For the second consecutive season, North Central College women’s triathlon ended the season as the Division III National Champions. It’s the fifth National Championship in program history.
A familiar result for North Central triathlon
Athletes from more than 30 NCAA DI, DII, and DIII women’s collegiate triathlon teams from across the country competed at the Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championships, which was hosted for the sixth consecutive year by Tempe and Arizona State University.
The Cardinals have a new head coach at the helm for the second straight season, but the end result remained the same under the guidance of first year coach Tyler Woodward.
After a dominant performance at regional competition, NCC entered the National Championship meet as the favorites to bring home the title. Hailey Poe, Charlotte Kummler, Bethany Smeed, and Scarlett Schuth finished as the top four finishers in the regional qualifier.
Hailey Poe makes it a three-peat as individual champion
In the National Championship race, the results were very similar with junior Hailey Poe winning her third straight individual National Championship in a time of 1:09:27. Charlotte Kummler finished in second place at 1:11:42 while Bethany Smeed took third at 1:12:08. Scarlett Schuth finished in fifth place at 1:13:51, twenty seconds behind the fourth place finisher, Grace Huisman from Trine.
North Central College brought home the 2023 Division III women’s triathlon title with a team score of 623, ahead of Trine University in second with 420. Eastern Mennonite University finished in the third at 406.
