BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Trine University triathlon team debuted in 2023 with the squad's first event on Saturday, the Duquesne Invite. The Thunder had three student-athletes place inside the top-10 among NCAA Division III competitors in a race that featured 81 total athletes.
Sophomore Grace Huisman led the way for Trine with a total time of 1:10:30.62. She had the best time in the swim (10:35.21), bike (32:30.32) and run (24:49.58) on the team as well as the only transition one less than two minutes for the Thunder at 1:57.95. Huisman was 39th overall and fourth among NCAA DIII athletes.
Junior Kathryn Berlew was sixth of the NCAA DIII competitors with a total time of 1:16:41.74. Berlew had a fast second transition at 39.89 seconds to help keep pace heading into the final leg. Seventh-place finisher in DIII was sophomore Summer South (1:16:50.21), whose day was highlighted by a time of 24:54.78 in the run.
Spots 11-15 held four Trine team members. Sophomore Mariah Hurst (1:23:26.82), senior Rebecca Schaffner (1:27:31.62), sophomore Paige Aselage (1:27:46.27) and freshman Alyssa Seiter (1:29:17) were 11th, 13th, 14th and 15th on the DIII leaderboard.
The team's next event is the Millikin Invite in Decatur, Illinois on Saturday, September 23.