Head coach Joella Baker leads the fourth edition of Duquesne Triathlon into the 2026 season, with the program entering a new era of veteran leadership. Six seniors headline a roster that has quickly evolved from an inaugural squad into an experienced group with extensive national championship experience.

Seniors Freya Davis, Robyn Hunt, Abby Kreber, Alexandria Meyers and Kate Potashnik were all members of Duquesne's inaugural recruiting class and debut roster in 2023. Hunt and Kreber headline the group as three-time national championship competitors, with both consistently ranking among the nation's top 100 individuals. Hunt is a three-time CTCA Scholar All-American Honorable Mention honoree, while Kreber earned her first recognition last season. Potashnik is a two-time national championship competitor who has ranked among the nation's top 100 each of the last two seasons and earned CTCA Scholar All-American Honorable Mention honors in 2024.

Vivien Mattice rounds out the senior class after joining the Dukes as a transfer in 2024. Entering her third season in the program, Mattice has qualified for the national championships in each of her first two seasons on the roster and returns one of Duquesne's top bike splits.

Juniors Tamara Kun and Rachele Lavagno enter their third seasons on the Bluff. Kun ranked as high as No. 50 nationally as a freshman in 2024, while Lavagno placed 76th at her first national championship last season, consistently produced some of the team's top swim splits and earned her first CTCA Scholar All-American Honorable Mention honor.

The sophomore class returns Arianna Flauto, Mikele Jopson, Catherine Staley and Ava Urso. Staley and Jopson are Duquesne's top two returning finishers from the 2025 national championship, placing 63rd and 70th, respectively. Staley, a 2025 CTCA Scholar All-American Honorable Mention selection, also captured a race title at the Clermont Draft Legal Challenge Super Sprint Sunday race, while Jopson enters 2026 as one of the team's top returning run-split performers and a consistent scorer throughout last season.

Three first-years complete the 2026 roster, including local product Hannah Foster of Uniontown, Pa. A standout in both cross country and swimming, Foster enters her collegiate career after placing second at the Youth 18-Year-Old Age Group Triathlon National Championships this summer.

Highly touted international recruits Isabella Fernández Aguirre of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Daria Ermolova of Tula, Russia, join Foster in the incoming class. Fernández Aguirre is a two-time Puerto Rico high school cross country champion, the 2024 PUR Sprint National champion and an 11th-place finisher at the Spain Triathlon Championships. Ermolova enters the Dukes after earning three Youth & Junior Russian Duathlon Championship titles, winning the Africa Triathlon Junior Cup and recording a top-10 finish at the U23 Russian Triathlon Championship.

The season opens Sunday with the first-ever Duquesne Cup at Brady's Run Park in Beaver Falls, Pa., marking the first of two home meets for the Dukes this season. Duquesne returns to Brady's Run Park on Sept. 19 for the fourth annual Duquesne Invitational, part of the Beaver County Tri Cup presented by Jenny Lee Swirl Breads, which will also be the program's inaugural Senior Day.

Duquesne was voted No. 10 in the College Triathlon Coaches Association's Preseason Coaches' Poll.