TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (4/5/11) - The University of Colorado triathlon team will look to defend their title as national champion when they head to the 2011 Collegiate National Championships on Saturday.
The Buffaloes have won 11 national championships since 1994 and will be looking to repeat as champions for the first time since 2004-05.
"We just try and take a humble approach and look too much at the results from last year," said CU senior and team president Corey Hazekamp. "We are focusing on the task at hand this year, and we want to go out and do our best this weekend."
The first wave for the men will begin at 7:30 a.m. EDT while the first wave for the women will begin at 10 a.m. EDT. The waves will be in four minute increments. The first wave of the sprint triathlon will begin at 12:30 p.m. EDT with two waves following in three minute increments.
Colorado is coming off a dominate performance at the Mountain Collegiate Triathlon Conference Championships on Mar. 19 in Lake Havasu, Ariz., in which both the men's and women's teams finished first and had six men and five women finish in the top 10. However what was impressive about CU's finish is that they did it without their best athlete, junior Jessica Broderick, who missed the Havasu race with an injury.
Broderick will race in Alabama and will look to reclaim the title of national champion that she earned in 2009 as a freshman. Last year, Broderick finished second at nationals.
Surprisingly the U.S. Military Academy, who is not in CU's conference, attended the Havasu race and will be Buff's biggest competition on Saturday. Colorado competed well against Army in Arizona, which gives the Buffs hope of another good performance against the cadets at nationals.
While winning a national championship in his final race as a Buffalo would be special, Hazekamp said the biggest thing that he and the rest of the seniors will remember about this season will be teaching the underclassman of the team.
"We have all been on the team for four years and have been working hard," Hazekamp said of CU's senior class. "I think the biggest thing for us is that we will leave knowing that we helped the young underclassman as we contributed to a national championship."
Colorado triathlon athletes will be available for the media before and after Saturday's race. Contact Collegiate Sport Clubs Information Director Ron Knabenbauer to set up an interview.
Results and a live blog of the race will be available online at http://www.usatriathlon.org/events/359.
Schedule on Race Day
7:30 a.m. Collegiate National Championship Start Men Wave 1
7:34 a.m. Men Wave 2
7:38 a.m. Men Wave 3
7:42 a.m. Men Wave 4
7:46 a.m. Men Wave 5
7:50 a.m. Men Wave 6
10:00 a.m. Collegiate National Championship Start Women Wave 1
10:04 a.m. Women Wave 2
10:08 a.m. Women Wave 3
10:12 a.m. Women Wave 4
12:30 p.m. Sprint Triathlon Wave 1
12:33 p.m. Sprint Tri Wave 2
12:36 p.m. Sprint Tri Wave 3
2:45 p.m. Course Closes
6-8 p.m. Awards Ceremony
All times Eastern
