Alumni in Action: Middaugh wins first-career Continental Cup road triathlon
Battle Mountain alumna Augustine Hancock breaks CMU hammer throw record for a third time to qualify for NCAA DII national meet
Trevor Witt/Courtesy photo
Eagle-Vail’s Sullivan Middaugh, the two-time defending XTERRA USA champion, collected his first-career Continental Cup win earlier this month.
The 20-year-old won the 2024 Americas Triathlon Cup in Calima, Columbia, on May 5. Middaugh completed the draft-legal road triathlon — which consisted of a 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike and 5-kilometer run — in 57 minutes, 6 seconds to take a 70-second victory over his fellow Project Podium teammate, Keller Norland.
After exiting the swim in 25th place out of 33 athletes, Middaugh put together a stunning effort on the bike. His 27:31 split was 1 minute, 41 seconds faster than the next best time and almost two minutes ahead of the third-fastest cyclist.
“Leading up to the race I had a good feeling that the course would suit my strengths well. Both the run and bike were hilly and at 5,000-feet of elevation,” Middaugh stated on social media. “I had an average swim that put me in striking distance to catch the front pack on the bike.”
Middaugh will compete at the newly-rebranded XTERRA North American championships — which replaces the XTERRA USA championships — on Saturday in Pelham, Alabama.
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Hancock breaks CMU program record for third time this season to qualify for NCAA national meet
Augustine Hancock broke her own Colorado Mesa University hammer throw record at the Franson Last Chance meet last weekend in Azusa, California. The sophomore, who owns the discus school record at Battle Mountain, needed the 55.88-meter throw to sneak into the 20-person NCAA DII national championship field.
Her previous best of 54.90 meters won her the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title at the end of April. She originally set the program record with a 53.61-meter toss at the Maverick Invite on April 7; her best throw as a freshman was 42.46 meters.
The NCAA DII national meet is May 23-25 in Emporia, Kansas; the women’s hammer throw is at 3:30 p.m. on May 23. Hancock is the 20th seed while Zoe Pentecost of Indianapolis comes in as the favorite with a mark of 62.74.
