By: Britni Smith, USD Sports Information
TEMPE, Ariz.—Four members of South Dakota's triathlon team competed in the Dual in the Desert NCAA Challenge against Arizona State and San Francisco on Saturday at Arizona State's campus.
Throughout the day, the athletes competed in a variety of events – a 3,000-meter run time trial on the track, a bicycle skills obstacle course, a four-mile bicycle team time trial, a 100-meter swim time trial and a 400-meter open water course in the pool.
Fourth-year junior
Maddie Lavin was the Coyotes' top finisher in sixth place with a total time of 27:18 for the challenge. Freshman
Andrea Cernuda was 10th with a total time of 27:42, freshman
Micah Poellet took 13th in 28:09 and fourth-year junior
Leah Drengenberg rounded out the group in 22nd with a time of 29:58.
Lavin tied for second in the 3,000-meter run time trial with a time of 10:08 to start the morning. Cernuda was seventh in 10:15.
Poellet posted the Coyotes' top time on the obstacle course, completing it in 1:11. She tied for fourth place with the time.
In the four-mile team bike race, USD clocked a time of 9:42 for fourth place.
Lavin and Drengenberg, both members of USD's swimming and diving team, were USD's top finishers in the pool. Lavin clocked 1:04 in the 100-meter swim, while Drengenberg was just a second behind. In the 400-meter open water course, Lavin clocked 5:05 and Drengenberg posted a time of 5:11.
Gallery: (9-18-2021) TRI at the Dual in the Desert
Next on deck for South Dakota is the Smith Mountain Lake Qualifier in Huddleston, Virginia, on Oct. 16.
