Triathlon club all effort at nationals

The Arizona Triathlon Club was in Lubbock, Texas, over the weekend to compete in the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships, seeking a top-10 finish.

Despite their best efforts, the TriCats finished 20th overall. The men finished 25th overall, and the women finished 16th.

“”We didn’t do as well as we wanted to, but we all had a good race,”” said

interdisciplinary studies sophomore Neil Segel. “”All of us are proud of what we did. From where we were at two years ago, we couldn’t even have dreamed about being as fast as we are now.””

Nicole Truxes, a senior in the college of agricultural and life sciences, led the women. She finished with a time of 2:34:06. Segel led the men, finishing with a time of 2:06:12, with teammate Sean McCormack right behind at 2:08:16.

Weather was a factor during the race and did not do Arizona any favors. The team battled 30 to 40 mph gusts on the bike, and the Olympic-distance swim was cut in half.

“”It was really cold,”” said Eller college of management senior Michael Shufeldt, the club’s vice president. “”(The weather) did have an impact on our finish. We were prepared for a warm weather race, but everyone finished looking like they were exhausted. That’s all we could ask for.””

The TriCats are already looking ahead to next year’s nationals and look to change summer workouts to place in the top-10 next year.

“”We have our eyes on nationals next year,”” said Segel. “”We might take a week off to relax, but we will not give up at all.””

Rugby advances to Round of Eight

The Arizona men’s rugby team advanced to college rugby’s Round of Eight for the first time in school history after defeating Syracuse 25-20 on Friday.

The Wildcats touched down four times against the Hammerheads and half of Arizona’s four tries came from senior fullback Tim Moxness.

Arizona played defending national champion BYU on Saturday in the Round of Eight but lost 45-10.

Moxness scored the team’s lone try in the first half, and senior wingman Mike Getzler showed the heart of the team by making a penalty kick early in the second half, after lying on the field for several minutes following a vicious hit from a BYU player.

Midway through the first half, BYU got on the board first and quickly built upon its lead. It was 17-0 before Moxness touched down. Getzler connected on the ensuing field goal, making it 17-7. Any momentum Arizona built, however, was broken by BYU’s Ryan Roundy, who touched down moments following the Arizona score. BYU led 24-7 at half time, and, aside from Getzler’s penalty kick in the second half, Arizona did not add any more points.

Tennis club shines silver at nationals

In the Arizona Club Tennis Team’s first trip to the United States Tennis Association National Campus Championships the team advanced to the silver pool of the tournament last Thursday with wins against Villanova University, 24-23, and the University of Mary Washington, 30-9.

As the No. 1 seed in their pool, Arizona was upset by the No. 2 seed University of Illinois 26-22 in the final match on the first day of competition.

On the second day of nationals, Arizona advanced to the semi-finals of the silver pool with victories over

UT-Austin, 25-24, and Georgia, 26-21.

In the semifinal, Arizona’s winning ways came to an end at the hands of Oregon 23-21. In a consolation game, Minnesota defeated Arizona 29-11.

­ — Jaime Valenzuela