PLEASANT PRAIRIE, WIS. -- The Trine University women's triathlon team finished second among NCAA Division III schools at the Central Regional Qualifier at the Pleasant Prairie RecPlex in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.
The Thunder were one of five Div. III schools to compete in the event and posted a team score of 24 points to place second behind North Central (Ill.) College with 11 points. Millikin (Ill.) University rounded out the top three teams with 28 points. By finishing second, Trine will automatically qualify for the Collegiate National Championship that will be held in Tempe, Ariz. in November and send seven student-athletes to compete.
Individually, Amira Faulkner posted the top overall time among Div. III competitors of 1:09.05.61. A total of 28 D-III athletes completed the full race with Faulkner having the best time. Faulkner set a 11:49.34 pace following the opening swim leg of the race and then had a mark of 34:47.59 in the bike portion which she followed with a time of 21:24.90.
Alexandria Smith also finished in the top-10 with an overall time of 1:14.48.11 after recording times of 11:45.15 (swim), 40:15.28 (bike) and 21:38.48 (run).
Two other competitors completed the entire race for Trine in Kyra Warren and Samantha Weaver. Both finished in the top-20 with Warren posting a cumulative time of 1:18.32.58 with times of 15:10.97 in the swim, 39:27.61 in the bike and 22:49.70 in the run. Weaver placed 20th overall after completing the event in an overall time of 1:20.32.17. Weaver got the day started with a time of 12:26.48 in the swim, followed by a mark of 39:11.05 in the bike and finally 27:26.34 in the run portion.
"We did great this weekend!" said Head Coach Danny Powell. "Amira was the DIII Champion. She was amazing as they all were."
Rachel Jones and Victoria Klingsmith also competed for the Thunder, but both only completed the swim portion of the race with Jones having a mark of 13:52.24 and Klingsmith finishing in a time of 15:56.74.
"We have a lot of work to do and this race was a great learning experience," added Powell. "This was a great foundation to understand what we need to work on to win the National Championship this year."
Trine will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 14 with the first-ever Trine Triple Sprint Invitational. The race will be held at the Trine State Recreation Area in Fremont, Ind. The first race of the day is scheduled to start at 8 a.m.