Arizona State, Lenoir-Rhyne, North Central Win National Titles at 2023 Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships
by USA Triathlon
Scenes from 2023 USA Triathlon Women's Collegiate National Championships in Tempe, Arizona.
TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona State University women's collegiate triathlon team won its seventh consecutive NCAA Division I national title on Saturday, Nov. 11 at home in Tempe, Arizona, at the 2023 Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships.
Lenoir-Rhyne University of Hickory, North Carolina, won its second consecutive Division II title, while North Central College of Naperville, Illinois, also won its second consecutive national title in Division III, and fifth overall in the program's history.
Maira Carreau (La Prairie, Quebec) of the University of Denver won the individual Division I title, Lenoir-Rhyne's Sabrina Fleig (Germany) won the DII title and Hailey Poe (Bridgeville, Pa.) of North Central College won her third consecutive DIII national title.
Athletes from more than 30 NCAA DI, DII, and DIII women's collegiate triathlon teams from across the country competed on Saturday at the Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships, which was organized by race production company Kinetic Multisports and hosted for the sixth consecutive year by Tempe and Arizona State University.
An NCAA Emerging Sport for Women, women's collegiate triathlon features the same fast, tactical, and draft-legal racing that is contested at the elite level, including the Olympics and World Triathlon Championship Series. More than 40 schools offer women’s collegiate triathlon at the varsity level, an important benchmark reached in 2022 as the NCAA Emerging Sport for Women now has a few more steps to take on its way to being fully managed by the NCAA as a Championship Sport. To learn more about Women’s Collegiate Triathlon, visit USA Triathlon’s website here.
Athletes at the Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships competed on a sprint-distance course, featuring a 750-meter swim in Tempe Town Lake at North Shore Beach, followed by a 20-kilometer bike course with three laps around the lake and a 5k run.
National team titles were determined by the total points of the first five scoring athletes of each NCAA varsity team. Awards for the team champions and top three individual awards in each division were presented by Air Force Special Warfare.
PHOTOS of the 2023 Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships are available for download here. Credit Thomas Fernandez/for USA Triathlon.
Division I: Arizona State Wins 7th Team Title, Maira Carreau of the University of Denver wins Individual Title
Arizona State had three athletes finish in the top five, including runner-up Naomi Ruff (West Chicago, Ill.), third-place finisher Amber Schlebusch (Durban, South Africa), who won the 2022 individual title, and fifth-place finisher Heidi Jurankova (Karlovarsky Kraj, Czech Republic). The Sun Devils scored 999 points, as their No. 4 and No. 5 athletes, Zoe Marie Adam (Salinas, Puerto Rico) and Faith Dasso (New Braunfels, Texas), placed 15th and 21st, respectively. The title is the seventh consecutive championship for Arizona State. Cliff English was named DI coach of the year.
It was the University of Denver's Maira Carreau (La Prairie, Quebec) who won the individual crown, as she completed the sprint-distance course in a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes, 22.6 seconds. A freshman, Carreau turned in a well-rounded performance, coming out of the water in 14th place and in the lead pack on the bike before running the field's third-fastest 5k in 17:46 to win Denver's first individual national title. As a team, Denver finished fourth.
Queens University of Charlotte, which won six DII national titles before jumping up to compete at the DI level in 2022, finished runner-up for the second consecutive year. The Royals were led by seventh-place finisher Beth Cook (Eastbourne, England), Cara McDonald (Ottawa, Ontario, 10th), and Sam McInnes (St. Andrews, Scotland, 12th).
The University of San Francisco placed third as a team, led by 2021 national champion Kira Gupta-Baltazar (Kleinburg, Ontario) who finished sixth, and Maite Kuestner (Cologne, Germany, 8th).
DII: Lenoir-Rhyne Goes Back-to-Back, Led by Sabrina Fleig Who Wins Individual Title
Sabrina Fleig of Lenoir-Rhyne University won the DII individual title in a time of 1:04:35 to lead Lenoir-Rhyne to its second consecutive national title. Her teammates, Zoila Sicilia (Spain), Eliska Rihova (Czech Republic) and Claudia Teran placed fourth, sixth and eighth, respectively. Lenoir-Rhyne coach Harley Mason was named DII coach of the year.
Last year's individual champion from Wingate University, Julia Kekkonen (Finland), placed second overall, while Colorado Mesa University's Shannon Feran (Broomfield, Colo.) took third for the second consecutive year.
Wingate finished second in the team standings and Colorado Mesa placed third.
DIII: North Central Wins 5th Team Title and Hailey Poe Wins 3rd Individual Title
Hailey Poe (Bridgeville, Pa.) of North Central College won her third consecutive DIII individual title in Tempe, clocking a time of 1:09:27, and her teammates Charlotte Kumler (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Bethany Smeed (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) joined her on the podium as North Central cruised to its second consecutive national title and fifth team title in the program's history.
Trine University of Angola, Indiana, placed second, led by Grace Huisman's (Yorktown, Ind.) fourth-place finish. Eastern Mennonite University of Harrisonburg, Virginia, took third in the team standings, led by Jenna Weaver (Harrisonburg, Va.), who placed sixth.
Willamette University's Brett Franz was named DIII coach of the year. For more information about triathlon as an NCAA Emerging Sport for Women, visit USA Triathlon's website.
2023 Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championship
Tempe, Ariz. | 750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run | Complete Results
Awards presented by Air Force Special Warfare
Team Champions by Division
Division I
1. Arizona State University, 999 points
2. Queens University of Charlotte, 967
3. University of San Francisco, 933
Division II
1. Lenoir-Rhyne University, 847
2. Wingate University, 753
3. Colorado Mesa University, 723
Division III
1. North Central College, 623
2. Trine University, 420
3. Eastern Mennonite University, 406
Individual All-Americans By Division
Division I
1. Maira Carreau, University of Denver, 1:03:22
2. Naomi Ruff, Arizona State University, 1:03:32
3. Amber Schlebusch, Arizona State University, 1:03:49
4. Josi Seerig, East Tennessee State University, 1:03:58
5. Heidi Jurankova, Arizona State University, 1:04:06
6. Kira Gupta-Baltazar, University of San Francisco, 1:04:27
7. Beth Cook, Queens University of Charlotte, 1:04:30
Division II
1. Sabrina Fleig, Lenoir-Rhyne University, 1:04:35
2. Julia Kekkonen, Wingate University, 1:05:37
3. Shannon Feran, Colorado Mesa University, 1:06:02
4. Zoila Sicilia, Lenoir-Rhyne University, 1:06:17
5. Tamar Veltman, Wingate University, 1:07:33
6. Eliska Rihova, Lenoir-Rhyne University, 1:07:43
7. Zoe Van Dijk, Drury University, 1:08:43
Division III
1. Hailey Poe, North Central College, 1:09:27
2. Charlotte Kumler, North Central College, 1:11:42
3. Bethany Smeed, North Central College, 1:12:08
4. Grace Huisman, Trine University, 1:13:33
5. Scarlett Schuth, North Central College, 1:13:51
6. Jenna Weaver, Eastern Mennonite University, 1:17:19
7. Riga Grubis, Willamette University, 1:18:15