SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Black Hills State triathlon had a very good showing at the Nationals Qualifying Race Saturday morning, placing third out of the five DII teams and eighth team overall of 16 total DI, DII and DIII Universities which all raced together in the highly competitive contest.

"We were really happy with the performances from every athlete on our team today," said Head Coach Connie Feist. "They all attacked the swim portion of the race with confidence and were able to get out of the lake in good position for their 20k bike. The team excelled on the last challenge of the race, the 5K run. Many posted P.R.s on their run off the bike, chased down, and passed a large portion of the field, and stayed strong all the way to the finish."

Lilja McKendry was the first athlete to finish for the Yellow Jackets in 37th place out of 121 racers, with a time of 1:08:27. Natalie Elkin finished close behind in 41st in 1:09:11, followed by Sydney Gasper in 54th (1:11:22), Jadyn Johnson in 62nd (1:12:40) and Cassidy Teeslink in 65th (1:13:59).

"Teammates Cassidy Teeslink and Jadyn Johnson had a very impressive bike split," added Feist. "By communicating with each other and working together they were able to surge away from a pack of other riders and continued to increase the distance between themselves and a large group of chasing cyclists for the remainder of the bike."

Rounding out the BHSU squad was Madelynn Potter who came in 71st (1:17:23), Sydney Campbell in 75th (1:18:53) and Anna Austad in 83rd (1:20:42).

"All our athletes should be proud of their efforts and accomplishments today," said Feist. "A special shout out goes to Anna Austad, who is less than two weeks out from a bike crash that she was caught up in at the last triathlon the team raced. While not having the opportunity to train to her full potential due to recovery time, Anna asked to compete anyway and use this race as a personal challenge and to gain experience in the drafting format. She had a great performance today and we look forward to her bright future in draft legal racing."

Up Next
The team is now awaiting the rankings which should be released this week, and will determine the qualifiers for the Collegiate Triathlon National Championships being held in Tempe, Ariz. on November 11.