Black Hills State University and head coach Connie Feist announced the 2024 women’s triathlon schedule, as the Yellow Jackets look to continue their success following back-to-back top-5 finishes at the NCAA Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships. The upcoming fall slate will feature up to four events pending the qualification of the national championships.
“We have a good mix of veteran athletes and newcomers to our team this year and are looking forward to a great season representing BHSU,” commented Feist.
The first meet of the 2024 season will be among the first events for Yellow Jacket athletics this fall as they remain in the hills for The Southern Hills Triathlon at the Angostura Recreation Area in Hot Springs, South Dakota. The meet will start at 8 a.m. on August 31 and will feature some of the top programs from around the country, including TCU, South Dakota, Denver, and Colorado Mesa. “It will be a good gauge of our team’s conditioning and skill levels in all three disciplines,” stated Feist. “We are approaching this race as a benchmark to build upon through the remainder of our championship season.” The Southern Hills Triathlon will be a Super Sprint, which will see athletes swimming 350m, biking 10K, and running 1.5 miles.
The second meet of the year will be the Prairie State Cup, hosted by Millikin University at the Clinton Lake State Recreation Area in Clinton, Illinois. The event will start at 10:30 a.m. MT / 11:30 a.m. CT on September 21 and will feature the traditional Sprint distances of a 750m swim, 10K bike, and 5K run.
Race number three for 2024 sees BHSU travel to Springfield, Missouri, for the NCAA West Region Qualifier, hosted by Drury University. The event will see teams from all three NCAA divisions competing against each other, including opponents such as Arizona State, Denver, Arizona, South Dakota, Chicago State, Northern Kentucky, Wagner, Colorado Mesa, Cal Poly Humboldt, Drury, Indianapolis, Central, North Central, Willamette, Coe, Concordia (Wis.), Millikin, and Calvin. The traditional Sprint distance race will begin at 10:15 a.m. MT / 11:15 a.m. CT on October 12 for collegiate athletes at Fellows Lake.
Pending qualification from regionals to nationals, the team and individuals will compete at the NCAA Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships. The Sprint distance race will take place at Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont, Florida on November 9, with the first of three heats starting at 8 a.m. MT / 10 a.m. ET.
