On a brutally cold day for triathlon in West Texas, co-favorite John Dahlz of UC Berkeley broke away on the bike and relative newcomer Jessica Broderick of CU Boulder broke away on the swim and both held off run onslaughts to take the men’s and women’s overall titles at the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals Saturday in Lubbock.

Led by Dahlz’s win and teammate Kenneth Rakestraw’s 5th place finish, UC Berkeley repeated their 2008 men’s team title by a single point over the US Naval Academy team, led by second overall finisher Derek Oskutis.

UC San Diego, led by grad student Darlene Hunt’s 4th place finish, also repeated as the women’s team champion by a comfortable margin over CU Boulder, despite team leader Jessica Broderick’s overall win.

The perennially strong Navy squad combined a second place men’s team finish and a third place women’s team placing to take the overall team title by a comfortable margin over UC Berkeley.

Dahlz overcame injuries from a winter bike crash to take the individual crown won last year by former teammate Steve Sexton. Dahlz emerged from the frigid 53-degree water, made even more numbing thanks to an extra 100 meters, with a 6th best 21:05 split that trailed top US Military Academy contender Nicholas Vandam by 7 seconds and led Navy’s veteran Derek Oskutis by 12 seconds and tough runner Cedric Wane of CU Boulder by 1 minute 51 seconds.

While everyone remained numb through a 48-degree air temperatures on the 40k bike, Dahlz found enough traction to break away from the pack with a race-best 1:01:13 split for the hilly bike that put 1:23 on Vandam, 2:15 on Oskutis and just 11 seconds on Wane.

On the run, Dahlz’s grind-it-out 36:31 10k was enough to hold of Oskutis’ 34:14 run by 20 seconds. Closing with a 34:39 run, Wane took third and topped Vandam’s 35:45 run by 20 seconds at the finish.

“That was probably one of the hardest races I’ve ever done,” said Dahlz, who finished 10th last year at Tuscaloosa. “The swim and the bike were cold, the run turned hot and the bike was deceptively hilly. “I swam as hard as I could to try and warm up and finally got into a rhythm on the bike - but I was so cold. Right around mile 2 of the run I started overheating and I just tried to stay upright for the final 4 miles.”

Broderick’s 23:15 swim in the gray, icy waters of Buffalo Springs Lake was only 6th best, but it gave her a 3 minutes 40 second advantage over Ashley Morgan of Army. Morgan, who has been fighting a painful case of plantar fasciitis since October, then cranked out a second-best 1:10:13 bike split, but only managed to take back 1 minute 23 seconds on her rival.

On the run, cross country star Morgan, hobbled by lack of run training thanks to her injured foot, could only manage a 7th best 39:16 10k run. This took back another 88 seconds from Broderick’s lead, but left the Army junior 30 seconds short of victory.

“I gave everything I had on the run knowing that Ashley [Morgan] is a strong runner,” Broderick told USAT media. “I couldn’t have done it without my team here screaming for me – it was amazing.”

Morgan improved two places on her 2008 4th place finish. This was Broderick’s first try at Collegiate Nationals. But Broderick showed she was an overall threat after a bronze medal in the W18-19 division at the ITU age group worlds last June in Vancouver. Broderick finished that race in a similar time as long-time 40-44 star Linda Robb.

Men’s Individual Top Ten results

1. John Dahlz UC Berkeley 2:01:13
2. Derek Oskutis Navy 2:01:33
3. Cedric Wane CU Boulder 2:01:42
4. Nicholas Vandam Army 2:02:02
5. Kenneth Rakestraw UC Berkeley 2:02:28
6. Kyle Hooker Navy 2:04:41
7. Joe Munchak Colorado State University 2:05:57 * Graduate
8. Nicholas Sterghos Army 2:06:08
9. Rudy Kahsar University of Virginia 2:06:08
10. Michael Jafari UC Berkeley 2:06:20

Women’s Individual Top Ten results

1. Jessica Broderick CU Boulder 2:18:34
2. Ashley Morgan USMA 2:19:06
3. Julie Rechel University of Richmond 2:20:00
4. Darlene Hunt UC San Diego 2:20:49 * Graduate
5. Brittany Day UCLA 2:22:03
6. Kathrine Warren Santa Barbara City College 2:22:40
7. Lauren Capone UC Santa Barbara 2:23:12
8. D’Ann Arthur Trinity University 2:23:54
9. Alexandra Lechner University of Florida 2:24:06
10. Lauren Chiodini UC San Diego 2:24:06

Combined Team Results

1. United States Naval Academy 121
2. University of California-Berkeley 137
3. University of Colorado-Boulder 163
4. United States Military Academy 179
5. University of California-San Diego

Male Team Results

1. University of California-Berkeley 44 (45) *

* USAT preliminary results number is first, but does not add up
to the total of its top four team finishers. (Corrected number is in parentheses)

1. John Dahlz 2:01:13
5. Kenneth Rakestraw 2:02:28
10. Michael Jafari 2:06:20
29. Brandon Basso 2:12:06 graduate

2. United States Naval Academy 45 (46)

2. Derek Oskutis 2:01:35
6. Kyle Hooker 2:04:41
13. Scott Terry 2:07:59
25. Wes Bochner 2:11:23

3. United States Military Academy 76 (79)

4. Nicholas Vandam 2:02:02
8. Nicholas Sterghos 2:06:08
32. Bryan Lagasse 2:12:34
35. Brendan Fox 2:12:53

4. University of Colorado-Boulder 93 (97)

3. Cedric Wane 2:01:33
27. Todd Darlington 2:12:01
30. Steve Richard 2:12:25
37. Bryant Mason 2:13:10

5. Michigan State University 119 (125)

12. Matt Inch 2:07:56
24. Aaron Bachman 2:10:36
41. John Paul Severin 2:13:25
48. Anthony Klingler 2:14:41

Female Team Results

1. University of California-San Diego 41 (69)

4. Darlene Hunt 2:20:49 *Graduate
10. Lauren Chiodini 2:24:08
20. Allison Johnston 2:28:21
25. Sarah Kavaler 2:30:17

2. University of Colorado-Boulder 70 (93)

1. Jessica Broderick 2:18:34
17. Ashley Walker 2:27:35 *Graduate
26. Heidi Spees 2:30:44
49. Danielle Russell 2:39:00

3. United States Naval Academy 76 (101)

11. Lexa Gass 2:24:59
28. Tracy Bruce 2:31:42
29. Sarah Simmler 2:31:55
34. Caroline Barlow 2:32:54

4. University of California-Berkeley 93 (122)

12. Robyn Shaffer 2:25:05
13. Daniela Mehech 2:25:40
41. Nicole Nakamaru 2:36:22
56. Kirsten Auker 2:40:25

5. United States Military Academy 103 (131)

2. Ashley Morgan 2:19:06
19. Randy Wintermantel 2:28:19
33. Kari Vahle 2:32:50
77. Lauren Looper 2:45:19

Graduate Females

1. Darlene Hunt UC San Diego 2:20:49
2. Alice Henriques Columbia University 2:25:55
3. Katy Blakemore Vanderbilt University 2:26:30
4. Ashley Walker CU Boulder 2:27:35
5. Erin Anderson University of Iowa 2:27:49

Graduate Males

1. Joe Munchak Colorado State University 2:05:57
2. Steven Rosinski Ohio State University 2:08:52
3. Timothy Ray UC San Diego 2:10:17
4. Todd Darlington, CU Boulder 2:12:01
5. Brandon Basso, UC Berkeley 2:12:06

Collegiate Sprint Race

Females

1. Ashley Nice Colorado State University 1:32:55
2. Allison Chambers UC Berkeley 1:34:41
3. Katelyn Schermerho Michigan State 1:34:45
4. Charity Watson Colorado 1:35:45
5. Samantha Sharp UC Berkeley 1:36:36

Males

1. Jake Johnson Navy 1:17:37
2. Benjamin Drezek North Texas 1:17:38
3. Kyle Mayo Navy 1:17:48
4. Spencer Waters Navy 1:18:48
5. Will Eggers Army 1:20:02