PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. – The University of Denver Women's Triathlon Team opens its 2021 season on Saturday morning at the Pleasant Prairie Regional Qualifier.
After a shortened inaugural 2020-21 campaign due to COVID-19, the Pioneers are beginning its first full NCAA season this fall, with the squad set to participate in three regional qualifiers, the Oktoberfest Sprint on Sept. 19 in Longmont, Colorado, and the National Championship on Nov. 13 in Tempe, Arizona.
Saturday's race is set to begin at 7:30 a.m. MT with a 750-meter swim at Lake Andrea. Following the open-water segment, the Pioneers will then embark on a 20-kilometer draft-legal bike ride around the lake (four laps) before closing the race with a 5-kilometer run on a similar course. All NCAA triathlons feature this sprint distance.
The Pioneers have seven athletes set to compete, with the top five finishers scoring for the team. Arizona State, East Tennessee State, San Francisco and South Dakota are the other four division-I schools competing, with the goal being to get the lowest score possible.
Denver's starting list includes graduate student
Emily Pincus, seniors
Grace Arlandson and
Amanda Ballard and freshmen
Bella Chirafisi,
Olivia Ebenstein,
Avarie Faulkner and
Freya McKinley.
For Arlandson and Ballard, Saturday marks their second NCAA Tri competition after both participated in last March's Clermont Challenge, which was the first-ever meet for the program. Arlandson placed third in the D-I race on the first day, while Ballard came in fifth.
For the other five athletes, the race will be their debut at the collegiate varsity level.
The meet is also an early-season homecoming for Chirafisi, who is from Middleton, Wisconsin, roughly 100 miles northwest of Pleasant Prairie.
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