From left: Vanessa Gardiner, Jenna Weaver, and Jessica Buckwalter, EMU triathletes. (Courtesy photo)

Royals triathletes third, qualify three to nationals

The EMU women’s triathlon team sent three down to Smith Mountain Lake Saturday, looking for qualifications for the national tournament. 

When the dust settled, EMU sat in third place as a team and will send all three participants to nationals in November. 

Highlights

  • Jenna Weaver continued her strong triathlon run, picking up a third place finish out of 23 participants. She kicked off the swim portion with a time of 14:57 and followed that up with a bike time of 35:53:00. She finished the course with a run time of 21:14, to pick up a total time of 1:14:28. 
  • Coming in just three seconds behind Weaver was teammate Vanessa Gardiner, whose fourth place finish also qualified her for nationals. She finished the swim in 14:37, the bike in 36:20:00 and the run in 20:51. 
  • Wrapping up the scoring for EMU was Jessica Buckwalter. She grabbed sixth place in just her second triathlon, finishing the swim in 16:32, the bike in 35:25:00 and the running in 21:32 for a total time of 1:16:09. 

What’s Next

EMU will be heading to Tempe, Arizona, on Nov. 12 for the Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships.