@SunDevilTri Caps Year Two with Second National Championship

@SunDevilTri Caps Year Two with Second National Championship

@SunDevilTri Caps Year Two with Second National Championship

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TEMPE, Ariz. – After winning a national title in the team's first year of existence in 2016, year two was a chance for the Sun Devils to prove and further establish themselves on top of the collegiate triathlon world.
 
The team not only repeated their USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship in 2017, but did so in dominating fashion, going 1-2-3 atop the leaderboard with their first individual national champion.
 
The year was capped not only with the second consecutive national title but with a trip to the White House to honor the 2016 championship team. Read more and relive the excitement of the 2017 season below.
 
CENTRAL REGIONAL QUALIFIER (Sept. 4, 2017 | Naperville, Ill.)
 
Just like in 2016, it only took one race for the team to qualify for November's national championship as the Sun Devils earned a first-place finish at the Central Regional Qualifier in Naperville, Ill.
 
Not only did ASU earn the team title, all seven Sun Devils finished in order, led by freshman Hannah Henry, who crossed the finish line first among the 56-competitor field.
 
It was the second straight win at the Central Regional Qualifier for ASU and marked a win in four of five events as a team dating back to last season.



 
Henry was joined in the lead pack by 2016 national runner-up Katie Gorczyca and fellow freshman Kyla Roy.
 
Sophomore Sarah Quintero finished fourth, her highest collegiate finish to date, while Rebecca Naughton, Grace Obando, and Delaney Bucker rounded out the top seven.
 
Central Regional Awards/Honors
Central DI All-Region Freshman: Hannah Henry
Central DI All-Region Team: Hannah Henry, Katie Gorczyca, Kyla Roy
 
WEST REGIONAL QUALIFIER (Sept. 30, 2017 | Berkeley, Calif.)
 
Charlotte Ahrens earned a first-place individual finish, repeating as champion at the West Regional Qualifier. Freshman Grace Obando finished fourth, improving upon her sixth-place finish in Naperville, while newcomer Catherine Giuseffi finished 15th in her first collegiate race.



 
Sophomores Delaney Bucker and Lillie Robinson also competed for ASU.
 
West Regional Awards/Honors
West DI All-Region Freshman: Grace Obando
West DI All-Region Team: Grace Obando, Charlotte Ahrens, Catherine Giuseffi
 
EAST REGIONAL QUALIFIER (Oct. 7, 2017 | Sarasota, Calif.)
 
ASU won their second race of the season at the East Regional Qualifier as part of the Sarasota-Bradenton Triathlon Festival.
 
Due to weather conditions in the area, the race was turned into a duathlon, featuring a run, bike, run format. The first run portion was 2.5 km followed by a 20km bike, and capped with a 5km run.



 
Freshman Kyle Roy was the Sun Devils' top finisher (third-place) while Sarah Quintero and Rebecca Naughton finished fifth and seventh, respectively. Roy's third-place finish matched the best of her collegiate career, also in Naperville.
 
East Regional Awards/Honors
East DI All-Region Freshman: Kyla Roy
East DI All-Region Team: Kyla Roy, Sarah Quintero, Rebecca Naughton
 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP (Nov. 5, 2017 | Tempe, Ariz.)
 
ASU hosted the 2017 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship in their backyard – at and around nearby Tempe Town Lake.
 
The Sun Devils won their second straight national title, sweeping the podium, led by individual national champion Hannah Henry and followed by Charlotte Ahrens and Kyla Roy.



 
The top three Sun Devil finishers were in the lead pack going into the run and led the remainder of the field by more than a minute and a half. Henry would pull away for the individual victory while Ahrens crossed the finish line just 22 seconds later and Roy 44 seconds after Ahrens.
 
Sarah Quintero (8th), Rebecca Naughton (11th), Grace Obando (12th), and Delaney Bucker (21st) finished out the Sun Devils' competing seven, upped from five to seven competitors allowed between 2016 and 2017.



 
Earlier in the morning, alum Amy Darlington (4th), as well as current team members Lillie Robinson, Kendal Williams, and Catherine Giuseffi competed in the inaugural Ignite the Fork age group triathlon.
 
With the win, the Sun Devils have won six of eight competitions as a team in their first two seasons.



 
End of Season Awards
DI All-Americans: Hannah Henry, Charlotte Ahrens, Kyla Roy
DI Freshman of the Year: Hannah Henry
Athlete of the Year: Kyla Roy
 
WHITE HOUSE VISIT
 
Honored with other national champions from the 2016-17 season, the 2016 Sun Devil team was invited to Washington D.C. for a visit to the White House in mid-November.



 
Alongside a White House visit, the travel party also visited the U.S. Capitol where they visited Arizona Rep. Kyrsten Sinema's office, the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and the Library of Congress, as well as attending the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center and going on a tour of national monuments.



 
Senior Katie Gorczyca recounted the trip for ASU now with a travel blog.
 
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
 
The Sun Devils had three representatives at September's ITU World Triathlon Grand Finals in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
 
Freshmen Hannah Henry and Kyla Roy represented Team Canada's on the Junior Elite Team while Katie Gorczyca represented the United States on the U23 team.
 
For Henry and Gorczyca, it was their second straight year competing at World's, also in Cozumel last season, and for Roy it was her third consecutive season, also in Chicago two years ago.
 
GROWING THE SPORT
 
As of Nov. 16, 2017, USA Triathlon officially secured it's 21st school, fourth NCAA Division I school, to add collegiate triathlon. In the past five weeks leading up to mid-November, six schools had announced their intention to add triathlon.
 
Wagner College (Staten Island, N.Y.) and the University of South Dakota (Vermillion, S.D.) recently doubled the number of Division I schools to host triathlon, a list that already included Arizona State and East Tennessee State University (Johnson City, Tenn.).
 
Nine other schools at the NCAA Division II level and eight at the NCAA Division III level sponsor collegiate triathlon.
 
As an NCAA Emerging Sport for women, triathlon has a 10-year window to add 40 schools (by 2024) in order to become a full NCAA sport, and is now over halfway there just three years in.
 
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