HOT SPRINGS, S.D. – The Denver Pioneers women's triathlon team opens the 2025 season on Saturday morning at the Southern Hills Triathlon super sprint at Angostura Recreation Area.
 
The NCAA race begins at 7:15 a.m. MT, with the super-sprint format featuring a 375-meter swim, 10-kilometer bike and 5K run off Breakers Beach.
 
DU is starting the regular season in the Black Hills for the second straight year after also competing in the collegiate super sprint last year where it finished second as a team. The Pioneers also began 2022 at the Southern Hills Triathlon, winning the full-distance sprint while Freya McKinley, Clara Normand and Elizabeth Harita swept the podium.
 
The collegiate course will be the same as last year, beginning with a running start off Breakers Beach and into a one-lap swim in Angostura Reservoir. The bike portion features an out-and-back course through and out of the state park that includes several steep hills and tight turns with the college competitors turning around after 5 kilometers. The run is another out and back that heads south out of transition and along the eastern shore of the lake and features several hills.
 
Senior Elizabeth Harita, junior Maira Carreau and freshmen Lucrezia Gowdy, Jenna Topott and Olivia Wimberger are all expected to race for Denver, with rookies Gowdy, Topott and Wimberger set to make their collegiate racing debuts.
 
All of the western Division-I school are set to race at Southern Hills, including defending national champion Arizona, as well as Arizona State, San Francisco, South Dakota and last year's event winner TCU. Division-II and in-state foe Colorado Mesa and local host Black Hills State will also race.
 
After this weekend, Denver's five-meet, 2025 schedule continues with its first sprint-distance event at the Desert's Edge Triathlon at Highline State Park in Loma, Colorado.