COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — The College Triathlon Coaches Association (CTCA) released its list of Scholar All-Americans, recognizing women's varsity student-athletes and teams that excelled both in the classroom and on the race course during the 2019 season.
Scholar All-American — Awarded to the top 20 varsity athlete finishers who competed in the 2019 Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships (all divisions) and maintained a GPA of 3.5 or better throughout the 2019 fall semester of competition.
Scholar All-American: Honorable Mention — Awarded to those varsity athletes in each division who compete in but do not finish in the top 20 in their division at the National Championship who have maintained a GPA of 3.5 or better throughout the fall semester of competition.
Team Honors — Awarded to the five teams with the highest average GPA (based on complete team roster) of all varsity women's collegiate triathlon programs.
All seven members of Trine's triathlon team earned individual academic recognition. Freshmen Amira Faulkner (Bellbrook, Ohio/Bellbrook), Alli Smith (Temperance, Mich./Bedford Senior) and sophomore Kyra Warren (Kendallville, Ind./East Noble) earned Scholar All-American honors, while junior Tori Klingsmith (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central), sophomore Rachel Jones (Indianapolis, Ind./Plainfield) and freshmen Cameron Hoellrich (New Bavaria, Ohio/Holgate) and Samantha Weaver (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore) were named honorable mention Scholar All-American.
"Our ladies epitomize what it means to be a student-athlete, as demonstrated by their results in the classroom as well as on the race course, and practice," said Head Coach Danny Powell. "All seven of our athletes were Scholar All-Americans, and as a professor, that makes me very proud. In addition, we were runner-up in the National Championship!"
As a group, the Thunder overall GPA ranked as the top average among all collegiate programs (all divisions). Together, Trine recorded a cumulative GPA of 3.89 during the fall semester.
Outside the classroom, Faulkner also earned a number of awards for her performances during the 2019 season as a two-time All-Region Freshman honoree and was the Division III "Freshman of the Year" by finishing as the top freshman at the Collegiate Triathlon National Championship. In addition, she also garnered All-American status as a top-three finisher in her division at the national championship.
"All of our women are amazing, and contributed to our team in their own unique way," added Powell. "We are very young with five freshmen, so the best could still be ahead of us."
I am so proud of them all. The best is yet to come.
The NCAA named triathlon an Emerging Sport for Women in 2014, a designation that gives the sport a 10-year window to demonstrate sustainability at the NCAA level. Twenty-five colleges and universities across the country currently sponsor the sport at the varsity level.
The CTCA was founded in 2017 with the objective of promoting collegiate triathlon while also providing guidance through educational, professional, technical and competitive support and opportunities to the organization's membership. The CTCA consists of active members, who are actively coaching triathlon on the NCAA sponsored varsity level, and associate members, who are interested in supporting the objectives and purposes of the CTCA.
