Women's Triathlon 11/5/2017 7:33:00 PM By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

Custodi Finishes 44th At Collegiate Triathlon National Championship

COLLEGIATE TRIATHLON NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Tempe, Ariz. - Redshirt freshman Amber Custodi (Ransomville, N.Y.) of the Daemen College women's triathlon team placed 44th out of a record 81 competitors at the Collegiate Triathlon National Championship meet held today at Tempe Town Lake, and hosted by Arizona State University.

The race featured a sprint-distance 750-meter swim, draft-legal 20-kilometer bike and 5-kilometer run, and the entrant list was comprised of triathletes from 11 varsity and 10 club teams. Custodi completed the course in 1:14:56. Of the 22 triathletes from Division II institutions to complete the race, Custodi finished 13th.

Custodi found herself in 56th place coming out of the open-water swim in Tempe Town Lake, completing that portion of the race in 13:30. A strong transition to the cycling portion lifted Custodi into 46th place. Her cycling time (36:40) ranked 39th among the participants. She finished out the race by posting a time of 23:24 in the 5-kilometer run.

"I was very pleased with Amber's performance today," said Daemen head coach Dr. Jon Metz. "She fought through some bad cramping on the run which slowed her down, but she was still able to finish strong. We are looking forward to the opportunity to return to the national championship next year with Amber and some of the new talent we will be adding to our team in 2018."

Custodi qualified to compete this weekend with her performance at the Central Regional Qualifier meet which was held September 4 in Naperville, Illinois. There, she posted an overall time of 1:10:24.7 to finish 15th overall and second among participants from NCAA Division II programs. In addition to qualifying for the national meet, Custodi earned a pair of All-Region accolades from the College Triathlon Coaches Association (CTCA) as she was named the Division II All-Region Freshman and to the Division II All-Region Team.

Meet host Arizona State took top honors in both the team and individual categories. ASU triathletes claimed the top three finishing positions, led by Hannah Henry who posted a time of 1:03:35. She was followed by teammates Charlotte Ahrens (1:03:57) and Kyla Roy (1:04:41). It was the second consecutive top-10 finish for Ahrens who placed seventh at the 2016 Collegiate Triathlon National Championship meet.

Queens University of Charlotte was the top performing Division II team. The Royals were led by Anabel Knoll who finished fourth overall with a time of 1:04:48.

Also competing today was former Daemen triathlete Ashley Cheff (Niagara Falls, N.Y.). Cheff, a 2016 Daemen graduate who competed for two seasons with the Wildcats' triathlon squad, now attends law school at Arizona State and competes for their cycling and triathlon club team. Cheff placed 18th overall with a time of 1:09:01.

Triathlon was approved as an NCAA Emerging Sport for Women in January of 2014, and the first varsity National Championship was held in the fall of that year. The sport has a 10-year window to demonstrate sustainability as an NCAA sport option by recruiting at least 40 schools to offer the sport at the varsity level. Daemen is presently one of eighteen schools to currently sponsor varsity women's triathlon.

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Players Mentioned

Ashley Cheff: 5' 1"; Graduate Student

Amber Custodi: 5' 7"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Ashley Cheff
: 5' 1"; Graduate Student

Amber Custodi
: 5' 7"; Freshman