WICHITA, Kan. — With experience and numbers in its favor, the Newman triathlon team is looking to make a name for itself at the 2018 USA Triathlon Collegiate Club Nationals this weekend.
CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
The Jets will be competing at nationals as a team for the second time, and have shown marked improvement in their second season as they head to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for two days of races Friday and Saturday.
That improvement, as well as a full roster of triathletes, has allowed the team to finish eighth in the Midwest Collegiate Triathlon Conference standings and earn the full allotment of limited spots at nationals.
While Newman only competed in the open Olympic-distance race last year, the points accumulated through conference races this season qualified them for four spots in Friday's draft-legal race, five positions in the first wave of the Olympic-distance race Saturday morning, and a position in the mixed relay race Saturday afternoon.
All those races provide points in the team standings at nationals, and the team hopes to push Newman's name into the fold against some big-name competition. While the spots in other events help the team total, it also means a number of Jets will be busy on the weekend.
Nazareth Viramontes and Hannah Rood will take part in the women's draft-legal race at 8:15 a.m. Friday, while Nicholas Samsel and Koki Takemoto will race in the men's at 10 a.m. The entire team will go in the Olympic-distance race Saturday, with the women starting at 7:30 a.m. and the men at 10:10, and the mixed relay team of Abbie Scott, Brandon Steiner, Viramontes and Jacob Kleespie will take part in the final race of the weekend at 4:15 p.m. Saturday.
Kleespie, Scott, Rood, Mac Foley and Wyatt Mattas will get the start in Wave 1 Saturday morning, although that won't come with the benefit of open water in front of them for the first stage as was expected.
Due to heavy rainfall in the area, the spillway of the reservoir where the swim leg was set to take place had to be opened, creating too strong of a current to safely put swimmers in the water. As a result, all races have been changed to a duathlon format, which will feature a bike leg between two running segments.
The draft-legal race will be a 2.5-kilometer run, a 20 km bike and another 2.5 km run. The Olympic-distance more than doubles that, with a 40 km bike between a pair of 5.2 km runs. In the mixed relay, each teammate will complete a 1.07 km run, 5.9 km bike and 1.2 km run before handing off to the next competitor.
Live results will be available for all three races at www.newmanjets.com.
