Two hours, 50 kilometers and a 1500-meter swim later, the Auburn triathlon club finished 16th overall out of more than 80 teams at Collegiate Nationals in Tuscaloosa Saturday.
"Overall we were kind of hoping to be in the top 10," said Robert Bedsole, president of Auburn's triathlon club. "James McCurdy finished seventh overall. That's the highest finish since the tri team reformed four years ago."
McCurdy led Auburn, finishing the 1500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike and 10-kilometer run just 35 seconds before the two hour mark.
McCurdy placed seventh overall in a field of more than 1200 triathletes from all across the country.
McCurdy, a seven-year triathlete and doctoral student in agronomy and soil, was just two minutes and 21 seconds from the winner, Karl Khaser from Colorado University.
"A lot of time when you're racing you just have to be prepared to do what it takes to stay with the guys in front of you or catch them," McCurdy said. "I don't know, I didn't catch some guys. I'm happy with being in the top 10."
McCurdy was unable to run from November to January because of an IT-band injury, and then he broke his foot at the end of January.
"I was just getting back...and had to take another five weeks off," McCurdy said. "I maintained a lot of fitness by swimming and biking. I biked about four to five times a week which helped maintain aerobic fitness."
McCurdy said it's hard to compare this collegiate race since it is so competitive.
"It might be one of the most competitive age-group races in the nation because there are so many young guys," McCurdy said. "You're bringing in guys from every region that I've never raced before, and you just never know."
Colorado was the repeat winner, with three of the top five men's finishers.
"There are actually trophies and awards for top teams and individuals," said John Martin, communications and media relations manager for USA Triathlon. "The winners get a lot of great prizes from our corporate partners. Our marketing team puts together great prize packages so (the athletes) are certainly excited about winning those."
McCurdy, Bedsole and the men's team finished 20th, leading the Southeastern Conference.
"I think we did pretty well," Bedsole said. "Clemson finished up right around us, so we had two teams from our conference in the top 20 I think in almost every category."
The Auburn women finished 16th in their field.
"Colorado still found a way to dominate the field," Bedsole said. "They won last year, too."
However, in true SEC-rivalry fashion, Auburn was the real winner Saturday.
"We definitely finished ahead of Alabama," Bedsole said.
The 1500-meter swim Saturday was in the Black Warrior River.
"The river was really flat, so we weren't worried so much about having to swim upstream at the start of the swim," Bedsole said. "I think that the swim times were pretty reasonable, especially knowing that we were on the Warrior River."
Some unexpected running took place after the triathletes got out of the river because of a creek located next to the exit.
"There was an unusually long run once you exit the water to get to the transition," Bedsole said. "(It was) about a 400-meter run in your wet suit, which I enjoy as a runner, but some people weren't."
Because nationals is only the second race of the season, the Auburn triathletes are running full speed into more competitions.
"I think that we are really competitive and growing," McCurdy said.
"I thought our performance was good. I think we are going to get better--we have a lot of strong freshman guys and girls. We can only get better."
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