PITTSBURGH - The Duquesne University triathlon team will make its program debut this afternoon in North Carolina, the first of three September meets on the 2023 schedule.

"It's great to have a brand new team on campus and build the team from scratch, I am looking forward to see how our girls develop this season and we're super excited to get going," said head coach Joella Baker. 

The inaugural roster features 13 competitors, including nine freshman, two sophomores, and Ainsleigh Cardone as the lone upperclassmen, a junior.

"I was really trying to bring in a team that represents the school well and builds a great team culture because that is such a big key to building a new program ... And I think we have done that," said Baker.

Paige Black, Sophie Brandwene, and Alaina Hicks are sophomores on the team. Lia Bartholomew, Freya Davis, Jet Francis, Robyn Hunt, Abby Kreber, Alexandria Meyers, Kate Potashnik, Bella Schaller, and Julie Walker round out the first-ever Duquesne triathlon roster as freshmen.

"This weekend is really a chance to just see where everyone is at," said Coach Baker. "We have some really strong athletes, Jet Francis is probably our top cyclist, Bella Schaller is our top swimmer, Alaina Hicks is probably the most seasoned athlete here as a sophomore competitor, so we have a really strong team as a whole."

Even though its the first year, the Dukes are here to compete. Coach Baker has high expectations for the young, but talented group. "We'd love to be one of the top-10 teams in the country in our first year ... The top 10 teams compete in the A-Wave at nationals, so kind of our goal this season is to get into that A-Wave."

Duquesne will host its first-ever meet next weekend on September 9 at Moraine State Park in Butler, then head to the Giant Acorn Triathlon Festival on September 24. East national qualifiers are October 14 in Virginia, then the national title races are in Arizona on November 11. The Dukes will also head down to Clermont, Florida for a meet in early March to round out the inagural season. 

Over the last decade, women's triathlon has made significant progress towards becoming a full-fledged NCAA championship sport. Currently the sport crowns its champions through USA Triathlon and this season all three NCAA division levels will compete in one bracket. In 2022, the sport eclipsed 40 schools sponsoring varsity women's triathlon, meeting one of the NCAA's requirements surrounding sustainability and success at the NCAA varsity level. Only becoming an NCAA Emerging Sport for Women in 2014, triathlon is already a varsity sport at schools in all three levels of NCAA competition across the nation.

As of March 2023, 42 NCAA schools sponsor women's triathlon. Stretched across all three NCAA divisions and located in 25 states. For more information on NCAA Triathlon visit USATriathlon.org.

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