeks ago on Sept. 5 at the Southern Hills Collegiate Cup in Hot Springs, South Dakota.  The Mavericks finished first in the Division II portion and sixth out of seven teams overall ahead of the "home" Black Hills State team.
 
They had the top three Division II finishers in Alexandra Schipai, Rosa Schmidt-Moll and Shantelle Tupaz, who finished 29^th, 31^st and 37^th overall, propelling the Mavericks to their team score of 204 points, well ahead of Black Hills State's total of 122.
 
Full Recap: https://cmumavericks.com/news/2026/9/5/triathlon-mavs-sweep-d2-podium-at-southern-hills-collegiate-cup.aspx
 
Last Year
 
Last year's Desert's Edge Collegiate Cup was an historic event for the Mavs, who raced against other teams at home for the first time in program history.
 
The Mavericks finished seventh in a loaded field that included six NCAA Division I foes, including five of the top eight ranked teams in the country at the time.
 
Then freshman Alexandra Schipai led the Mavericks in her collegiate debut before going on to claim CTCA Region Freshman of the Year honors later in the season.  She finished 32^nd overall with a time of one hour, eight minutes, 20 seconds.
 
Full Recap: https://cmumavericks.com/news/2025/9/14/triathlon-mavs-host-historic-triathlon-race.aspx
 
Rankings Update
 
As mentioned earlier, the Mavericks are ranked 13^th overall and third amongst Division II teams in the latest edition of the College Triathlon Coaches Association's National Rankings, released on Wednesday (Sept. 23) and inclusive of all NCAA races through Sept. 20.
 
The mathematical rankings are based on each individual's best performance.  The team rankings are then calculated by adding each team's best five individual scores.
 
The Mavericks have three athletes in the top 100 of the overall individual rankings, led by Alexandra Schipai, who sits 65^th with her score of 92.12 points from her 29^th place overall finish at the Southern Hills Collegiate Cup.
 
Freshman Rosa Schmidt-Moll is just behind in 69^th of the individual rankings with 91.67 points while Shantelle Tupaz sits 99^th with 89.71 points.  Mackenzie Mayer (107^th, 88.59) has just dropped out of the top 100 while Sylvie Aardema Gagnon is contributing 85.59 points to the Mavs' total of 447.67 points.
 
A look at the competition
 
Sunday's race will include the top-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils, the 2-time defending national champion Arizona Wildcats, currently ranked fourth in the CTCA Rankings, as well as No. 5 TCU and No. 6 San Francisco.
 
Four other teams ranked inside the top 20 are also slated to race.  That group includes No. 11 Denver, No. 12 South Dakota, the 13th-ranked Mavs and No. 18 Cal Poly Humboldt.
 
Black Hills State is ranked 25^th while Gallaudet, which hails from Washington, D.C. is ranked 29^th. 
 
All eleven Mavericks on the roster are entered in the race, which is slated to include 69 triathletes.   Here is the current bib number assignments.
 
A look back to 2025
 
The Mavericks enjoyed another strong  season in 2025 and capped the year with a fourth place finish in the Division II portion of the standings at the Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships.  The Mavs also took second amongst Division II teams at the West Regional Championships.
 
The Mavs crowned two honorable mention All-Americans through the national meet in Shantelle Tupaz, who returns for her 2026 junior campaign, and Nadine Klive, who finished her career as one of just three 3-time all-Americans in program history.
 
At the regional level, Alexandria Schipai, who also returns in 2026, was the West All-Region Freshman of the Year and was joined on the All-West Region team by Tupaz and Klive.
 
Award Streaks
 
The Mavericks will enter the 2026 season in hopes of continuing their award-winning ways.
 
The Mavs have crowned multiple all-Americans in each of the last five seasons dating back to 2021 and have claimed 19 total all-America honors in that stretch.  Two current Mavericks in Mackenzie Mayer and Shantelle Tupaz are a part of that group after both earned honorable mention All-America honors in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
 
The Mavs have also had at least one all-region performer in each of the last eight seasons since and including 2017 and have had multiple performers in all but one year of that stretch.
 
The youth movement has also been strong with six different Mavericks earning the CTCA Region Freshman of the Year honors in the last seven seasons.  Tupaz (2024) and Alexandria Schipai (2025) are current Mavericks to have earned that honor.
 
Tupaz has been an all-region performer in each of the last two years while Schipai earned that honor last year.
 
Up Next
 
The Mavericks will send a partial squad to compete at Arizona's Dual in the Desert on Oct. 10 in what will be their final race before the West Regional (Oct. 18) and National (Nov. 8) Championships.