Race Preview: Cranberry Trifest
This weekend the NECTC opens up the season in Lakeville, Massachusetts at the Cranberry Trifest Sprint Triathlon. In last year’s opener Karim Mabrouk of the University of Connecticut and Riley Lantz of the University of Vermont took the overall male and female podiums. However, it was MIT and Drexel with deep performances who won the male and female team competitions respectively.
This year neither of last year’s winners will be toeing the starting line. Already there are a few favorites on both sides, making for an interesting race. On the male end we have two major contenders in a dual for the overall win:
Dylan Morgan (West Point): Finished top 10 in both the Draft Legal and Olympic races at last year’s nationals.
Spencer Ralston (Saint Michaels): Racing for the newly joined Saint Michaels, Ralston has qualified for the next Xterra World Championships. This year Ralston has also won overall the Litchfield Hills Olympic Triathlon, Colchester Triathlon and Winding Trails Triathlon.
Other Contenders: Steven Vitabile (Rutgers), Andrew Keenan (Drexel), Bradley Bachand (West Point)
The female race appears to be an intersquad battle with a couple potential upsets
Angelica Dickson (West Point): Finished 2nd overall in the conference standings last year, and finished 13th in the Olympic race at Nationals this past April.
Catherine Sedy (West Point): Finished 5th overall in last year’s conference standings, and finished in 14th just behind Dickson at last year’s Nationals.
Other Contenders: Hannah Feinberg (UVM)
