WASHINGTON – The Gallaudet University athletics department invites the campus community to help celebrate and send off four Bison women's triathletes who have qualified for the 2026 Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships in Tempe, Ariz.

A special send-off celebration will take place Wednesday, Nov. 4, at noon in the I. King Jordan Student Academic Center (SAC), near the G logo next to Starbucks.

The four national qualifiers include junior Alecia Miller (Litchfield, Ill.), sophomores Melany Salcedo Benavides (Woodbridge, Va.) and Marcella Shular (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and first year Priya Frank (Colorado Springs, Colo.).

Miller is making a return trip to the national championships after competing in the inaugural season of Gallaudet women's triathlon in 2024. Frank, Salcedo Benavides and Shular will make their first national championship appearances.

Now in its third season, the Gallaudet women's triathlon program under the direction of coach Brian Bennett has continued to build momentum, highlighted by hosting its first home competition earlier this fall and earning a top-10 national ranking among NCAA Division III programs.

The send-off celebration will give students, faculty and staff an opportunity to meet the four qualifiers and the Bison coaching staff, recognize the team's accomplishments and wish the student-athletes well before they depart for Arizona.

Wear your buff and blue and come cheer on the Bison as they prepare to represent Gallaudet on the national stage!

The Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships will take place Sunday, Nov. 8, at Tempe Town Lake North Park in Tempe, Ariz. Gallaudet will compete in the NCAA Division III championship race, scheduled to begin at 2:45 p.m. local time (4:45 p.m. EST).