TCU to start competing in women’s triathlon in 2021
Athletic director Jeremiah Donati has been in the process of identifying potential sports to add to TCU’s athletic program. There’s plenty of factors to consider with such a significant decision, ranging from financial resources required to competing at a high level.
Well, Donati and his staff have found the right match with women’s triathlon. TCU announced that it will begin competing in the sport starting in the fall of 2021, which will become the university’s 22nd varsity sport.
“Triathlon checks all the boxes for us,” Donati said in a news release issued Wednesday. “We believe we also have an opportunity to immediately compete at the highest collegiate level. Additionally, we will attract new students from across the country and support our goal of providing women with more opportunities to participate in sports.”
Donati responded to social media comments as to why TCU didn’t add a softball program, something that has been discussed. But it simply didn’t make sense at this time.
“It was on the discussion table and something we looked very closely at — along with a number of other sports,” Donati wrote on his Twitter account. “The enormous start up cost, annual operating costs / salaries and new facilities costs made it cost prohibitive at this time.”
At the end of the day, women’s triathlon made the most sense.
By adding women’s triathlon, TCU will continue to meet Title IX gender equity compliance requirements. This is the third women’s sport added in the last 15 years, along with equestrian (2006) and beach volleyball (2015).
A national search for the program’s first head coach will begin this spring. For training, TCU is expected to use a combination of campus and Fort Worth facilities.
In his statement, Donati personally thanked Kim Johnson, TCU’s senior associate athletic director/senior woman administrator, for her help in the process.
Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. also had a statement in the news release, saying: “We are very excited to add women’s triathlon to our intercollegiate athletics program.
“Triathlon will provide additional opportunities for our female student-athletes to participate in collegiate-level competition while enjoying an outstanding academic experience.”
Triathlon races feature athletes competing in a 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike ride and a 5-kilometer run. The sport has been part of the Olympics since 2000, and was approved in January 2014 as the next emerging sport for women for NCAA Division I, II and III institutions.
The college season includes three regional qualifiers followed by the national championships. As of today, 34 colleges sponsor triathlon programs with Arizona State winning the last four national titles.
TCU will become the first Big 12 school to field a women’s triathlon team.
TCU received the USA Triathlon Foundation Women’s Emerging Sport Grant, distributed to select NCAA schools developing and implementing women’s triathlon programs.
“The addition of women’s triathlon at TCU represents a major milestone in the women’s collegiate triathlon movement,” USA Triathlon CEO Rocky Harris said in a statement. “As our first Big 12 Conference program, TCU will be a force to be reckoned with on the race course while serving as a trailblazer among Power Five Conference schools in the years to come.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 11:00 AM.
