Dustin McLarty of UC Irvine broke into the lead on the swim and held off defending champion Karl Kahsar of CU Boulder to win the USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals individual men’s crown today in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

McLarty thus redeemed himself for the penalty that dropped him from first to second and cost him the National Collegiate crown last year. Now he has traded official finishing places with Kahsar.

McLarty swam a race-best 17:04 which was 47 seconds ahead of the next best rival, the University of Arizona’s Ben Kanute. More important, the swim gave McLarty 2:26 advantage on defending USAT Collegiate champion Karl Kahsar of CU Boulder.

After posting an 8th-best, 59:44 bike, McLarty started the run with a 1:19 advantage on Kahsar and 58 seconds on Kanute.

McLarty then posted an 8th-best 35:10 run that surrendered 1:12 to Kahsar and 35 seconds to Kanute – just enough to hit the finish in 1:54:33 with 26 seconds margin of victory over Kahsar and 1:35 over Kanute.

Ryan Bice, a member of the newly formed Elite Triathlon Academy affiliated with CU–Colorado Springs, who finished 6th at this race last year, lost a duel to the finish with Kanute by two seconds and had to settle for 4th. Drew Scott of CU Boulder, the son of six-time Ironman World Champion Dave Scott, placed 5th in 1:56:42.

Although team results will not be announced until 8 PM Central Daylight time at the awards banquet, CU Boulder men look strong with three finishers in the Top 10 overall.

USA Triathlon Collegiate Nationals
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
April 21, 2012
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Individual Men

1. Dustin McLarty (UC Irvine) 1:54:33
2. Karl Kahsar (CU Boulder) 1:54:59
3. Benjamin Kanute (University of Arizona) 1:55:08
4. Ryan Bice (CU Colorado Springs) 1:55:10
5. Drew Scott (CU Boulder) 1:56:42
6. Chris Braden (CU Boulder) 1:57:22 * second wave
7. Colin Riley (Florida State) 1:57:49
8. James McCurdy (Auburn) 1:58:57
9. Alex Libin (University of Iowa) 1:59:14
10. Jason West (Penn State) 1:59:39