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Ashley Cheff rides during the 20-kilometer cycling portion of today's triathlon competition in Illinois

Women's Triathlon 9/5/2016 11:43:00 AM Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Cheff Finishes Third In Opening Triathlon Event Of Season

Daemen's Top Tri-athlete Qualifies For National Championship

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Daemen College tri-athlete Ashley Cheff (Niagara Falls, N.Y./Niagara Falls) finished third out of 28 competitors at the Women's Collegiate Triathlon Central Regional Qualifier here this morning. By doing so, Cheff becomes the first Daemen tri-athlete to qualify for this season's Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championship to be held on Saturday, November 5 in New Orleans, La.

Today's event, hosted by North Central College, was the first of three regional qualifiers to take place across the country over the next several weeks. The East Regional Qualifier is set for Sunday, October 2 in Greensboro, N.C. and the West Regional Qualifier takes place on Saturday, October 8 in Berkeley, Calif. The top three five-woman teams and a minimum of the top two individual women from the each regional qualifier automatically earn a spot in the National Championship field which is limited to 75 women from NCAA varsity programs and USA Triathlon-registered collegiate club teams.

Today's event had entrants racing on a draft-legal course featuring a 750-meter swim, a 20-kilometer bike ride and a 5-kilometer run.

Cheff came through with a finishing time of 1:05:22.4. She overcame a time of 9:52.57 in the swimming portion of the race which had her in ninth place coming out of the water. She went on to complete the cycling portion in 35:36.88, and her 5K run time of 18:51.52 was the second fastest of the entire field.

Kathryn Gorczyca (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Charlotte Ahrens (Nuremberg, Germany) of Arizona State University came in ahead of Cheff in first and second places, respectively. Gorczyca and Ahrens held the fastest swim times, while Gorczyca won the race with her 17:52.02 running time. Gorczyca completed the course in under an hour (58:57.91) with Ahrens less than two full minutes behind (1:00:02.8).

Nichole Geiger (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) and Jenifer Igoe (Oakfield, N.Y./Oakfield-Alabama) also competed for Daemen today, but they were among a group of 13 who did not finish the course.

The sport of triathlon was termed an Emerging Sport For Women by the NCAA in January of 2014, establishing a 10-year window for the formation of 40 intercollegiate programs. At present, according to USA Triathlon which oversees intercollegiate competitions, Daemen is one of 13 schools in the country to sponsor a varsity triathlon program for women.

For continuing coverage of the Daemen women's triathlon team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenTriathlon on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Cheff: 5' 1"; Graduate Student

Nichole Geiger: 5' 6"; Junior

Jenifer Igoe: 5' 0"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Ashley Cheff
: 5' 1"; Graduate Student

Nichole Geiger
: 5' 6"; Junior

Jenifer Igoe
: 5' 0"; Junior