Batkiewicz posts top-10 finish on Sunday’s UDR

CLERMONT, Fla. (Mar. 6, 2022) – The ETSU women’s triathlon team competed in the Clermont Draft Legal Challenge at Lake Louisa State Park over the two-day event. Six different athletes competed in four different races.

Beginning Saturday morning, Sarah Plant (Chandler, Ariz.) and Kayleigh Berg (Johnson City, Tenn.) were the first in action with the U25 National Development Race. Plant finished 25^th with a time of 1:07:31.6 after being in 12^th following an impressive 11:06.9 swim time following a 375-meter swim. Berg only finished the swim portion with a time of 12:34.

Shortly following, numerous athletes embarked on the Elite Super Sprint Cup, which consisted of a 375-meter swim, a 10k bike ride, followed by a 2.5k run. Lindsey Batkiewicz (Johnston, Iowa), returning to the event after participating last season, finished 15^th overall with a time of 32:59.1. Batkiewicz went from 14^th place after the swim down to 23^rd following the 10k bike but roared back into the top-15 following the 2.5k run.

Izi Belogay (Sterling, Va.), Abby Church (Chantilly, Va.), and Carla Garcia (Madrid, Spain) each finished within the 24-29^th range in their first race of the weekend. This would be Belogay’s only event of the weekend.

Day two of the Clermont Draft Legal Challenge saw two athletes in the NCAA Collegiate race: Garcia and Berg. Garcia places 26^th in a field of 66 with a time of 34:51.5. Garcia was as high as 13^th in the race following the swim portion of the race. Berg finished with a time of 40:33.1.

Sunday’s U25 National Development Race saw three top-20 finishes out of a field of 66. Batkiewicz padded her impressive weekend with an 8^th-place finish with a time of 1:06:51.9. Batkiewicz got up to 4^th place following the third of four laps on the bike. Church places 15^th with a time of 1:09:43.5 and Plant came in right behind her at 17^th with a time of 1:11:13.3.

The Bucs have another race down in Florida next weekend at the Americas Triathlon Cup Sarasota-Bradenton.

The NCAA named triathlon an Emerging Sport for Women in 2014, a designation that gives the sport a 10-year window to demonstrate sustainability at the NCAA level. There are currently 40 schools at the NCAA level that sponsor triathlon.

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