By Craig Morgan, TheSunDevils.com writer
New Orleans, La. – There are lots of ways to announce your arrival as a new collegiate power. None are better than winning a national championship in Year 1 of the program.
That's what the Sun Devil women's triathlon team accomplished on Saturday in New Orleans. ASU placed three student-athletes in the top seven of the USA Triathlon Women's Collegiate National Championship near the New Orleans Lakefront to capture the team title with a score of 10 points. ASU edged defending champion Queens University of Charlotte (13), California (28), Texas A&M (54) and East Tennessee State (55). Second-place Queens University's top three competitors finished third, fourth and 13th.
Junior Katie Gorczyca led all ASU competitors with a second-place finish, 12 seconds behind Montana's Erika Ackerlund, who won the event with a time of 1:01.27.
"I felt strong," Gorczyca said. "I felt like there was nothing I could have done differently because I gave it everything I had."
ASU graduate student Amy Darlington finished fifth and freshman Charlotte Ahrens finished seventh despite battling an illness all day that kept her from eating.
"At one point she told me she wanted to quit but something inside her told her to keep going," Gorczyca said. "She knew she had to beat Queens so she fought through it. I'm super proud of her."
Only the top three competitors scored in this event, but ASU's other two student-athletes also finished among the events' top 14. Freshman Sarah Quintero was ninth and freshman Delaney Bucker was 14th.
"It's probably going to take a few more days for this to sink in, but it's important to say that these thing don't happen overnight so it speaks to the work we've done as a program to get here and even the work we did before the season to set it up," Sun Devils coach Cliff English said. "Everyone on our team did amazing and I'm so proud of them. Nine weeks into our season, I'm excited to see what we have done and what we can still do to keep driving this program forward."
The National Championship included a 400-meter swim (shortened from 750 meters due to high winds that produced 3- to 4-foot waves), a 20K cycling race and a 5K run. More than twenty-five teams and 58 competitors took part.
English said it was encouraging to see every one of ASU's competitors exactly where he thought they could be, led by Gorczyca, who also won the Central Regional Qualifier on Sept. 5 in Naperville, Illinois, and placed second at the West Regional Qualifier on Oct. 8 in Berkeley, California.
"She's honestly such a fierce competitor; she's got the fire," English said. "Once she crosses that finish line you can bet that she has emptied the tank."
In true New Orleans fashion, ASU celebrated by heading to the French Quarter to try beignets from the renowned Café du Monde.
With Sun Devils Athletics Chief Operating Officer Rocky Harris in attendance, as well as key members of USA Triathlon, the talk after the race turned to expanding the sport to other schools to further enhance the competition on a national scale.
"There's no reason triathlon shouldn't take its place next to other college sports," English said. "This was a great start for us. Now we have to make sure at ASU that we go out and do it again next year."
New Orleans, La. – There are lots of ways to announce your arrival as a new collegiate power. None are better than winning a national championship in Year 1 of the program.
That's what the Sun Devil women's triathlon team accomplished on Saturday in New Orleans. ASU placed three student-athletes in the top seven of the USA Triathlon Women's Collegiate National Championship near the New Orleans Lakefront to capture the team title with a score of 10 points. ASU edged defending champion Queens University of Charlotte (13), California (28), Texas A&M (54) and East Tennessee State (55). Second-place Queens University's top three competitors finished third, fourth and 13th.
Junior Katie Gorczyca led all ASU competitors with a second-place finish, 12 seconds behind Montana's Erika Ackerlund, who won the event with a time of 1:01.27.
"I felt strong," Gorczyca said. "I felt like there was nothing I could have done differently because I gave it everything I had."
ASU graduate student Amy Darlington finished fifth and freshman Charlotte Ahrens finished seventh despite battling an illness all day that kept her from eating.
"At one point she told me she wanted to quit but something inside her told her to keep going," Gorczyca said. "She knew she had to beat Queens so she fought through it. I'm super proud of her."
Only the top three competitors scored in this event, but ASU's other two student-athletes also finished among the events' top 14. Freshman Sarah Quintero was ninth and freshman Delaney Bucker was 14th.
What a pretty sight to behold. #NationalChamps #NCAAtri pic.twitter.com/jqYoRv9haA
— Sun Devil Triathlon (@sundeviltri) November 5, 2016
"It's probably going to take a few more days for this to sink in, but it's important to say that these thing don't happen overnight so it speaks to the work we've done as a program to get here and even the work we did before the season to set it up," Sun Devils coach Cliff English said. "Everyone on our team did amazing and I'm so proud of them. Nine weeks into our season, I'm excited to see what we have done and what we can still do to keep driving this program forward."
The National Championship included a 400-meter swim (shortened from 750 meters due to high winds that produced 3- to 4-foot waves), a 20K cycling race and a 5K run. More than twenty-five teams and 58 competitors took part.
English said it was encouraging to see every one of ASU's competitors exactly where he thought they could be, led by Gorczyca, who also won the Central Regional Qualifier on Sept. 5 in Naperville, Illinois, and placed second at the West Regional Qualifier on Oct. 8 in Berkeley, California.
"She's honestly such a fierce competitor; she's got the fire," English said. "Once she crosses that finish line you can bet that she has emptied the tank."
In true New Orleans fashion, ASU celebrated by heading to the French Quarter to try beignets from the renowned Café du Monde.
With Sun Devils Athletics Chief Operating Officer Rocky Harris in attendance, as well as key members of USA Triathlon, the talk after the race turned to expanding the sport to other schools to further enhance the competition on a national scale.
"There's no reason triathlon shouldn't take its place next to other college sports," English said. "This was a great start for us. Now we have to make sure at ASU that we go out and do it again next year."