No. 5 BHSU Triathlon Opens Year Ten at The Southern Hills Triathlon

SPEARFISH, S.D. – The No. 5 Black Hills State University women's triathlon team will be celebrating their tenth season of competition in the 2024 season, and they open the year as part of a loaded field at The Southern Hills Triathlon on Saturday morning. All six competing teams are set to be ranked, including four top-10 Division I programs and a pair of top-5 Division II squads.

RACE DETAILS
Date & Time: Saturday, August 31 at 7:30 a.m.
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. – Angostura Recreation Area
Super Sprint: 375-meter swim, 10-kilometer bike, and 2.5-kilometer run

NO. 5 BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES

Entering their tenth season in program history, Black Hills State has quickly built a strong foundation of success as they have placed no lower than seventh at the national meet every year since 2016. The Yellow Jackets have placed as high as third overall on two occasions, recording the feat in 2018 and 2019.
Black Hills State enters the 2024 season ranked No. 5 nationally in Division II in the Collegiate Triathlon Coaches Association (CTCA) Preseason Poll, which was released earlier today.
Top returners from the 2023 season include national qualifiers Natalie Moose-Elkin, who was 84^th with a time of 1:12:46.5, Jadyn Johnson, who was 91^st with a time of 1:14:11.6, Sydney Gasper, who was 99^th with a time of 1:15:24.9, Cassidy Teeslink, who was 104^th with a time of 1:16:53.0, and Sydney Campbell, who was 110^th with a time of 1:17:39.4.
NCAA Division I opponents in The Southern Hills Triathlon will be No. 2 Arizona, No. 4 Denver, No. 5 TCU, and No. 7 South Dakota, while No. 3 Colorado Mesa will join No. 5 Black Hills State as one of two NCAA Division II teams competing.
In the 2023 edition of The Southern Hills Triathlon, the Yellow Jackets swept the top-6 spots in the race, with Lilja McKendry winning with a time of 1:02:37 while Gasper was second (1:04:10) and Moose-Elkin was third (1:04:19).
Connie Feist has been with the program since its inception in 2014 and enters her ninth season as head coach after taking over in 2016.