Merrill Paces Wildcats At Trine Triple Sprint

9/14/2019 4:29:00 PM

By: By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

ANGOLA, Ind. - Freshman Courtney Merrill (Speedway, Ind.) made the most of her first collegiate triathlon in her home state of Indiana, placing 10th overall to pace the Daemen College women's triathlon team at the Trine Triple Sprint today. Merrill's performance helped the Wildcats to a third-place finish out of the 10 competing teams which included nine NCAA programs and one collegiate club team.

Today's event took on a different form than most triathlons that the Wildcats compete in. It featured three separate races, all consisting of a 300-yard open water swim, a five-mile cycling portion and a one-and-a-quarter mile run. Participant times were combined from all three races to determine individual and team standings.

Merrill accumulated times of 28:59, 29:03 and 28:58 for a total of 87:00. She edged the 11th-place finisher, Grayson Bray of Transylvania University, by 16 seconds.

Amber Custodi (Ransomville, N.Y.), Caitlyn Yap (Kennesaw, Ga.) and Keagan Carroll (Woodbridge, Va.) also competed for Daemen today. Custodi placed 13th with a time of 89:36. Yap came in 19th with a time of 92:51. And Carroll placed 24th with a time of 96:43.

"Outside of qualifying for nationals, this race is really the highlight of our season," said head coach Jon Metz. "The unique format of three super sprint races in one event gave our student-athletes the opportunity to work as a team, focus on fundamentals and fine tune race-specific skills."

Kathryn Badham from the University of San Francisco was the top competing individual, finishing with a time of 81:35. Drury University grabbed the top team honors after placing three competitors among the top-five finishers.

Today's competition marked the third for Daemen is an many weeks. They'll complete a whirlwind month next Sunday, Sept. 29 when they compete at the Deer Creek Fall Challenge in Mt. Sterling, Ohio.

Daemen College features the only NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

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