USA Triathlon Collegiate Club National Championships Showcases Top College Talent, Queens University Defends Overall Team Title, and Triple Victor Athletes Excel

The 2023 USA Triathlon Collegiate Club National Championships, held in Lake Lanier, Georgia, from April 14-16, brought together over 1,200 student-athletes from 80 collegiate clubs nationwide. Queens University of Charlotte successfully defended their overall team title, scoring 102 points. The University of California-Berkeley (162 points) and the University of Colorado-Boulder (241 points) placed second and third, respectively.

Queens University performed strongly in all three race events of the weekend: Draft-Legal National Championships, Olympic-distance National Championships, and the Mixed Relay National Championships. The Draft-Legal event comprised a 750m swim, a 21km bike, and a 5km run, while the Olympic-distance event involved a 1,500m swim, a 41km bike, and a 10km run. In the Mixed Relay, collegiate club teams of four athletes (two men and two women) competed, with each athlete completing a super-sprint triathlon consisting of a 250m swim, a 5km bike, and a 1.2km run before handing off to the next teammate.

Ben Bettin from the University of Colorado-Boulder was the individual star of the weekend, winning national titles in both the Draft-Legal and Olympic-distance National Championships for the second consecutive year.

Two athletes coached by Triple Victor, Ali Ozymy and Arianna Werts from the Purdue Triathlon team, demonstrated impressive performances at the event. Ali Ozymy showed significant improvement in her Olympic distance race, finishing in 2:33:36 and securing 62nd place out of 358 female athletes, compared to her 2022 time of 2:38:54 and 109th place finish out of 343 female athletes. Ali also competed in the draft-legal event for the first time, finishing the race in 1:14:49 and placing 34th out of 43 finishers; the draft-legal race saw 9+ athletes DNF for various reasons, including being lapped out.

Arianna Werts had an outstanding performance in all three events. In the draft-legal race, she finished in 1:11:15, earning 22nd place, an improvement from her 2022 time of 1:17:31 and 28th place finish. Arianna also improved her Olympic-distance race results, finishing in 2:26:21 and achieving 33rd place, compared to her 2022 time of 2:37:37 and 101st place finish. Moreover, Arianna anchored the Purdue Mixed Relay team, helping them secure an 8th-place finish, an improvement from their 2022 10th-place finish.

The 2023 USA Triathlon Collegiate Club National Championships showcased the talent and dedication of collegiate triathletes, with Queens University continuing their recent success and Triple Victor athletes Ali Ozymy and Arianna Werts from Purdue Triathlon demonstrating their remarkable potential and continued growth.