HOT SPRINGS, S.D. – The University of Denver division-I women's triathlon team swept the podium and won the team title on Saturday morning as the Pioneers opened the 2022 season at The Southern Hills Triathlon at Angostura Recreation Area in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
 
Sophomore Freya McKinley led DU across the finish line in the collegiate race to earn her second career victory, while fellow sophomore Clara Normand came in right behind her in second place and freshman Elizabeth Harita crossed in third.
 
Denver finished with seven athletes in the top 12 and had all five of its scorers place inside the top 10 to earn a team score of 138 points. Colorado Mesa University was second with 120 points, Black Hills State was third with 92 points and Montana State Billings was fourth with 13 points.
 
"I'm very happy with our season-opening race," said DU Head Coach Barbara Perkins. "We came into this race without a lot of pressure, as we just wanted to see where we were at and use it as a jumping off point for the season. There was a bit of a surprise of gravel on the bike course, which added an extra technical element, but overall the team did extremely well together. I'm thrilled to sweep the podium and come away with the team title. It was a tremendous group effort."
 
Sophomore Olivia Ebenstein came in sixth and freshman Nadiya Linde-Elmhirst rounded out the Pios' scoring quintuplet in 10th. All nine Denver triathletes raced on Saturday morning, with sophomore Avarie Faulkner finishing 11th, graduate student Melissa Funes in 12th, freshman Coco Diemar in 21st and senior Stormy Hegg in 27th.
 
McKinley picked up her first victory since winning last season's Oktoberfest Sprint in Longmont, Colorado, on Sept. 19, 2021, as she finished the course that started in Angostura Reservoir in 58 minutes and 34.1 seconds. She has now placed in the top 10 in each of her last six races and has reached the podium in five of them.
 
Normand made her Denver debut after competing last year for Wagner College and joined McKinley with a sub-hour time in 59:56.8.
 
Harita shined in her first collegiate race, as she was the first athlete out of the water and rounded out Denver's dominance on the podium in 1:00:50.2. She is the first DU freshman to finish in the top three in her first career NCAA competition and the second in program history regardless of class, as then-junior Grace Arlandson placed third in the D-I race at the Clermont Challenge in March 2021.
 
Linde-Elmhirst, Diemer and Funes joined Harita in making their collegiate triathlon debuts in the race as well. Funes has spent the last four years on Denver's division-I swimming and diving team.
 
The Pioneers led throughout the race, as Normand, McKinley and Ebenstein followed Harita out of the water and out onto the bike course. McKinley and Normand led the charge on the road and were the first out of the second transition heading into the 5-kilometer run finale. Ebenstein and Harita came into transition in fourth and fifth place, with Harita making up ground in the run to earn a podium spot.
 
Saturday's race was a slightly-shorter distance than the usual collegiate sprint, with the competitors taking part in a 400-meter swim (quarter of a mile) and a 19.3K bike ride (12 miles) instead of the usual 750-meter swim and a 20K bike portions.
 
The team victory marked the Pioneers' third in program history, and their first since winning the 2021 Smith Mountain Eastern National Qualifier on Oct. 16 of last season. Denver also won the team title at last year's Oktoberfest Sprint, which will be the Pioneers' next event later this month.
 
UP NEXT: DU will be racing again in three weeks on Sept. 24 when it looks to defend its women's team title at the Oktoberfest Sprint at Union Reservoir in Longmont, Colorado. The race will be a good measuring stick to see where the Pioneers are at in the early season, as Arizona State, San Francisco and South Dakota are among the other division-I squads that will be competing at the meet.
 
THE COURSE: Following the out-and-back, quarter-mile swim from Breakers Beach at Angostura Reservoir, the bike portion featured rolling hills toward the town of Oral on the Olympic distance route, with the athletes going halfway before turning around for the sprint race. The run was another out and back, heading south out of transition and along the eastern shore of the lake.
 
WEATHER: The air temperature at the 7:50 a.m. MDT start was 59 degrees Fahrenheit. It was sunny conditions with only a slight wind, less than 10 miles per hour.
 
RESULTS:
Team Results
1. Denver – 138 points
2. Colorado Mesa – 120 points
3. Black Hills State – 92 points
4. Montana State Billings – 19 points
 
Denver Triathletes
*1. Freya McKinley, DU, 58:34.1 (5:07.6/32:20.8/20:23.4)
*2. Clara Normand, DU, 59:56.8 (5:01.1/32:24.4/21:43.6)
*3. Elizabeth Harita, DU, 1:00:50.2 (5:01.5/33:14.3/21:38.9)
*6. Olivia Ebenstein, DU, 1:02:16.7 (5:05.6/33:16.2/23:08.0)
*10. Nadiya Linde-Elmhirst, DU, 1:03:07.5 (5:17.4/34:37.0/22:24.0)
11. Avarie Faulkner, DU, 1:03:21.7 (5:49.8/34:22.4/22:00)
12. Melissa Funes, DU, 1:03:28.5 (5:06.2/35:09.3/22:13.0)
21. Coco Diemar, DU, 1:06:57.2 (5:18.2/34:49.8/25:52.3)
27. Stormy Hegg, DU, 1:10:00.8 (6:42.3/35:32.2/26:30.1)
* - denotes team scorers
 
Women's Individual Top 10 Overall (29-of-33 finished)
1. Freya McKinley, Denver, 58:34.1, 31 points
2. Clara Normand, Denver, 59:56.8, 30 points
3. Elizabeth Harita, Denver, 1:00:50.2, 29 points
4. Nadine Klive, Colorado Mesa, 1:01:04.8, 28 points
5. Paloma Suarez Davila, Colorado Mesa, 1:01:33.6, 27 points
6. Olivia Ebenstein, Denver, 1:02:16.7, 26 points
7. Josie Williams, Colorado Mesa, 1:02:53.3, 25 points
8. Torin Lackmann, Colorado Mesa, 1:03:03.8, 24 points
9. Lilja McKendry, Black Hills State, 1:03:06.2, 23 points
10. Nadiya Linde-Elmhirst, Denver, 1:03:07.5, 22 points
 

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