McDonald joins in top-15 overall finishes 

HUDDLESTON, Va. (Oct. 16, 2021) – In the second qualifying race of the fall campaign, freshman Izi Belogay (Sterling, Va.) paced the Bucs in the return to her home state, finishing sixth overall out of a field of 93, and fourth among Division I schools. Belogay finished with a 1:03:28.0 thanks to the fourth-best run time at 20:23. The freshman’s performance helped ETSU garner a third-place team finish with 123 points.

Senior Lane McDonald (South Bend, Ind.) built on her performance from early September, finishing 15^th overall and 11^th among Division I with a time of 1:04:29.8. Junior Lindsey Batkiewicz (Johnston, Iowa) rounded out the top-3 ETSU finishers with a time of 1:05:40.6. All six finishers placed within the top-20 of DI competitors.

Holle Guntz (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Carla Garcia (Madrid, Spain) were the other two racers who competed in the same event in 2019, both posting better times with 1:08:01.7 and 1:08:25.8, respectively.

“It was an interesting day. The girls did really well competing considering the circumstances,” said Head Coach Allie Nicosia. “The results don’t reflect the work they have been putting in, but I’m looking forward to seeing where the girls go from here."

Denver took the top-spot overall with 51 points followed by South Dakota with 97. It was Wingate’s Finja Schierl who won the race overall by more than 14 seconds.

Below are ETSU’s individual race times and finishes among Division I competitors.

4. Izi Belogay, ETSU, 1:03:28.0

11. Lane McDonald, ETSU, 1:04:29.8

16. Lindsey Batkiewicz, ETSU, 1:05:40.6

17. Sarah Plant, ETSU, 1:07:29.8

18. Holle Guntz, ETSU, 1:08:01.7

20. Carla Garcia, ETSU, 1:08:25.8

For more information on Buccaneer triathlon, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s triathlon page.