Nick Noone of the University of Colorado won it on the run and Cecilia Davis-Hayes of Columbia University won it on the bike at the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals Olympic-distance individual triathlons on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Men
In the men’s race, Noone and University of Colorado teammate Dan Feeney finished the swim a minute and half behind top swimmer Eli Pugh of Stanford. After the 40-kilometer bike leg, Noone advanced to second place, 32 seconds back of leader Gordon Williams of UC Santa Barbara.
Feeney entered T2 in 6th place, but charged through the field with a race-best 32:36 split for the 10k run to cross the line first in 1:54:23. However, he incurred a two-minute penalty received in the transition and his official finish time was thus changed to 1:56:23. Noone ran a 33:28 run split to finish first in 1:55:11.
Sean Harrington of UC Santa Barbara finished 2nd in 1:55:42 and Ernest Mantell of Arizona State placed 3rd in 1:55:56.
"Dan and I swam the whole thing together, rode the whole thing together, and ran together for about 1k," Noone told USA Triathlon media. "It's been my goal all year to be on the podium here, so I'm just excited."
Women
Hannah Grubbs of UCLA led the women's swim in 21:03 and led the field for the first four miles of the bike leg until she was caught by Davis-Hayes, whose 1:04:02 bike split was four minutes faster than any rival. By the end of the bike leg, Davis-Hayes built a gap of 4 minutes on Grubbs.
Davis-Hayes pushed hard on the run and increased her lead to six minutes over Grubbs. Davis-Hayes crossed the finish line in 2:09:19, but due to a penalty her official finish time was amended to 2:11:19. Despite her troubles, Davis-Hayes smashed the field, with a 7:19 margin of victory over Grubb and 7:27 over 3rd place finisher Darby Middlebrook of the University of Michigan.
"I had a breakthrough on the swim this year," Davis-Hayes told USA Triathlon media. "Last year I was about seven minutes back on the swim, and I rode and ran my way up to sixth. This year I must have been in the top 25, so I looked at my Garmin and I was able to move into first within 3.74 miles on the bike."
USA Triathlon Collegiate Club Olympic-Distance National Championship
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
April 22, 2017
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 9.8k
Collegiate Men
1. Nick Noone (Colorado) 1:55:11
2. Sean Harrington (UCSB) 1:55:42
3. Ernest Mantell (Arizona State) 1:55:56
4. Christopher Douglas (Georgia Tech) 1:56:04
5. Dan Feeney (Colorado), 1:56:23
Collegiate Women
1. Cecilia Davis-Hayes (Columbia) 2:11:19
2. Hannah Grubbs (UCLA) 2:18:26
3. Darby Middlebrook (Michigan) 2:18:38
4. Marissa Platt (Colorado) 2:19:14
5. Ali Brauer (Colorado) 2:19:43
