TEMPE, Ariz. -- Cliff English and the Sun Devil triathlon team won a national championship in the program's first season. The title set a high standard for future seasons, but ASU's coach has no trouble outlining his plans for an encore performance.
"Do it again," English said, grinning. "I definitely want to do it in grander fashion but yeah, do it again. That's our goal."
English's plans do not stop there, however, and he hopes former Sun Devil Athletics Chief Operating Officer Rocky Harris' appointment as USA Triathlon's CEO will help drive those lofty ambitions.
"I'm sad to see him go," English said. "He's a triathlete himself and he was a huge champion for what we are trying to do here, but he's not going to let women's triathlon fall.
"We have to get to 40 schools [offering triathlon to make it an NCAA sport] and I think we have basically seven more years to do it. We're about halfway, but I want more of the big DI schools involved as well. We'd love to have a Pac-12 conference for the sport. I'd love to be a part of the Territorial Cup one day. I want competition."
ASU will host the 2017 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship on Nov. 5. The race will take place in and around Tempe Town Lake, which is considered a "spectator friendly" course by the triathlon community. The three-lap 4.37-mile bike course will run through downtown Tempe, along the Mill Avenue Bridge, and through Papago Park, while the two-lap, 1.53-mile run course will take place along the lakefront.
"We'll be inviting a lot of ADs to our national championships here," English said. "We want to showcase what we're doing with the hope of sparking their interest and hopefully putting some pressure on them to step up and add it."
There may be no better selling point of the potential of collegiate triathlon than the Sun Devils' roster. English lost only Amy Darlington from last year's roster, and he added a ton.
Back is national runner-up Katie Gorczyca to take another run at returning national champion Erika Ackerlund of Montana in their senior seasons. Gorczyca was named Women's U23 Triathlete of the Year after winning the Bridgetown CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon American Cup in Bridgetown, Barbados, and placing as the top American finisher at the ITU U23 World Championships in Cozumel, Mexico.
"It's been so eye-opening for me just being able to visit other countries and race with international athletes," Gorczyca said. "It allowed me to gain experience and learn from how other people race. The more experience I gather, the more confidence I build and from every single race I've learned something new."
Gorczyca and Ackerlund will both represent Team USA at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Rotterdam, Netherlands from Sept 14-17.
Also returning this season for the Sun Devils are sophomore Charlotte Ahrens, who finished seventh at nationals despite battling the flu on race day; sophomore Sarah Quintero, who finished ninth; and sophomore Delaney Bucker, who finished 14th.
English also added seven newcomers. Six of them are freshmen, including Canadians Hannah Henry and Kyla Roy. Henry finished third at the Canadian Junior Elite National Championships in 2015 and second in 2016. At the ITU Junior Elite World Championships in Cozumel in 2016, she finished 12th overall. Roy represented Canada as a Junior Elite at the 2015 and 2016 World Championships.
"What's nice now is it gives us more people on a daily basis and we have several athletes who could be in the lead group this year," English said. "I wanted that depth. I saw that we needed it last year when Charlotte got sick."
With elite depth in the fold and more than 300 inquiries coming from athletes in 25 different nations, English believes the program is far stronger this year than it was a year ago.
"Absolutely," he said. " Knock on wood, it's going well. We're there."
-------------------------------------
Central Regional Qualifier Preview: The Sun Devils will have their first chance to qualify a team for November's national championship on Monday, Sept. 4 at the Central Regional Qualifier in Naperville, Ill., with the race starting at 6:45 am CT/4:45 am PT.
Last season in Naperville, Katie Gorczyca, Charlotte Ahrens, and Delaney Bucker represented ASU in the program's first-ever competition, finishing in the top spot. The only competitor of the field to finish the competition in less than an hour, Gorczyca finished first individually while Ahrens and Bucker finished second and fourth, respectively.
This year, USA Triathlon allowed coaches from competing teams to vote on team size, which resulted in the bump from five to seven competitors allowed per team per race throughout the season.
Gorczyca, Bucker, and Sarah Quintero, all returners for the Sun Devils, will be joined in Naperville by newcomers Hannah Henry, Kyla Roy, Grace Obando, and Rebecca Naughton.
"Do it again," English said, grinning. "I definitely want to do it in grander fashion but yeah, do it again. That's our goal."
English's plans do not stop there, however, and he hopes former Sun Devil Athletics Chief Operating Officer Rocky Harris' appointment as USA Triathlon's CEO will help drive those lofty ambitions.
"I'm sad to see him go," English said. "He's a triathlete himself and he was a huge champion for what we are trying to do here, but he's not going to let women's triathlon fall.
"We have to get to 40 schools [offering triathlon to make it an NCAA sport] and I think we have basically seven more years to do it. We're about halfway, but I want more of the big DI schools involved as well. We'd love to have a Pac-12 conference for the sport. I'd love to be a part of the Territorial Cup one day. I want competition."
ASU will host the 2017 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship on Nov. 5. The race will take place in and around Tempe Town Lake, which is considered a "spectator friendly" course by the triathlon community. The three-lap 4.37-mile bike course will run through downtown Tempe, along the Mill Avenue Bridge, and through Papago Park, while the two-lap, 1.53-mile run course will take place along the lakefront.
"We'll be inviting a lot of ADs to our national championships here," English said. "We want to showcase what we're doing with the hope of sparking their interest and hopefully putting some pressure on them to step up and add it."
There may be no better selling point of the potential of collegiate triathlon than the Sun Devils' roster. English lost only Amy Darlington from last year's roster, and he added a ton.
Back is national runner-up Katie Gorczyca to take another run at returning national champion Erika Ackerlund of Montana in their senior seasons. Gorczyca was named Women's U23 Triathlete of the Year after winning the Bridgetown CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon American Cup in Bridgetown, Barbados, and placing as the top American finisher at the ITU U23 World Championships in Cozumel, Mexico.
"It's been so eye-opening for me just being able to visit other countries and race with international athletes," Gorczyca said. "It allowed me to gain experience and learn from how other people race. The more experience I gather, the more confidence I build and from every single race I've learned something new."
Gorczyca and Ackerlund will both represent Team USA at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Rotterdam, Netherlands from Sept 14-17.
Also returning this season for the Sun Devils are sophomore Charlotte Ahrens, who finished seventh at nationals despite battling the flu on race day; sophomore Sarah Quintero, who finished ninth; and sophomore Delaney Bucker, who finished 14th.
English also added seven newcomers. Six of them are freshmen, including Canadians Hannah Henry and Kyla Roy. Henry finished third at the Canadian Junior Elite National Championships in 2015 and second in 2016. At the ITU Junior Elite World Championships in Cozumel in 2016, she finished 12th overall. Roy represented Canada as a Junior Elite at the 2015 and 2016 World Championships.
"What's nice now is it gives us more people on a daily basis and we have several athletes who could be in the lead group this year," English said. "I wanted that depth. I saw that we needed it last year when Charlotte got sick."
With elite depth in the fold and more than 300 inquiries coming from athletes in 25 different nations, English believes the program is far stronger this year than it was a year ago.
"Absolutely," he said. " Knock on wood, it's going well. We're there."
-------------------------------------
Central Regional Qualifier Preview: The Sun Devils will have their first chance to qualify a team for November's national championship on Monday, Sept. 4 at the Central Regional Qualifier in Naperville, Ill., with the race starting at 6:45 am CT/4:45 am PT.
Last season in Naperville, Katie Gorczyca, Charlotte Ahrens, and Delaney Bucker represented ASU in the program's first-ever competition, finishing in the top spot. The only competitor of the field to finish the competition in less than an hour, Gorczyca finished first individually while Ahrens and Bucker finished second and fourth, respectively.
This year, USA Triathlon allowed coaches from competing teams to vote on team size, which resulted in the bump from five to seven competitors allowed per team per race throughout the season.
Gorczyca, Bucker, and Sarah Quintero, all returners for the Sun Devils, will be joined in Naperville by newcomers Hannah Henry, Kyla Roy, Grace Obando, and Rebecca Naughton.