Wane, who was third a year ago, claimed his second consecutive collegiate podium but was unable to hold off the hard-charging Stehula.

“Cedric was killing it on the bike. He out-biked me by a minute and a half, and he had a 40-second lead on me,” said Stehula.

“I thought that the race was over on the bike. I was like ‘I can’t catch him,’ and then just because I got one of those fantastic, really lucky breaks I was able to catch him. I just buried in the first mile and a half on the run and caught up to him.”

Rakestraw, who was fifth in 2009 in Lubbock, notched his second straight top-five finish.

Tough women's field

Jessica Broderick leads CU to the team title
(Photo by USAT)

On the women’s side, Kelleher’s time of 2:03:10 was good for a 2-minute victory over 2009 champion Jessica Broderick of Colorado, who grabbed second in 2:05:18. Hometown graduate student Ashley Messoline of Texas Tech finished third in 2:05:38, and last year’s runner-up Ashley Morgan of Army was fourth in 2:06:52.

Kelleher, a former collegiate runner at Dartmouth and SMU, was third off the bike but closed with an even-paced 10-kilometer run to win her collegiate nationals debut. A medical student at Virginia, the 28-year-old Kelleher is unbeaten in triathlon over the past two years after transitioning to the sport. She was the female age group winner of the Nation’s Triathlon in Washington, D.C., last September.

“I just kind of ran steady the whole time and just slowly pulled away,” said Kelleher.

“I never really made any moves. It was just a 10k, so I like to run that steady. I find that you run fastest if you run even splits.”

A relative newcomer to multisport, Kelleher’s win was a bit of a surprise to some, considering seven of the top 10 from last year’s race, including the entire podium, were back in the field. Kelleher’s goal was a podium finish, and she more than exceeded that feat.

“I’m excited for Virginia.  It’s exciting to represent my school. This is such a unique event in that respect,” said Kelleher.

“Triathlon is such an individual sport (that) to make it a team atmosphere is a really special thing. This is my last year competing at this race, so I’m just excited about all the younger people that are coming up and getting into the sport. I think USA Triathlon has done a great job promoting it for younger people.”

Blustery race conditions

Weather conditions created a few wrinkles Saturday, but the driving rain of the past two days finally broke on race day. However, due to water and air temperatures, the Olympic-distance swim was cut to 750 meters, and the sprint-distance swim was cancelled, creating a bike-run event.

Saturday’s winners relished the conditions.

“I like it cold. I like it when it turns into a race of attrition like today, so when it’s a race of survival I do really well,” said Stehula. “I like the tough races, so this was great.”

Kelleher added, “It’s just one of those gut-it-out kind of races that you’ve got to just put your head down and do the work and not think about it.”

Texans were the victors in the Collegiate Sprint Race, which was an open event. Benjamin Drezek of North Texas claimed the men’s title in 1:03:38, while 30-year-old Lubbock native Jamie Cooper was the first overall women’s finisher in 1:21:19. Ohio State’s Megan Matrka was the top collegiate athlete on the women’s side with a time of 1:22:02.

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