Cheers rang out as the University of Arizona Women’s Triathlon team drove through the national championship drive right across from Arizona Stadium with a police escort last Thursday and took the stage right outside the Cole And Jeannie Davis Sports Center to celebrate their 2024 national championship win – the first such victory for any university sports team since 2018.
The team will be remembered for taking home the UA’s first triathlon national title in the USA Triathlon Championship in November. The victory is particularly significant as it comes in the program’s second year, highlighting the rapid ascent of the Wildcats in collegiate triathlon.
Hundreds of people, including UA’s Pep Band, cheerleaders and mascots – Wilbur and Wilma – gathered on Thursday to celebrate the win and watch as a new championship banner was unveiled.
Fans and supporters gather on Jan. 23, 2025 to celebrate the 2024 University of Arizona Women’s Triathlon team.
The team’s historic win came on Nov. 9, when Arizona knocked off rival and second-place team Arizona State by 22 points, winning with a total of 942 points.
The championship race featured a 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike ride and five-kilometer run. Junior Kelly Wetteland led the Wildcats with an impressive second-place individual finish, clocking in at 00:59:20, just 13 seconds behind the leader.
Four Wildcats finished inside the top ten, including third place finisher Maragreta Vrablova at 00:59:24, to help secure victory. And all of Arizona’s triathletes placed in the top 30.
The triathlon team celebrates their 2024 national championship as a banner is raised right next to National Championship drive.
“I’m so honored to be part of this legacy, to call you guys my best friends, and that right there Tucson, that’s for us,” Wetteland told her teammates during the celebration on Thursday.
Wetteland came to the UA to swim, but asked head coach Wes Johnson if she could also join the triathlon team when Arizona sponsored it as a sport during the 2023-2024 school year.
Prior to their nationals win, the team competed in four other events, including a red vs. blue inter-squad scrimmage. They finished fifth in their first event at the Southern Hills Collegiate Cup in Hot Springs, S.D., but took first every subsequent event, winning the Fort Triathlon in Fort Worth outright and tying for first place in the national qualifier before taking home the national championship.
Molly Lakustiak, a junior who finished sixth at nationals, said she couldn’t be more grateful for the team’s success.
“To be able to go to the University of Arizona and to get a support system like this – where they celebrate our wins and show us that we really matter and that we have a position in this school – to help bring awareness to the sport that is still growing, and I hope we can keep building this sport,” Lakustiak said.
A video plays on the big screen recapping their season on January 23.
Johnson said he is proud of the team and grateful for this group of talented athletes. But he said they aren’t finished yet and have more work to do.
“Everybody that scored at the championship race has two more years left, and then we have two recruits who are some of the best athletes in the world,” he said. “There’s no reason why we can’t keep winning. The standard is there; they’ve set the standard, and we’re ready to continue raising it.”
As the Wildcats celebrated this historic achievement, he said the future of Arizona women’s triathlon looks exceptionally bright. The team has created a strong foundation for a promising trajectory in collegiate athletics.
Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.
