Tempe, Ariz. -- The Davis & Elkins women's triathlon team heads to the 2021 Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championships this weekend. This event has been held in Tempe and hosted by Arizona State University since 2017. The Senators, lead by Coach Chris Hammer, will have six athletes competing. These student-athletes are Eleonora Pierre, Dru Mills, Rut Tallon, Natalia Hidalgo Martinez, Zoe van Dijk, and Mia Pelletier.
 
D&E qualified for the National Championships on October 16^th in Huddleston, Va. The event was the Smith Mountain Lake National Qualifier, which is one of three national qualifying events. The Senators finished in third place at the event, which landed them the fourth-place spot at the national championships.
 
With each member of the team having different strengths, they push each other during training and help each other out on race day, making triathlon a team-oriented sport as opposed to an individual event. Some athletes may be strong swimmers, while others are stronger at cycling or running. Coach Hammer said, "we have a very well-rounded group of triathletes making up the D&E team."
 
Triathlon was deemed an NCAA emerging sport for women in 2014 according to USA Triathlon, the National governing body for triathlon. Women's Collegiate Triathlon is only three varsity teams away from the forty necessary to become an official NCAA Championship sport and they have three more years to do so.

When ask his opinion of the growth of the sport, Coach Hammer said, "Collegiate triathlon is a very cool sport for a myriad of reasons. For one, you don't have to be a triathlete to pursue collegiate triathlon. In fact, only three members of the current D&E roster had triathlon experience prior to coming to D&E. You just need student-athletes who are brave enough to pursue new and exciting challenges. For this reason, among others, I think the potential for growth of NCAA triathlon is tremendous. Once it gets over the hump of the 40 programs, I could see the sport really taking off."
 
The Senators are proud to be one of the 37 programs and excited to compete for a National Championship this weekend.