HUDDLESTON, Va. - The Queens University of Charlotte men's and women's triathlon teams both claimed another Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Triathlon Conference (MACTC) Championships title Saturday morning at Smith Mountain Lake State Park, repeating as conference champions for the third year in a row.
 
"Mid-Atlantic Conference champions again; a hard fought battle and well-earned win today for our men & women," head coach of triathlon Sonni Dyer stated. Both squads secured the top team finishes once again, ahead of the United States Naval Academy (USNA) who took second on both sides.
 
"In today's NCAA race, we just fell one point shy of the win," Dyer commented. "Basically we got separated a bit too much from the swim to bike and ended up in packs that didn't position us best to run for the win. A disappointing loss, but we'll bounce back with a month to go before the national championships in November."
 
In the women's varsity short-course draft-legal race, Queens saw three women finish in the top-10, as freshman Natalie Bash took second (1:01:46), Sam McInnes took fourth (1:03:46), and Jordan Grantz took ninth (1:04:32). Lia Federbusch, Veronika Divis, and Paola Horvat also competed in the race, but Queens fell within one to Davis and Elkin College who recorded a low 15 points.
 
Also on the women's side, finishing as MACTC champion in the Olympic distance race was freshman Katharina Krosta with a time of 2:16:01. She was followed by junior Caitlin Roper in second (2:16:30), Sara Diaz-Restrepo in sixth (2:20:52), and Allie Dominicali in eighth (2:21:33).
 
The Royals, who were among 54 other competitors in the race, also saw four more women finish in the top-30, including Ida Osterman in 14th, Colomba Nahum in 18th, Caylan Bromley in 20th, and Maddie Koler in 23rd.
 
Helping to secure the overall MACTC Championship title was Roper who also competed in the collegiate draft-legal race and came out on top with a time of 1:05:54. Phelan Purnell also finished in fourth (1:08:26).
 
On the men's side, graduate student Alex Mundt finished as the MACTC champion in the Olympic distance race with a time of 1:55:03. Senior Milan Tomin also came in third finishing with a combined time of 1:56:44.
 
Four more men finished in the top-10 in the distance race including Justin Lippert in fourth (1:57:20), Austin Podhajsky in fifth (1:58:45), Sebastian Rivera Del Hierro in seventh (2:00:21), and Miles Fowler in tenth (2:01:41).
 
Also finishing in the top-40 were Nils Reckmeier, Oliver Porter, Jarrell Hibler, Jack Kurtz, Sean Zaidi, Andrew Fairman, and Ethan Conner out of 100 competitors.
 
In the men's collegiate draft-legal race, Rivera Del Hierro also finished in third with a time of 55:22 contributing to the team's overall conference team title.
 
"We had several Royals doubling-up to do two races today," continued Dyer. "Captains Roper and Rivera Del Hierro led that charge. In the Olympic distance race, Kath and Alex both showed why they're each among the best long course racers in the country… each so balanced and strong across all three disciplines. Phenomenal team effort and team wins today over our conference rival."
 
This concludes the men's fall season, but the women will begin to prepare for the USAT Varsity Women Collegiate National Championships Saturday, November 16 in Tempe, Arizona next.