Posted: April 24, 2006

Triathlon: UC Berkeley Men, Montana Women Take Top Spots At Collegiate Nationals

RENO, Nev. – The University of California-Berkeley men and University of Montana women were crowned national champions by USA Triathlon at the CSTV Collegiate Nationals in Reno, Nev. on Saturday.

Water temperatures in the 50s forced race officials to cancel the swim portion of the event, so the 750 athletes – representing 62 college teams – competed in a 1.8 mile run, 40k bike, and 10k run duathlon instead.

“With the way the weather had been recently and being forced to change the race format, we are actually very excited about how things turned out,” said USAT Director of National Events Jeff Dyrek. “The weather was actually nice at race time and the athletes had positive things to say about the experience. We saw some great athletes compete, and it was a great national championship experience for everyone involved.”

Berkeley grabbed the men’s title after its top-three athletes finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the event. University of Montana and Purdue University finished 2nd and 3rd for the men.

Montana’s Benjamin Hoffman won the men’s individual title, finishing in a time of 1:46:12. Berkeley’s Justin Laue (1:46:29), James Duff (1:47:35), and John Dahlz (1:48:51), and Stanford’s James Nielsen (1:49:14) filled in the remaining top five.

On the women’s side, Montana had a well-balanced team performance, with three athletes making the top 10. The University of Colorado and University of California-San Diego rounded out the top three.

Justine Whipple (U.S. Naval Academy) was the top female finisher in a time of 1:55:17. Michelle Lindsay (Virginia Tech) (1:58:05), Katie London (UC Santa Cruz) (2:02:04), Amanda Felder (UC San Diego) (2:02:44), and Leah Larson (University of Colorado) (2:03:07) rounded out the top five.

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With both of its teams getting top-two finishes, Montana was also awarded the combined-team title, taking home $500 in scholarships and a Halo Swim Trainer.

USA Triathlon held the event in conjunction with CSTV Collegiate Nationals, a first-ever college championship showcase featuring more than 2,000 of the nation's top young athletes competing in a four-day series of high-endurance sporting events.

The USAT Championship will be featured as a one-hour broadcast on CSTV that will be repeated several times throughout the year, with the first broadcast scheduled for May 2 at 9 p.m. EST. A complete schedule can be found at: CSTV.com.

College Sports Television, the first 24-hour college sports network, televises more college sports than any other network. There are 30 different men's and women's college sports televised including both regular season and championship events. CSTV is available on satellite and cables systems throughout the U.S.

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