Colorado Buffaloes Win Individual, Overall Team Titles At Collegiate Nationals

The University of Colorado Buffaloes swam, biked and ran to their sixth consecutive overall team title at the 2015 USA Triathlon Collegiate Club National Championships in Clemson, South Carolina, while Navy won the men’s title and UCLA won the women’s title for the second year in a row. In the Olympic-distance non-drafting races, the University of Colorado’s Rudy von Berg successfully defended his 2014 title, while fellow Buffalo Rachael Lenz captured her first collegiate championship win.

Men’s Non-Drafting Race
Despite a rainy start to the day, von Berg held a solid position near the front of the field throughout the 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike, 10-kilometer run course to finish in 1 hour, 48 minutes, 49 seconds. Penn State’s Jason West followed up his draft-legal sprint win from Friday as the runner-up in the Olympic-distance race, posting a race-fastest run split of 31:18 and an overall time of 1:48:57, and Tim Hendricks from William & Mary finished third in 1:50:28.

California’s Greg Harper led the field out of the water for the second day in a row, entering the first transition with a gap of 11 seconds over William Jones from UCSD. Von Berg was fourth, while West was more than 1:30 back. Once out on the bike, Jones, von Berg and Joel-Tyler Rodgers from Saddleback College led the effort on the bike, and had the advantage over the field heading onto the run. On the first lap of the run, West caught up to von Berg and the pair battled for the top spot over the course of the second lap. Before entering the final stretch, von Berg broke away to capture the win for the second year in a row – a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by a male athlete at Collegiate Club Nationals in at least the last decade.

“I’m super stoked to win,” von Berg said. “Jason West, who’s a fast runner, caught me and I thought I was going to have to settle for second. I ran with him for a couple miles and in the last mile I just went all out. I’m very happy.”

In the women’s race, Lenz logged the fastest bike split by nearly two minutes to move from a position in the middle of the pack, and posted a finishing time of 2:06:26, which was nearly a minute clear of the field. Bria Edwards of Penn State, who led the women for most of the race, finished second in 2:07:18, and Lauryn MacFawn of Virginia Tech finished third to round out the podium at 2:09:55.

Women’s Non-Drafting Race
Much like in the men’s race, Friday’s swim leader Clare LeGuyager of UCSD had the fastest swim split, exiting the water 16 seconds faster than the next closest competitor. Edwards made up time in transition and headed out on to the bike in the lead. By the end of the first lap, Edwards had a gap of more than a minute on the field, but Lenz was gaining after exiting the water in 45th – nearly 3:30 behind the LeGuyager. By the second transition to the run, Edwards was still holding on to her lead, but Lenz had closed the gap to 38 seconds. Lenz made the pass by the end of the first lap and kept running hard to finish with the fastest run split of the day.

“I knew she [Edwards] was fast, so I was a little worried, but I like the bike and the run the most. After the swim is over, it’s more fun,” Lenz said. “I got sixth last year and my bike improved a lot. I didn’t have any expectations.”

Also part of Saturday’s action was the first-ever paratriathlon wave to be contested at Collegiate Club Nationals. Mary Kate Callahan from Arizona and Newton Nguyen from California competed in this inaugural wave, which is expected to grow in participant numbers in the future. The paratriathletes competed on a super sprint course, with Callahan finishing in 1:19:01, and Nguyen finished in 1:10:57.

Complete results from the weekend’s events will be available later today following the awards ceremony, which takes place at 8 p.m. ET. Overall team, men’s team and women’s team winners will be announced at that time. Visit usatriathlon.org/usatcn15 for more information on Collegiate Club Nationals.

Team Results
Colorado earned second place in both the men’s and women’s team title races to give them an overall score of 4,053. The CU Buffs have won the overall title since 2010 and have 16 total team national titles. Navy finished second overall with 4,006 points, and UCLA placed third with 3,912 points.

Though Navy finished second to Colorado in the overall team race, their men’s team scored 2,030 points, snapping the Buffs five-year streak of winning the men’s team title. Colorado’s men scored 2,011 points for second and Texas A&M was third with 1,950 points.

Kelly Kosmo’s Draft-Legal Collegiate Championship title on Friday led the UCLA women to secure their second-straight team victory with 2,050 points, just eight points ahead of Colorado’s women, who logged 2,042 points. The women of the Arizona TriCats round out the top three with 2,024 points.

Kosmo also claimed the women’s combined award, scoring 595 points from her sprint-distance win and a 6th-place finish in the Olympic-distance event. Molly Supple of Arizona was second with 592 points and Colorado’s Brittany Warly was third with 581 points.

Jason West of Penn State earned the men’s combined award with 599 points, winning the draft-legal sprint event and finishing second in the Olympic-distance Collegiate Club National Championships. UCSD’s William Jones was second in the men’s combined points race with 594, and Andrew Nielsen from Wisconsin was third with 591 points.

Colorado’s team of Rachael Lenz, Nick Noone, Scarlet Kaplan and Rudy von Berg also won the Mixed Team Relay, held Saturday afternoon as the closing race in the two-day collegiate event. Though it doesn’t count toward team scoring, 49 relay teams competed with each teammate completing a 250-meter swim, 6-kilometer bike, 1.25-kilometer run circuit. The Buffs clocked in at a combined final time of 1 hour, 20 minutes, 32 seconds. Navy was second in 1:20:55 and UCLA A was third in 1:21:53.

“We’ve never sent a team to the Mixed Team Relay with the intention of competing at the front. We decided this year to go ahead and do that and it was good to get the win,” Noone said. “It was exciting to watch Rudy race there at the end. Watching Rachael and Scarlet half of the race was exciting as well. They really pushed it out there. It’s a good event and a fun format.”

Draft-Legal Collegiate Championships
Men’s Overall
1. Jason West (Penn State), 56:33
2. William Jones (UCSD), 56:52
3. Andrew Nielsen (Wisconsin), 57:01
4. Mike Meehan (Penn State), 57:20
5. Brian Primeaux (Navy), 57:27

Women’s Overall
1. Kelly Kosmo (UCLA), 1:06:33
2. Brittany Warly (Colorado), 1:06:43
3. Molly Supple (Arizona), 1:07:01
4. Emily Dingman (Colorado State), 1:07:02
5. Melanie Rabino (Minnesota), 1:07:56.

Collegiate Club National Championships (Olympic-distance)
Men’s Overall
1. Rudy von Berg (Colorado), 1:48:49
2. Jason West (Penn State), 1:48:57
3. Tim Hendricks (William & Mary), 1:50:28
4. Mike Meehan (Penn State), 1:50:54
5. William Jones (UCSD), 1:51:14

Women’s Overall
1. Rachael Lenz (Colorado), 2:06:26
2. Bria Edwards (Penn State), 2:07:18
3. Lauryn MacFawn (Virginia Tech), 2:09:55
4. Stephanie Murphy (Navy), 2:10:11
5. Molly Supple (Arizona), 2:10:46

Men’s Combined Award
1. Jason West (Penn State), 599
2. William Jones (UCSD), 594
3. Andrew Nielsen (Wisconsin), 591

Women’s Combined Award
1. Kelly Kosmo (UCLA), 595
2. Molly Supple (Arizona), 592
3. Brittany Warly (Colorado), 581

Overall Team Standings
1. Colorado, 4,053
2. Navy, 4,006
3. UCLA, 3,912
4. Arizona, 3,898
5. Texas A&M, 3,869

Women’s Team Standings
1. UCLA, 2,050
2. Colorado, 2,042
3. Arizona, 2,024
4. California, 1,990
5. Navy, 1,976

Men’s Team Standings
1. Navy, 2,030
2. Colorado, 2,011
3. Texas A&M, 1,950
4. Arizona, 1,874
5. West Point, 1,872

Mixed Team Relay
1. Colorado, 1:20:32
2. Navy, 1:20:55
3. UCLA A, 1:21:53

Armed Services Team Champions: Navy
Team Spirit Award: UCSB

Complete results.