The Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Triathlon team traveled to Hurricane, UT to compete in the 2019 Southern Utah Sprint Triathlon back on Saturday, Oct. 26. A sprint distance triathlon is a type of race that triathletes compete in as a way to tune-up their skills before going into a full-fledged triathlon. These sprints include a 750-meter swim, 5-kilometer bike and a 5-kilometer run.
“The swim is really a cortical piece in draft legal racing,” CMU Assistant Coach Bryant Howard said. “So today with this not being a draft legal race the only thing that was really the same was the slim. We really focused our energy on executing our swim approach and competing in it the same way that we will when we go down to Tempe.”
Both the Men’s and Women’s teams found success on the podium in Utah with the Men’s team placing 1st, 2nd and 4th on the day as well as the Women contributing a clean 1-2-3 podium sweep.
The Mavericks were able to execute in an untimely fashion. Freshman Collin Braatz brought home the gold for the Mavericks finished with the best overall time of the day; one hour and eleven minutes.
“Going into today I really wanted to focus on the swim. [Joseph Graff]’s been beating me a lot at practice so I really wanted to focus on coming out of the water close to him,” Collin Braatz said, “Coming out of the water second was the biggest goal as it put me in a really great position to win the whole race.”
Also standing tall on the podium was men’s athlete Joseph Graff who followed first place by just seven minutes. Graff finished with an overall time of one hour and seventeen minutes.
Although the Men’s team saw fantastic success the Women’s team deserves just as much recognition. The Mavericks had a complete podium sweep on the women’s end finishing with four racers in the top five.
Freshman Mazzy Jackson finished with an overall time of one hour and twelve minutes taking first place in the women’s division. This was just one of the three women’s riders that sat high on the podium in Utah.
The Mavericks also had riders Hannah Croasdell and Madison Batkiewicz place second and third on the day.
Saying this was a successful race is an understatement. The Mavericks arrived motivated and battle tested. CMU’s next competition next is at the Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships in Tempe, AZ on Saturday Nov. 16th.
