In their final competition before the National Championship in less than a month, the Lenoir-Rhyne Women's Triathlon Team traveled to Virginia at Smith Mountain Lake.

VENUE:
-Smith Mountain Lake, Huddleston Virginia served as the second of three regional qualifiers for the National Championship
-Lenoir-Rhyne is coming off winning the DII classification at Pleasant Prairie in September.
-With over 100 athletes entered this one of the largest race fields in the history of NCAA triathlon

LR ATHLETE PERFORMANCES:
-Kayla Ribbink was Lenoir-Rhyne's top overall finisher in 5th (2nd Freshman to finish)
-Teresa Vesely had one of her best races as a Bear and was our second across the line
-Franziska Neck continues her impressive freshman campaign, showing a ton of grit racing on a taped ankle today. Neck finished in our 3rd position.
-Chloe Telian had to do a lot of work on the bike course and fought hard for positions on the run course to round out team scoring.
-Andie Kuipers had an impressive first full race back after an injury that kept her out of the Pleasant Prairie race.  Kuipers did a ton of work on the swim and bike and was able to hold off key Division II rivals on the run course. 

RACE:
-The race was a combined DI/DII field.
-Eleven Division II teams represented (17 teams in total)
-Close battle for the final team podium spot with four points separating three teams.
-LR Freshman Kayla Ribbink finished 5th overall and was the 2nd Freshman across the line, repeating her performance from Pleasant Prairie.
-LR finished 5th/11 DII, 

QUOTE FROM COACH:
 "We competed really well today," said Bryant Howard. "We stood in with some very strong teams and held our own.  We're still young and improving every time we race so we'll take some things from this race and make adjustments for Nationals. The number of athletes on course completely changed the feel of the course in a couple spots.  Small tactical adjustments had a huge impact on the final score today."

INDIVIDUAL FINISHES:
Kayla Ribbink 1:04:45
Teresa Vesely 1:05:57
Franziska Neck 1:06:40
Chloe Telian  1:07:45
Andie Kuipers 1:08:09

TOP 5 TEAMS:
Queens 76
CMU 105
D& E 114
Wingate 116
LR 118

NEXT UP:
-The Bears will travel to Tempe, Arizona to compete at the National Championship on November 13th.