The ASU triathlon team was seen making waves once again traveling to Clermont, Florida to fight for the national title at the Collegiate Triathlon National Championship.
The pressure was on ASU after winning the last seven national team titles, including last year's hardware while playing host in Arizona. Head coach Cliff English works to make sure that pressure doesn't get to the team.
"We try to downplay it and keep it very low-key," English said before the race. "(We) really don't talk about it too much."
At regionals earlier this year, other teams clawed toward ASU with the Sun Devils only beating UA on a tiebreaker. The Wildcats were the Sun Devils' biggest competition and threat going into nationals.
"I really expect that UA is going to be the number one to beat and we're looking forward to it," English said before the race, forseeing the close match. "That (regional is) probably the closest race we've ever had."
READ MORE: Sun Devils win their seventh straight women's national triathlon championship
Junior Naomi Ruff stood out at regionals, taking home the individual trophy by 12 seconds. Ruff, last year's national runner-up, was looking to take home the top spot this year.
"I would love to be on the top step of the podium again because last year I came in second, so the only place up is the top step," Ruff said.
However, this race is different from last year. Not only is it in Florida but because of the recent hurricanes the course was split over two days. The athletes started with the swim portion on the first day and the other legs the day after.
This change had the potential to throw runners for a loop while forcing a quicker pace for each portion. Sophomore Sidney Clement didn't mind the change.
"I kind of like it, you get to go all out on the swim and then see how you stack up against other people leading into the bike and the run," Clement said. "It's also nice that they didn't change it to a duathlon (only bike and run)."
The change didn't affect the athletes' performance too greatly as Ruff still led the way for the Sun Devils.
Ruff started with the 11th quickest swim time. She caught up with the ninth-fastest bike time, putting her in the same position for the final running portion. Clocking the fifth fastest run was enough for her to take the crown.
Ruff is the fifth Sun Devil individual national champion. Amber Schlebusch last won the title for ASU in 2022.
Ruff finished with a time of 59:08, 12 seconds ahead ofjunior UA runner Kelly Lyn Wetteland in second place. Wetteland's fellow Wildcat freshman Maragreta Vrablova rounded out the podium for UA.
Schlebusch finished fourth for the Sun Devils. Sophomores Zoe Mari Adam and Clement finished in the top 20 with freshman Alice Alessandri. Sophomore Britney Brown and junior Faith Dasso finished 34th and 35th respectively.
ASU fell to UA by 22 points despite the effort from Ruff and her teammates. The national meet marked the first time losing the national title in school history. The Wildcats had four runners in the top 10 on their way to a national title.
Edited by Jack Barron, Sophia Braccio and Madeline Schmitke.
Reach the reporter at aldeutsc@asu.edu and follow @AlanDeutschend3 on X.
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Alan is a sophomore studying sports journalism. This is his second semester with The State Press. He has also worked at Blaze Radio.
