DENVER – The University of Denver triathlon team has added
Ava Pfaff to its roster for the upcoming 2024 fall regular season.
Pfaff joins the Pioneers after previously competing with Yoder Performance club in her native Pennsylvania. She won the USA Triathlon Age Group (15-19) Sprint National Championship in August 2023 after placing runner-up in the same race the previous year in 2022.
"I chose the University of Denver because of the environment,"
Pfaff said. "The campus is breathtaking with proximity to various off-campus training sights. Coaches
Barbara Perkins, Jax Heil, Scott Batula and the team are so welcoming, and I already felt like a part of the DU family."
Internationally, Pfaff helped Team USA win the Age Group 15-19 Mixed Team Relay and picked up a silver medal in the Age Group 16-19 Individual Sprint at the World Triathlon Championships in Hamburg, Germany, on July 14-16, 2023. She also competed in various Kinetic Multisport races across the U.S. in summer 2023 and won her age group and placed second overall in the series rankings.
The West Grove, Pennsylvania, native made her junior elite debut this past spring and placed 10th at the Americas Triathlon Championships in Miami on March 8. At the 2024 USA Junior Elite National Championships on July 14 in West Des Moines, Iowa, she helped Team Stars & Stripes Racing to the Mixed Team Relay championship.
Pfaff graduated from Avon Grove High School this past spring and served as a team captain in 2023-24 in both cross country running and swimming. She twice qualified for the Pennsylvania high school state championships in each sport, and she was twice the recipient of the school's "Coaches Award" in cross country and earned it once in swimming. Pfaff was also recognized with academic distinguished honors all four years at AGHS.
The daughter of Keith and Emily Pfaff, Ava has two older sisters, Annika and Rabea, both of whom have Division-I athletic experience as well. Annika currently runs cross country and track at Florida State while Rabea previously swam at the University of North Carolina. Pfaff began doing triathlons at age 6 but has also participated in lacrosse, gymnastics, cross country and track running, swimming, soccer, wakeboarding and horseback riding, the last of which she has done since she was 3 years old.
