Justin Lippert of Middletown, New Jersey and Rachel Mensch of Madison, Wisconsin won the overall titles at the USA Triathlon Olympic distance Age Group National Championship at Edgewater Park in Cleveland, Ohio today.
Men
On a course which cut the standard swim to half-length because of choppy waters and swift currents, Lippert came from behind with a race-best 31:50 split for the 10 kilometer run to finish in 1:43:51 to win the Men’s 20-24 title and take the overall with a 46 seconds margin of victory over Matthew Murray of Pearland, Texas, who took second in men’s 20-24. Vant Lammers of Madison, Wisconsin took 3rd overall and won the Men’s 30-34 title with a time of 1:45:13.
Lippert told USA Triathlon media: “I told my team before the race, I said, ‘there’s going to come a critical moment in the race when your body is yelling at you and saying we’re done, it’s too hard’ and I said that’s the critical moment in the race when you’ve got to dig deep and find something in yourself that you didn’t know was there and you’ll surprise yourself. You’ve got to shut your own demons up in your head. When I got off the bike, I said this is it.”
Lippert’s victory was his third straight USA Triathlon national title at the Cleveland venue. Last year he won the Men’s Olympic distance Age Group overall and the Men’s Sprint distance Age Group Overall gold in Cleveland. He has a chance for a Cleveland four-peat tomorrow as the Sprint Distance will be contested in the morning.
Lippert has had a strong year. In addition to his overall wins at USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals last year, he won the long course triathlon at the 2018 Multisport National Championships and the Draft-Legal Sprint Duathlon national title this spring.
In eight weeks Lippert, who is 23, will take on a new distance – he qualified for the Ironman World Championship in Kona.
Women
Rachel Mensch vaulted from 9th place last year to the top of the podium at the USA Triathlon Women’s Overall Age Group nationals with a 1:56:45 performance that gave her a 12 seconds margin of victory over Dani Fischer of Greenfield, Indiana and 1:05 over 3rd place overall finisher Grace Alexander of Atlanta, Georgia. Mensch also won the Women’s 25-29, Fischer won Women’s 30-34 and Alexander took 2nd in Women’s 25-29.
Mensch started her day with a 10:58 swim that was tied for 3rd-best and 29 seconds behind swim leader Megan Martin. She opened a large lead with a women’s-best 1:00:57 bike split that was 25 seconds faster than the next best effort by Dani Fischer, who had a 1:57 deficit to make up because her swim was 1:32 slower than Mensch. While Fischer made up 1:45 on Mensch with her women’s 4th--best 39:02 run, she fell 12 seconds short of Mensch’s overall crown.
Mensch told USA Triathlon media after the race: “A lot of the local series we do — we’ve got an awesome local series — but they’re pretty small events, so it’s not a ton of high-end competition. So it’s nice to come here and test myself against the top athletes in the U.S.”
Daniel Stubleski (Washington, Michigan), 43, and Ginger Reiner, (Lincoln, Massachusetts), 42, won the men's and women's Masters titles, respectively.
Linda Robb of Juno Beach, Florida and Tony Schiller of Chanhassen, Minnesota won the women's and men's Grand Masters titles, respectively.
USA Triathlon Olympic Distance Age Group National Championship
Cleveland, Ohio
August 10, 2019
S 750m / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Overall Men
1. Justin Lippert (Middletown NJ) 1:43:51 S 11:16 T1 2:12 B 57:21 T2 1:14 R 31:50 * M20-24
2. Matthew Murray (Pearland TX) 1:44:37 S 10:36 T1 2:22 B 57:16 T2 1:17 R 33:08 * M20-24
3. Vant Lammers (Madison WI 1:45:13 S 11:24 T1 2:15 B 56:45 T2 1:05 R 33:46 * M30-34
4. Brian Reynolds (Richland MI) 1:45:30 S 11:33 T1 2:29 B 55:57 T2 1:12 R 34:22 * M30-34
5. Neal Ross (Indianapolis IN) 1:45:41 S 10:37 T1 2:30 B 56:50 T2 1:20 R 34:26 * M30-34
6. Jeff Case (Fort Mill SC) 1:45:57 S 10:41 T1 2:35 B 57:10 T2 1:11 R 34:22 * M25-29
7. Todd Buckingham (Wyoming MI) 1:45:58 S 11:05 T1 2:08 B 59:37 T2 1:11 R 31:59 * M30-34
8. Jack Toland (Kirkland WA) 1:46:09 S 11:19 T1 2:21 B 54:35 T2 1:10 R 36:46 * M20-24
9. Jeff Mettler (Ames IA) 1:46:12 S 11:13 T1 2:24 B 57:12 T2 1:09 R 34:16 * M25-29
10. Daniel Stubleski (Washington MI) 1:46:23 S 11:40 T1 2:33 B 56:27 T2 1:12 R 34:33 * M40-44
Masters Male
Daniel Stubleski (Washington, Michigan) 1:46:23
Grand Masters Male
Tony Schiller (Chanhassen, Minnesota) 1:58:41
Male Age Group winners
M17-19 Connor Reichel (Corydon IN) 1:48:41
M20-24 Justin Lippert (Middletown NJ) 1:43:51
M25-29 Jeff Case (Fort Mill SC) 1:45:57
M30-34 Vant Lammers (Madison WI) 1:45:13
M35-39 Matias Palavecino (Alexandria VA) 1:47:23
M40-44 Daniel Stubleski (Washington MI) 1:46:23
M45-49 Roger Thompson (Spokane WA) 1:49:20
M50-54 Scott Erba (Winona Lake IN) 1:51:16
M55-59 Lee Walther (Oklahoma City OK) 1:52:24
M60-64 Tony Schiller (Chanhassen MN) 1:58:41
M65-69 Gregory Taylor (Yankton SD) 2:00:05
M70-74 Tim Hughes (Lake Forest CA) 2:18:38
M75-79 Robert Plant (Woodside CA) 2:30:56
M80-84 Lockett Wood (Lyons CO) 3:11:51]
Overall Women
1. Rachel Mensch (Madison WI) 1:56:45 S 10:57 T1 2:50 B 1:00:58 T2 1:14 R 40:48 * F25-29
2. Dani Fischer (Greenfield IN) 1:56:57 S 12:29 T1 2:46 B 1:01:23 T2 1:19 R 39:02 * F30-34
3. Grace Alexander (Atlanta GA) 1:57:50 S 11:27 T1 2:44 B 1:02:06 T2 1:18 R 40:17 * F25-29
4. Sarah Bishop (Beavercreek OH) 1:57:53 S 13:14 T1 3:05 B 1:02:32 T2 1:36 R 37:28 * F35-39
5. Gabrielle Bunten (North Oaks MN) 1:59:01 S 10:54 T1 2:42 B 1:03:12 T2 1:32 R 40:42 * F25-29
6. Stefanie Cullingford (Monroe CA) 1:59:03 S 12:29 T1 2:49 B 1:05:21 T2 1:10 R 37:15 * F30-34
7. Michelle Stratton (Chicago IL) 1:59:06 S 12:02 T1 3:05 B 1:04:20 T2 1:41 R 37:59 * F25-29
8. Ginger Reiner (Lincoln MA) 1:59:49 S 12:45 T1 2:30 B 1:03:11 T2 1:24 R 40:01 * F40-44
9. Megan Martin (Williamsport MD) 1:59:51 S 10:28 T1 2:57 B 1:05:04 T2 1:23 R 40:01 * F35-39
100. Laura McDonald (Castle Rock CO) 2:00:14 S 12:03 T1 2:57 B 1:02:17 T2 1:49 R 41:10 * F35-39
Masters Female
Ginger Reiner (Lincoln, Massachusetts) 1:59:49
Grand Masters Female
Linda Robb (Juno Beach, Florida) 2:04:46
Female Age Group winners
F17-19 Samantha Joray (Burleson TX) 2:11:49
F20-24 Abbie Sullivan (Canandaigua NY) 2:03:31
F25-29 Rachel Mensch (Madison WI) 1:56:45
F30-34 Dani Fischer (Greenfield IN) 1:56:57
F35-39 Sarah Bishop (Beavercreek) 1:57:53
F40-44 Ginger Reiner (Lincoln MA) 1:59:49
F45-49 Becky Youngberg (Eden Prairie MN) 2:01:49
F50-54 Adrienne Leblanc (Scottsdale AZ) 2:01:17
F55-59 Linda Robb (Juno Beach FL) 2:04:46
F60-64 Robyn Williams (Loveland OH) 2:09:40
F65-69 Missy Lestrange (Visalia CA) 2:27:29]
F70-74 Mary Hager (Randolph NJ) 2:45:15
F75-79 Marylynne Caruso (Fort Worth TX) 3:07:50
F80-84 Eileen Croissant (Greeley CO) 3:49:01
