Photo: Jack He

Tempe, AZ – The La Salle triathlon team will have all six of its qualifying athletes competing in the NCAA Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championship on Saturday in Tempe, Arizona.

Athletes Fiona Davoudi, Sophie Brandwene, Gabriela Herbreder, Sofia Nordbeck, Beth Eldredge, and Luciana Ruiz each qualified for the National Championship through at-large bids based on their finish times from the East Regional on October 25. La Salle, in its first season competing as a program, is one of 37 schools with athletes in the race.

La Salle's total of six athletes in the race ranks as the fourth-greatest value of competitors among schools racing.

The race will be broken up into three heats.

It will begin with Heat C, which starts at 10:30 am MST (12:30 EDT). La Salle will have Eldredge competing in Heat C.

Heat B will follow at 12:45 pm (2:45 EDT). La Salle will have Nordbeck, Ruiz, Herbreder, and Brandwene competing in Heat B.

Heat A will serve as the finale, starting at 3:00 pm (5:00 EDT). Davoudi will be representing La Salle in Heat A, racing among some of the top triathletes in the country. Heat A features a mix of at-large bids in addition to 40 auto bids.

Collegiate Awards will take place at the race site after Heat A concludes around 5:00 pm (7:00 EDT).

The race layout will see athletes compete in and around downtown Tempe, near the campus of host Arizona State University. The race will begin with the swim portion with one 750-meter lap in Tempe Town Lake. It will then transition to the bike portion, which will feature three laps on a 20k course that runs through downtown Tempe, over the Mill Avenue Bridge, and through Papago Park. The race will then conclude with the run portion, which is a 5k spanning two laps along the lakefront.  

Triathlon is one of NCAA's Emerging Sports for Women, as the sport is developing across the nation towards reaching NCAA championship status.