USA Triathlon has announced Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, as the first school in the Pacific Northwest and the 23rd in the United States to offer women’s triathlon as a varsity sport. The NCAA Division III team will begin competing in the autumn/fall of 2021.
Deemed an NCAA Emerging Sport for Women in 2014, triathlon has a 10-year window to demonstrate sustainability as an NCAA sport option. USA Triathlon is more than halfway to its goal of recruiting 40 schools by 2024 to earn full-fledged Championship sport status, as nine new programs have been announced since October 2017.
In addition to being the first varsity women’s triathlon program in the state of Oregon, Willamette joins the University of San Francisco (NCAA Division I) as the second school on the West Coast to offer the sport. Eight other NCAA Division III universities across the nation offer the sport as part of their varsity portfolios.
“With the NCAA women’s triathlon movement now heading west, we look forward to offering potential student-athletes in this region another opportunity to compete at the varsity level,” said Rocky Harris, USA Triathlon CEO. “The addition of triathlon to Willamette’s varsity offerings was made possible thanks to leaders within the athletic department and the school as whole. I am confident the Bearcats will recruit a talented group of young women to compete in their inaugural season.”
The addition of a women’s triathlon program at Willamette was made possible through a grant from the USA Triathlon Foundation. The USA Triathlon Foundation Women’s Emerging Sport Grant is distributed to select NCAA membership institutions to develop, implement and sustain women’s triathlon programs at the NCAA varsity level.
“This is a natural fit for Oregon and the Pacific Northwest,” said Rob Passage, Willamette’s Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. “We appreciate the financial and technical support from USA Triathlon, which assists colleges offering triathlon as an NCAA Emerging Sport for Women.”
Willamette plans to hire a head coach during the 2019-2020 academic year and field a team starting in 2021. Women’s triathlon is an autumn/fall sport, and the varsity season includes three regional qualifiers followed by the Women’s Collegiate Triathlon National Championship. Athletes race over sprint-distance courses covering a 750m open water swim, draft-legal 20K bike, and 5K run.
Varsity Collegiate Triathlon Programs as of April 30, 2018:
NCAA Division I
Arizona State University (Tempe, Ariz.)
East Tennessee State University (Johnson City, Tenn.)
University of San Francisco (San Francisco, Calif.)
University of South Dakota (Vermillion, S.D.)
Wagner College (Staten Island, N.Y.)
NCAA Division II
Belmont Abbey College (Belmont, N.C.)
Black Hills State University (Spearfish, S.D.)
Colorado Mesa University (Grand Junction, Colo.)
Daemen College (Amherst, N.Y.)
Davis & Elkins College (Elkins, W.V.)
Drury University (Springfield, Mo.)
St. Thomas Aquinas College (Sparkill, N.Y.)
Southern Wesleyan University (Central, S.C.)
University of West Alabama (Livingston, Ala.)
NCAA Division III
Concordia University Wisconsin (Mequon, Wis.)
Johnson State College (Johnson, Vt.)
Marymount University (Arlington, Va.)
Millikin University (Decatur, Ill.)
Milwaukee School of Engineering (Milwaukee, Wis.)
North Central College (Naperville, Ill.)
Transylvania University (Lexington, Ky.)
Trine University (Angola, Ind.)
Willamette University (Salem, Ore.)
