Two groups of UCCS students achieved success this week in athletic competitions outside of NCAA Division II intercollegiate competition.
The UCCS Inline Hockey Club won the Division II National Championship at the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association Tournament in Fort Meyers, Fla., by defeating a team from Northeastern University, Boston, 3-2 in overtime, April 14. The UCCS team played six games on the way to the championship, defeating teams from the University of Missouri, Kansas State University, Kennesaw State University, and California State University-Fullerton.
"I keep replaying it over in my head," team member Ryan Pedersen, a Colorado Springs engineering graduate student, told the Colorado Springs Gazette. "Still can't believe it."
It is the first national club team championship at UCCS, according to Mallory Price, intramural and club sports coordinator, Campus Recreation Center.
Club sports can receive student-fee funds from the Student Government Association but the 14-member team is not directly supported by the university.
A four-person team of UCCS students won the mixed team relay at the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship April 14 in Tempe, Ariz. The four-person team included Luke Farkas, a sophomore sociology student; Johanna Gartman, sophomore nursing student; Avery Evenson, a freshman chemistry student, and Kevin McDowell, a sophomore business student. Each athlete had to swim 250K, bike 5K and run 1.2K before tagging the next teammate, in a female-male-female-male format. This was the second year for the event at Collegiate Nationals.
The students are part of USA Triathlon’s Elite Triathlon Academy, a Colorado Springs-based development program targeting future Olympians.
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