The Race(s)
South Dakota opens the 2022 season with a pair of competitions this weekend in Colorado.
The Coyotes open the season with the Oktoberfest Invitational, a traditional sprint triathlon race held at the Union Reservoir in Longmont beginning at 9 a.m. (Central) on Saturday.
The following day, the Coyotes will travel to Denver for the Mile High Relays held at the El Pomar Natatorium at DU's Ritchie Center. The competition will begin at 9 a.m. (Central) on Sunday. Each team will field two relay teams in the race, A and B, with three athletes per team. The relays will feature each participant taking part in a 200-meter swim before roughly an 800-meter run course before tagging the next teammate to compete in the circuit.
The Coyotes
South Dakota's first class of triathletes graduated last spring, which leads to a new-look roster this fall. There are seven returners in
Tessa Brennan,
Andrea Cernuda,
Cass Dalbec,
Grace Johnson,
Ella Kubas,
Ella Perras and
Teagan Shapansky. One freshman,
Chelsea Webber, is joined by three transfers in
Franziska Neck,
Kayla Ribbink and
Verena Vesely, to make up the group of newcomers. Kubas is a returning second-team All-American from last fall, while the Coyotes added Division II All-American Ribbink from Lenoir-Rhyne. Saturday will be the first opportunity of the fall for the Coyotes to race as a team ahead of the regional qualifier in October.
The Competition
Both races will feature athletes from the top-four team finishers at the Division I level at the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships – defending national champion Arizona State, San Francisco, South Dakota and Denver.
One Last Thing
South Dakota tuned up earlier this month by racing in the Augustana Twilight cross country meet. Ribbink was the front-runner for the squad, completing the 5,000-meter run in 19:05.31.
