TEMPE, Ariz. – Behind strong race times from sophomore Molly Lakustiak and a leading performance by Kelly Lynn Wetteland in the pool, Arizona Triathlon earned 99 points and a second-place finish in its first meet in program history. The Wildcats fell 12 points shy of host Arizona State in the overall team results after besting the Sun Devils in a number of swim races.

"I am blown away by how this team competed as we came within seconds of beating the defending national champions," said head coach Wes Johnson. "It's easy to see that we are building something very special with a great team culture. I don't know if I have seen a group of athletes who are more supportive of their teammates and as fierce competitors than this group of student-athletes. I am incredibly proud of this team and couldn't be more excited to compete again with these young ladies."

The format of Arizona Triathlon's first-ever meet was a "Dual in the Desert" that consisted of a three-person relay teams that competed in a duathlon before 100-meter and 500-meter swims.
Lakustiak posted a team-best time of 7:25 in the duathlon, which was the second fastest duathlon time of the field. Freshman Dana Prikrylová has the Wildcats' second best time in the run and bike portion at 7:43, which was two seconds faster than her teammate Laura Holánszky.

Wetteland was the fastest competitor of the day in both the 100-yard and 500-yard swims, posting times of 52.95 and 5:12.62 respectively. Grace Reeder finished less than two seconds behind Wetteland in the 100-yard swim for second place. Holánszky gave Arizona a second runner-up in the swimming competition, finishing fractions of a second behind Wetteland in the 500-yard leg.

Arizona Triathlon will return to action in two weeks in the Battle of Fort Worth, which is hosted by TCU on Saturday, September 16.