Eight national champions were crowned and three world
championship teams were determined on a busy Sunday at the
Baker's Breakfast Cookie Healthy Start Foundation Triathlon in
Bellingham.
At the USA Triathlon elite national championships, world No.1
ranked Hunter Kemper (Longwood, Fla.) won the fifth elite
national title of his career while Becky Lavelle (Los Gatos,
Calif.) continued her comeback from injury by winning her first.
The race was an International Triathlon Union (ITU) Continental
Cup race, meaning athletes added to their ITU point totals, and
was also the fourth out of five races in the USA Triathlon Elite
Cup Challenge - The Haul to the Great Wall. Kemper and Barb
Lindquist (Alta, Wyo.), who finished second in the elite women's
race, hold the men's and women's series leads with only the
Boston Triathlon on Sept. 4 left to go.
Among the under-23 athletes, who raced alongside the elites,
Jasmine Oeinck (Littleton, Colo.) took the women's title and
Matt Seymour (Honolulu, Hawaii) was first among the men.
Jennifer Spieldenner (Findlay, Ohio) finished second to Canada's
Kirsten Sweetland, but won the U.S. junior girls title, while
U.S. junior Duncan Hoge (Chapel Hill, N.C.) was first among the
boys.
Finally, Samuel Sutherland (The Woodlands, Texas) won the youth
boys title and Courtney Convey (Aurora, Ill.), who was second to
Canada's Shanee Landolt, won the girls title.
The following teams have been selected to represent the United
States at the ITU Triathlon World Championships on Sept. 10-11
in Gamagori, Japan.
Elite Women: Laura Bennett (North Palm Beach, Fla.), Becky
Lavelle (Los Gatos, Calif.), Barb Lindquist (Alta, Wyo.), Sheila
Taormina (Livonia, Mich.), Susan Williams (Littleton, Colo.) and
Joanna Zeiger (Boulder, Colo.)
Elite Men: Mark Fretta (Portland, Ore.), Hunter Kemper
(Longwood, Fla.), Andy Potts (Princeton, N.J.), Matt Reed
(Boulder, Colo.), Victor Plata (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) and Joe
Umphenour (Bellevue, Wash.)
U23 Women: Jasmine Oeinck (Littleton, Colo.), Sara McLarty
(DeLand, Fla.) and Michelle Lindsay (Herndon, Wash.)
U23 Men: Matthew Seymour (Honolulu, Hawaii), Manuel Huerta
(Miami, Fla.) and Jarrod Shoemaker (Sudbury, Mass.)
Junior Boys: Duncan Hoge (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Steven Duplinsky
(Kensington, Md.) and Kyle Hughes (Lake Forest, Calif.)
Junior Girls: Jennifer Spieldenner (Findlay, Ohio), Yasmine
White (Arcata, Calif.); Jenna Yeakel (Canton, Ohio) and
Alexandria Lechner (Clearwater, Fla.)
Complete results with splits are available at www.trithecookie.com.