CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – History was made here Sunday morning at Fry's Spring Beach Club as the Gallaudet University Women's Triathlon team made its debut.
GU competed against Eastern Mennonite University in the College Sprint division of the Cal Tri Charlottesville event.
A sprint triathlon traditionally includes a 750-meter swim, 20K bike ride and 5K run. In today's sprint event the swimming only covered 350 meters. No team scores were kept for this event.
First-year triathlete
Kathe Wilken-Yoder (Ovideo, Fla.) was Gallaudet's top finisher as she took third place with a time of one hour and 21 minutes and 35 seconds. Wilken-Yoder posted the fastest 5K time of 21 minutes, 59 seconds.
EMU senior Jenna Weaver won the event in 1:15:25 followed by sophomore teammate Zoe Clymer in second place (1:20:48).
Gallaudet's next finisher was first-year
Crystal Salit (Boyds, Md.) in seventh place with a time of 1:43:00.
First-year
Alecia Miller (Litchfield, Ill.) placed eighth (1:52:15) followed by
Talia Boren (Fair Oaks, Calif.) in ninth (1:54:57) and
Tiadra Vang (Kansas City, Kan.) in 10th (2:09:37). First-year
Sam Michaelson (Southwick, Mass.) started the meet for the Bison but did not complete the course.
"Today's success exceeded my expectations for the Bison team as a whole," said Gallaudet women's triathlon coach
Brian Bennett. "We definitely have room for improvement and I look forward to that improvement over the course of the next several races this fall."
In the swimming competition, that started the race, the Bison had a trio of triathletes finish quickly. Michaelson, Vang and Wilken-Yoder completed the swim within seconds of each other and raced to get onto the bike for the 12-mile ride. The course was very hilly as some downhill areas had bikers reaching upwards of 30 mph. Wilken-Yoder was the first off the bike for the Bison as she completed the 20K ride in 48 minutes, 44 seconds. Salit was next to complete the bike ride in 56:55 and Miller was close behind at 1:01:33.
"I feel honored to be a part of Gallaudet's first women's triathlon team," said Wilken-Yoder, who was a standout cross country runner for GU last fall. "My only experience had been with running so to add swimming and biking on top of running has been tough but a great experience so far. I love triathlon!"
UP NEXT
GU will next compete at the Patriots Triathlon Festival next Sunday, Sept. 8, in Williamsburg, Va., at the Jamestown Settlement.
