April 9, 2011- A total of nearly 1,600 college triathletes, representing over 120 colleges and universities, competed in the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship in Tuscaloosa, Alabama earlier today.
The team aspect provides a difference that isn’t common among triathlon events. Teams can enter up to 7 men and 7 women in the event and the top 4 finishers of each gender are counted for scoring purposes. Scoring uses the same method as cross-country races; first finisher gets 1 point, fifth gets five etc. The low score wins. Both undergraduates and graduate students are eligible to compete.
There were two distances contested. The Olympic distance event had the most participants by far and is the only race that counts towards the championship. Nearly 1,200 student athletes lined up for the 1.5K swim, 40K bike ride and 10K run. The remainder competed in a sprint race consisting of a 750m swim, 20K bike ride and a 5K run. The sprint did not count toward championship scoring.
In the end, the pre-race favorite University of Colorado team had 3 of the top 6 men and easily won the men’s team title. The CU women placed third among the women’s teams and it gave Colorado a convincing overall team win. Karl Kahsar, a CU graduate student, won the men’s overall title. Kahsar is no stranger to the event, finishing 4thin 2008 while representing the University of Virginia. The women’s title was claimed by Kaitlin Shiver, an undergraduate at the University of Florida. Shiver also has some history here, having won the overall age group national title in 2009 here in Tuscaloosa.
Overall Team Standings
1. Colorado, 83
2. U.S. Military Academy, 120
3. California, 233
4. Michigan State, 383
5. Texas A&M, 395
Men’s Team Standings
1. Colorado, 23
2. U.S. Military Academy, 71
3. California, 99
4. UCLA, 108
5. Michigan State, 139
Women’s Team Standings
1. U.S. Naval Academy, 46
2. U.S. Military Academy, 49
3. Colorado, 60
4. Cal Poly, 130
5. California, 134
Men’s Overall
1. Karl Kahsar (Colorado), 1:57:04
2. Dustin McLarty (UC Irvine), 1:58:17
3. Brady O’Bryan (UCLA), 1:59:02
Women’s Overall
1. Kaitlin Shiver (Florida), 2:10:04
2. Julie Rechel (Richmond), 2:13:47
3. Marcie Nordt (U.S. Military Academy), 2:14:28
Team Spirit Award: Arizona State
Armed Service Champion: U.S. Military Academy
Good news for if you’d like to see the race. CBS Sports Network will show separate one-hour telecasts on Friday, April 29, 2011. The women's race will air at 10 pm ET and the men's race at 11 pm ET. The coverage will be shown a number of times in May. Click here to find the CBS Sports Network in your area.
If you have questions, suggestions or stories to share, please send Alan an email. To stay up on triathlon news, events and articles, follow on Twitter @FLTriathlon.
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