By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications, (503) 370-6110
HUDDLESTON, Va. -- Ella Isaacson (So., Saint Paul, MN/Central HS) earned seventh place and Veronica Castille (So., Round Rock, TX/Cedar Ridge HS) placed 11th at the Division III Eastern Regional Triathlon on Saturday, Oct. 15 at Smith Mountain Lake. A total of six triathletes from Willamette University competed in the triathlon, which included 23 Division III competitors overall. The national qualifying meet also features 73 athletes competing in the Division I and II triathlon.
Isaacson was timed at 1:16:38.5 for all three phases of the race. She finished the swim in 13:01, concluded the bike in 36:48, and ended the run in 24:31. Castille's overall time was 1:21:40.1, with times of 13:00 in the swim, 38:36 in the bike, and 27:00 in the run.
Abbey Staniec (Fy., Stockton, CA/Lincoln HS) of Willamette achieved 15th place with a combined time of 1:25:39.3. She completed the swim in 13:35, was timed at 40:25 in the bike, and was credited with a time of 28:15 in the run.
The swim was particularly strong for Castille, Isaacson, and Staniec, who registered the seventh, eighth, and 10th fastest times, respectively. Isaacson was seventh in the run and eighth in the bike, while Castille took 10th in the run.
Also participating in the triathlon for Willamette were Ria Martinez (Jr., Seattle, WA/Holy Names Academy), Molly Parsons (Fy., Dallas, OR/Dallas HS), and Alessandra Armenta-Lopez (Fy., Portland, OR/Gladstone HS). Martinez attained an overall time of 1:37:29.3, Parsons finished the course in 1:37:55.0, and Armenta-Lopez was timed at 1:45:06.5.
"I am happy with how the team performed," Willamette Head Triathlon Coach Brett Franz said. "We are a very young team, but they keep improving every week. In the team scoring, Ella had a really strong race to lead the squad. We had an unfortunate bike issue that took Aubrey Tuttle out of the race after a great swim. Veronica improved upon last year's performance at this course. Abby keeps improving on the bike every week and Ria rounded out the scoring with her first finish in a triathlon for us.
"Molly and Alessandra did a great job focusing on what they needed to do, and both continue to get stronger in all the disciplines," Franz added. "I am excited to see how much we will continue to improve as we look forard to nationals in Arizona."
Willamette's next competition will be the Women's Collegiate Triathlon Championships in Tempe, Arizona, on Saturday, Nov. 12.
