In addition to a variety of strong performances by our adult team across many races, our youth and junior elite teams competed at Youth & Junior Triathlon Nationals this weekend in Ohio.
Junior Elite Nationals were Saturday with EF athletes competing across 4 categories. In the Junior Elite Female race, Parker Albright led the way with a 7th place finish followed by Zoe Van Winckel in 12th, Hannah Ye in 14th, Alexandra Poole 23rd, Jennifer Zheng 27th, Chloe Ramirez 33rd, Abby Church 42nd, Emme Cate Heilbrun 55th, and Hope Frost 58th after a flat, changed tire, and crash showing true grit. In the Junior Elite Male category, Alex Tan finished 54th after showing strong despite losing his goggles at the beginning of the swim. In the Youth Elite Female category, Ava Larkin had a strong race to finish 20th, Sam Kayne 29th, Annaliese Williams 42nd, Carsen Johnston 50th, Lucy Nunziata 52nd, and Caroline Osenga 70th. In the Youth Elite Male category, Jackson Foster finished 18th, Tate Frost 23rd, Jacob Crouch 26th, and Josh Gray 52nd.
Our youth team took the stage on Sunday in the youth age group race. In the 7-year-old age group, Mia Stimson took 4th on the girls’ side and Johnathan Gilhooly 7th on the boys’ side. Avery Diette took 6th in the 8-year-old boys’ race. In the 9-year-old race, Ellie Harlow defended her national title by winning on the girl’s side followed by Lilly Stimson in 7th and Autumn Gilhooly in 8th. On the boys’ side, Jackson Rogers finished 19th. Josie Nunziata finished 8th in the 10-year-old girls’ race. In the 11-year-old race, Andrea Rogerson defended her national title to win followed closely by Eve Frost in 2nd, Sarah Gilhooly 24th, and Brenna Fary 30th. Big group in the 12-year-old age group. On the girls’ side, Hazel Wells crashed but got back in the race to finish 6th, Ava Foster finished 8th, Jenna Gilhooly 12th, and Annika Rogerson 47th also after a crash. On the boys’ side, Gabe Nunziata took 7th, Lucas Van Winckel took 31st, and Yug Kolla 46th. In the 13-year-old race, Jory Johnston took 5th on the girls’ side, and on the boys’ side, Isaac Lamprecht took 20th, Montgomery Curren 23rd, Caleb Harlow 24th, Casey Hough 29th, and Andrew Williams 44th. In the 15-year-old race, Anneliese Rogerson took 2nd with a strong race.
In other race news, Matthew Schiller got first overall at the Matt Mason Cowboy Up Triathlon! At the Pony Pasture 5k, Chris Clark had a strong race in tough conditions at the Pony Pasture 5k finishing only 5 seconds off of a PR and Amy Hawkins ran a stellar race as well! At the Lake Moomaw Open Water Swim, Monica Woodward grabbed first age group with an amazing performance. Kenny Steingold had a strong race at the Virginia Duathlon! And last but not least, Jill Tarr finished first in her age group at the Boone Gran Fondo 100 Miler over a super tough course.
Congrats to everyone!!