Willamette Earns Second Place in Team Standings at West National Qualifier

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Willamette University women's triathlon team earned second place among NCAA Division III teams at the West National Qualifier on Saturday, Oct. 14. The Bearcats were led by three of the top 15 finishers. Riga Grubis (Fy., Fairbanks, AK/West Valley HS) placed sixth in the Division III standings, while Ella Isaacson (Jr., Saint Paul, MN/Central HS) was 11th and Veronica Castille (Jr., Round Rock, TX/Cedar Ridge HS) was 13th.

North Central College (Ill.) won the Division III West Regional title with a score of 282 points. Willamette was second at 168, as the Bearcats edged out Calvin University (Mich) which finished in third place at 166. Millikin University (Ill.) placed fourth at 134, while Central College (Iowa) was fifth at 130, Concordia University Wisconsin took sixth at 99, and Coe College (Iowa) was seventh with 37 points.

With the second place finish, the Bearcats qualified for the Women's Collegiate Triathlon Championships set for Nov. 11 in Tempe, Arizona. The Bearcats will be able to enter seven competitors at the national event.

"It was a good day for Bearcat triathlon," Willamette Head Coach Brett Franz said. "To finish second at the West Regional in year three of the program is a great step forward. This team just keeps improving and all the support they have for each other is really fun to watch.

"The weather wasn't great and the races were delayed a little bit, but the team did a great job of staying focused and executed the races really well," Franz continued. "We are looking forward to getting some more training in and getting ready for Nationals in Tempe."

Hailey Poe of North Central won the Division III West Regional individual title with an overall time of 1:07:55.04. Poe was followed by three teammates for North Central. Charlotte Kumler placed second in 1:10:25.47, Bethany Smeed was third in 1:11:04.13, and Scarlett Schuth was fourth at 1:11:41.34. Fifth place went to Aly Barnes of Millikin, who completed the three stages in 1:15:01.83.

Grubis registered sixth place with a combined time of 1:16:52.46. She was timed at 15:06 for the swim, 37:37 for the bike, and 21:48 for the run.

Isaacson's 11th place result included an overall time of 1:19:41.59. Castillo achieved 13th place in 1:20:20:53.

Also for Willamette, Abbey Staniec (So., Stockton, CA/Lincoln HS) was 21st among Division III competitors in 1:22:25.32 and Natalie Thomas (Fy., Jensen Beach, Florida/American Cooperative School of Tunis) finished 35th in 1:29:13.84.