PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wisc.— The Drury triathlon team earned a bid to the NCAA National Championship as they finished first among a pair of Division II teams at the Central Regional Qualifier on Sunday in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.
 
Drury athletes finished in the top four positions as the Panthers ended the event with six points to finish ahead of Daeman's 19 points. Two teams were competing as Division II programs while the event included four D-I teams and five D-III squads.
 
Jayme-Sue Vermaas was first among 11 NCAA-II competitors and was seventh out of 70 participants overall. A freshman from Bloemfontein, South Africa, Vermas finished with a time of one hour, five minutes and 11 seconds. Her time was less than four minutes off of the overall winning time set by Kyla Roy of Arizona State.
 
Sophomore Nina Spitzhorn finished second in the Division II race with a time of 1:06:47 while Becca Rivers, a freshman from Elgin, Texas, was third finishing in 1:07:34. Freshman Hadley Jason came in fourth (1:11:39), Springfield-Kickapoo product and freshman Olivia Hall was seventh (1:13:42), and Melanie Abbott was ninth (1:14:39).
 
"Every girl did exactly what they were supposed to do," said Drury head coach Doug Fredrick. "I'm as proud of Jayme as I am of Hannah Polinske, who was unable to finish the race due to an injury but led Olivia through her first collegiate triathlon bike course.
 
"These girls are some of the toughest athletes I've ever worked with. Rebecca was coming off of strep throat, and Melanie is battling shin splints. They started the race knowing it was going to hurt, but they left it all on the course. Rebecca collapsed after crossing the finish line because she literally gave everything she had. I can't ask for more than that."
 
The Panthers are scheduled to compete again on Saturday in the Finley River 5 at TRI in Ozark, Missouri. The NCAA triathlon championships take place Nov. 16 in Tempe, Arizona.
 
 
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