More than 1,200 collegiate triathletes from 120 clubs across the country will converge on Clemson, South Carolina, this weekend for the 2015 USA Triathlon Collegiate Club National Championships.
The two-day event begins Friday, April 24, at 9 a.m. ET at Clemson's Campus Beach with the third annual Draft-Legal Collegiate Championships. Collegiate men and women who qualified to compete within their collegiate conferences will race on a 750-meter swim, 20.8-kilometer bike, 5-kilometer run sprint-distance course, featuring the same draft-legal format contested in the Olympic Games. The men's race will begin at 9 a.m. ET and the women will follow at 11 a.m. ET.
Action will resume on Saturday, April 25, with the traditional Olympic-distance championship event, featuring a 1,500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run. The men will begin at 7:30 a.m. ET and the women will start later that morning at 10:40 a.m. ET. For the first time, a paratriathlon open wave will be contested at a modified sprint distance beginning at 9:45 a.m. ET. More than 1,200 athletes are registered for Saturday's marquee event, which has been part of the Collegiate Club Nationals program since the early 1990s.
The fourth annual Mixed Team Relay is scheduled to begin at 4:15 p.m. ET to close out the weekend. Teams are comprised of four athletes (two men and two women), with each athlete covering the 250m swim, 6k bike, 1.25k run course.
Multisport fans can follow the action live on USA Triathlon's live blog at usatriathlon.org/usatcn15coverage. Event coverage will begin 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the draft-legal sprint and Olympic-distance events.
The University of Colorado returns with five straight wins at the Collegiate Club Nationals event, and the Buffaloes will once again face tough competition from the other top-five returning teams: UCLA, Cal-Berkeley, West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy. Colorado also won the men's team standings last year, while UCLA grabbed the honor on the women's side.
Colorado's Rudy von Berg won the individual championship title in the Olympic-distance race one year ago in Tempe, Arizona, and is on the start list for this weekend's event. William Jones from University of California-San Diego and Steve Mantell of Colorado State finished second and third last year, respectively, and also are on the start list for what is sure to be an exciting race for podium spots and team points.
In the draft-legal sprint, West Point's Dylan Morgan is the top returning athlete, having finished second last year behind Indiana's Ian Boggs. Mantell, who was also third in the draft-legal event in 2014, and Wisconsin's Andrew Nielsen, who was fourth, are also set to toe the line Friday morning.
Virginia Tech's Lauryn MacFawn, who finished fourth last year in the Olympic-distance event, is the only top-five women's finisher returning to either race as other top finishers have since graduated. Colorado's Rachel Lenz (sixth) and Kasia Rasker (seventh) are both on the start list for Saturday's race, as well as Bria Edwards of Penn State (ninth). The top returning women in the draft-legal sprint are Allison Nuovo of Ohio State (sixth in 2014) and Molly Supple of Arizona (seventh).
The USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships have been a springboard to success for some of the nation's top up-and-coming triathletes in recent years, including elite triathletes Ben Kanute, Kaitlin (Shiver) Donner, Caitlin Snow, Barrett Brandon, Kevin Collington, Ben Hoffman, Nicole Kelleher, Michelle Mehnert and Steven Sexton, all of whom captured individual collegiate titles.
Visit usatriathlon.org/usatcn15 for more information on Collegiate Club Nationals and a complete schedule of events.
About USA Triathlon: USA Triathlon is proud to serve as the National Governing Body for triathlon, as well as duathlon, aquathlon, aquabike, winter triathlon, off-road triathlon and paratriathlon in the United States. Founded in 1982, USA Triathlon sanctions more than 4,300 races and connects with nearly 500,000 members each year, making it the largest multisport organization in the world. In addition to its work with athletes, coaches and race directors on the grassroots level, USA Triathlon provides leadership and support to elite athletes competing at international events, including International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships, Pan American Games and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. USA Triathlon is a proud member of the ITU and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).
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