HUDDLESTON, Va. – The Denver Pioneers women's triathlon team competes at the Eastern Regional National Qualifier on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. MT at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.
 
Denver returns to the site where it won its second-ever team race back on Oct. 16, 2021, which also saw junior Clara Normand pick up the individual win. Normand was a freshman at the time competing for Wagner College.
 
The Pioneers enter the race as the second-seeded team in the regional and with a No. 5 overall ranking in the country. The other Division-I programs they'll race against include No. 1 Queens University, Eastern Tennessee State, Duquesne, Navy, Delaware State and Wagner.
 
Denver's start list features eight athletes in freshmen Alex Campbell and Maira Carreau, sophomores Coco Diemar and Elizabeth Harita, juniors Olivia Ebenstein, Avarie Faulkner and Clara Normand, and graduate student Maren York.
 
Saturday's event is part of the Blue Ridge Draft Legal Sprint Triathlon Festival and begins with a 750-meter swim and a 150-meter run to the transition area. The bike course is two loops with 500 total feet of elevation gain and a length of 18.5 kilometers. The 5K run is two laps with rolling hills alongside the bike course. All of the course takes place inside the state park.
 
DU is coming off a third-place finish at the Black Hills Collegiate Cup in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, on Oct. 1. The Pioneers began the season with a win in the Aquathlon Eliminator duel against Colorado Mesa on Sept. 2 and a fourth-place result in the Battle in the Fort Triathlon on Sept. 17.
 
Each team's finish at regionals will determine its placement at the Collegiate National Championships on Nov. 11 in Tempe, Arizona.