Custodi Named Daemen's 2017-18 Female Newcomer of the Year

By: By Tom McDermott, Sports Information Consultant

General | 4/27/2018 9:00:00 PM

AMHERST, N.Y. - Amber Custodi (Ransomville, N.Y.), a redshirt freshman on the Daemen College women's triathlon team, has been named the College's 2017-18 Female Newcomer of the Year. The announcement was made tonight at the Daemen ESPY's, the Athletic Department's annual awards gala held at Lumsden Gymnasium. The award was presented by alumnus and former women's women's basketball player Lia Zahn '13.

Custodi becomes the first-ever triathlete to earn a major award at the Daemen ESPY's since the program's inception three years ago.

Custodi was the top Daemen finisher in each of the three events the Wildcats took part in last fall. She kicked off her collegiate career by finishing 15th overall—and second among participants from NCAA Division II programs—at the Women's Collegiate Triathlon Central Regional Qualifier in Naperville, Ill. on Sept. 4. Her performance earned her a spot on the all-region team and a berth in the 2017 Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championship.

Custodi's time of 1:10:24.7 was especially impressive considering she was running 35th in the field following the event's opening 750-meter swim. Custodi completed the event's 20-kilometer cycling portion in 35:24.1 which ranked 12th. She then completed a five-kilometer run in 22:17.3 which ranked 14th.

Just six days later she posted a third-place finish among 141 female entrants at the Finger Lakes Triathlon with a time of 1:20:18. She capped the month as the top finishing female at the Deer Creek Fall Challenge, a sprint-style triathlon held at Deer Creek State Park outside of Columbus, Ohio. The race featured a 750-meter swim, a five-kilometer run and a 12.4-mile cycling portion—and Custodi's overall time of 1:14:18.52 put her across the finish line some 45 seconds faster than the next closest female competitor.

She capped the fall season at the Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championship in Tempe, Ariz. on Nov. 5. The lone representative from Daemen, she placed 44th out of a record 81 competitors. The event was hosted by Arizona State University and featured a sprint-distance 750-meter swim, draft-legal 20-kilometer bike and five-kilometer run. 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 five-kilometer run.

The triathlon season was set to resume at the Clermont Draft Legal Challenge at Lake Louisa State Park just outside Orlando, Florida on March 3-4, but inclement weather forced the Wildcats to miss the event. Custodi and her fellow teammates will conclude the season this weekend at the St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The inaugural Female Newcomer of the Year Award was presented last year to women's soccer player Jamie Boyar.

Nominations for the award are made by Office of Athletic Communications and nominees are then voted on by the department's head coaches and other full-time staffers. Additional nominees this year included Katlyn Newberry (Rochester, N.Y.) from the women's bowling team, Christina Stasiuk (Bowmansville, N.Y.) from the women's tennis team, Caroline White (Fairport, N.Y.) from the women's basketball team, and Katelin White (Lewiston, N.Y.) from the women's soccer team.

Congratulations to the 2017-18 Female Newcomer of the Year, from @DaemenTriathlon Amber Custodi #DaemenESPYs pic.twitter.com/paU49vQ3QC
— Daemen Wildcats (@DaemenAthletics) April 28, 2018

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Players Mentioned

Amber Custodi: 5' 7"; Redshirt Freshman

Players Mentioned

Amber Custodi
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Freshman