Saturday of this past weekend found numerous students, faculty, and members of the community participating in the second annual LU Triathlon. There were eight women participants, eight men, and six team entries in the endurance-testing athletic event.The triathlon consisted of swimming nine laps in the rec center pool, a bike ride of 11.9 miles on a course through Appleton, and, lastly, a run of 2.2 miles that took the runners on the loop from Union Hill to Alexander Gym and back.
For the women, LU senior Val Curtis led the field with a time of 1:02:43. Junior Allie Dietsche was fourth with a time of 1:11:09 and senior Shauna Lohr rounded out the LU representation in 1:20:20.
The men also had three LU students, with sophomore Chris Sarasin the fastest in 1:00:27, good for second place. Freshman David Dannenhower and Ormsby Hall director Al Reiser also participated, with times of 1:09:53 and 1:31:31, respectively.
The overall champion was LU art professor Micheal Orr, who came in with an amazing time of 57:14.
The team entries allow one person for each leg of the triathlon and all six teams were composed of LU students. The team composed of Kyle Hewitt, Peter Navis, and Mary Markowitz took the title in an outstanding time of 58:37, with the other teams close behind. Many of the LU participants are involved in other sports and their fitness and athletic ability showed in the excellent finishes.