The Arizona triathlon team won the USA Triathlon National Championship with a score of 942 points in Clermont, Florida on Saturday Nov. 9 in only their second year of competing.

The stakes were high after tying with ASU in the NCAA West National Qualifier on Oct. 12. Not only did Arizona have to compete against ASU again, but they also had to go up against teams they had never seen in their region.

This time, the event was packed with 202 total racers from colleges across the nation running, swimming and biking for their team. 

Although an ASU runner took first place overall, second and third place were snatched by Arizona runners Kelly Wetteland and Maragreta Vrablova.

Wetteland’s and Vrablova’s final times were 00:59:20 and 00:59:24. Both racers finished mere seconds behind the first place finisher, Noami Ruff.  Wetteland finished 13 seconds behind Ruff while Vrablova finished 17 seconds behind Ruff. 

Similar to the last race, Arizona’s triathletes all placed within the top 25, with three racers completing the course in under an hour. Molly Lakustiak finished in sixth with 00:59:50 followed by ninth place Dana Prikylova. 

The Wildcats bring home the trophy and will await their banner being hung on National Championship Dr. As of now, there is no current date planned for this event but it will be the Wildcats’ first championship since the women’s golf team won in 2018.

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