U of Arizona and Az state Univ have triclubs/teams. I'd suggest Tucson as a better place to train.
Don't discount the service acadamies, you'll probably get more support there than at the state funded universities. Email me for more info on training in tucson if you want.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Almost every school in Southern and Central California has a very respectable tri club. I go to San Diego State University. We've got a few very active members. And, San Diego is the Tri capital of the world. So if you can't train with anyone at school, there's always tri-geeks running and biking up and down the coast. Only bad thing about SDSU; no pool at the school. We're working on it though. good luck.

hey dude-
kinda just got through your situation. i was thinking i wanted to do the tri team thing somewhere. more so, i was thinking i wanted to do the cycling team thing - as it's more of a team thing to begin with. and that was a hefty reason why i came to dartmouth. and i don't really ride with them. why? cause i don't have time, and i'm rowing crew(going for becoming a two season athlete summer tri, everything else crew). is the cycling team awesome and can i ride with them whenever i want, almost any day of the week? sure.

i love it here so much - for different reasons than i thought i would.

so the moral/my thoughts is...find a place that would be really fun for you and would give you good classes and that schtuff - and you'll find stuff to do.



my thoughts, anywho.

good luck with the whole college thing. and don't let it worry you too much.

-darrell

Darrell is completely right, find a college that fits and then work from there. One thing to consider, especially if you are a runner, swimmer or cyclist is that many triathletes compete in an NCAA sport and after college start to do triathlon a little more seriously (especially considering the average age of most elites). Take time to figure out what you want to do and let that guide you, even kalamazoo has turned out to be a great place to train.

Because the University of Arkansas would curb stomp everybody out on the West Coast, in time---given time, now, not right now---at least on the Running leg of the triathlons, because they've won just about every cross country title, and race for what seems to be the last 20 years in the NCAA. We'd just cherry pick from that talent pool. The run would be ours. Period. End of story.

The problem is that the team may be too far behind before the run.

The swim: there is no mens swim team anymore. However, I figure half of them swim like Tarzan growing up in ponds and lakes, trying to outswim cotton mouths, and avoid logs and branches. There'd be a lot of country ass swimming, the fighting and bitting kind. The swim would not be good, but they would be competitors.

The biking leg would be interesting. That's Wal Mart headquarters up there, which donates millions of dollars to the school. Here comes the corporate sponsor with the gear, right here. They'd probably therefore be outfitted with Huffy 24 gears and "Dickie" sports clothing.

In short, bring it on.

Isn't triathlon a "club" sport at colleges, whereas swimmers are on the college "team"? Pretty substantial difference.

Unless you're a potential Texas/Stanford/Auburn swimmer and future Olympian, pick some schools based upon what they can do for you academically, and then when you narrow it down see which swim/triathlon programs you like the best.

Good luck, and GO TO CLASS when you get there!

Go here:

http://www.collegemultisport.com/

Hawaii finished second or third behind Navy this year and would be a pretty fun place to go, but travel will get you a bit. We also surf here and every day is eighty. Swim team is pretty good but not great.
Trisport is on the club level without $ support. I agree with the others though, find a school good for you then check out the tri world. G

 
as tom demerly always says, buy the bike that fits the best, not the bike that's lighter/has cutouts/carbon fiber/titanium/made by buddhist monks.

same thing - don't go to college for one thing. go to the college that "fits" the best. i love it here - but i have lots of friends who are thinking of transferring because they didn't look at the actual fit of the school.

again, good luck.
darrell

I started to do tris before college and choose the one school that would take me academically and let me run XC. I umm forgot to study in high school.
Many of my tri buddies went to D2 or D3 schools to swim and run.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Big D,

Consider the academic side of the school in combo with athletics. Most schools triathlon is a club sport, so academics should be very important. If you can use triathlon to help get you into Army or Navy, remember that those schools sponsor each student through their 4 years and in this day and age, there is something to be said about a "free" education. If you end up at Army / Navy, somehow I think triathlon will become very secondary.

It sounds like you are on the East coast and depending on how good of a swimmer you are, take a look at Stanford. Contact the coach, Eric Bean (eric@beanathlete.com), while you are at it and see how realistic this might be. Excellent coach, team and university...if you can get in (and afford it.)

If that is out of reach Cal Poly SLO probably has a huge club - program in terms of participants but many CA schools have good clubs - UC Santa Barbara and San Diego come to mind and are located where favorable weather allows for longer triaing seasons.

Last, in the past wildflower's olympic distance race used to be the collegiate national championship event and while that may not be the case anymore, there always is a collegiate division. If you can make it out next May for the race, you will have every team and coach on hand to judge for yourself, but chances are that by next May your decision will already be made (if you are a senior in HS.)

Good luck.

Snepper

The University of Missouri. They don't have a club but the Columbia multisport club is in town. 365 members and the National large class triathlon Club Champions.
www.columbiamultisport.com
www.raceforsight.org
They hold a duathlon , sprint tri, 1/4 ironman, 2- 1/2 ironmen,full irondistance, and go to nationals together

Thanks everyone for your help. I guess I forgot to include that even though triahtlons and swimming is very very important to me, school comes first. I am just very curious at just seeing what schools do have a triathlon team.

Right now I'm a junior so I still have time but time runs out fast. I'm hoping on staying on the east coast somewhere and major either in either engineering (I know, that is one huge area of study) or 3-d animation / film.

I saw that you wanted to stay on the East Coast, but UC Berkeley is an excellent school. They have a top engineering program and while I don't think they have a 3D Animation program, Pixar, ILM and LucasArts are all in the area.

As for athletics, there is an excellent swimming program featuring athletes like Natalie Coughlin and alum like Matt Biondi. Also, the cycling team is the current 2-time national champion. The triathlon team also does pretty well. Both tri and cycling are club sports here. The climate in this area is suitable for year round training.

   

Easy. University of Miami. Solid academics, great campus, semi-funded and well organized Tri club with it's own coach. Campus is only a couple miles from three solid bike shops and Key Biscayne where EVERYBODY trains. The swim team is top notch, year 'round training and the only thing hotter than the weather is the women.

Shoot me a note when you get here.

SM

That college has actually been tossed into my head. My family is huge with Florida so I know what the weather is like down there compared to good old PA. A matter of fact, we're leaving for Florida on Wednesday for a thanksgiving at WDW. Maybe I can take some time off and take a look at the school. The only thing I really heard that is bad about it is that it is a HUGE party school. As much as I like parties, I'm not going to school for it if you know what I mean. =)

And yes, the women are amazing.

The link to the collegiate tri site in a previous post will get you the best list of colleges with active tri clubs. In general, the collegiate triathlon scene is unorganized at best. If you are looking for collegiate competition in tri, you will probably be disappointed compared to what you would get with swimming. There has been an attempt at a stand-alone national collegiate championship the last two years that have produced two sub-par races. There are a lot of people working very hard to make collegiate triathlon more organized and the future for collegiate triathlon looks good. For the time being (if racing competitively in tris is important enough to influence your college choice) I would suggest finding a school with tri club, but more importantly, find a college in a city/region with a good triathlon community and good local/regional races.



Good Luck

-Dan

Some pros/cons on Navy:

Pro--One of the best engineering schools in the world; Financial assistance better than any athletic scholarship; NOT a party school; Guaranteed job with outstanding benefits when you graduate; You can compete on the Navy team after graduation; After you complete your initial obligation, if you decide to get out of the Navy, you will be highly sought after.

Con--Tough school, even w/out being on an athletic team; Women--not so hot; Disciplined/structured life (con for some, pro for others).

John F. Kennedy once said that, if asked iwhether he had made a difference in the world, any man can proudly say yes if he served in the United States Navy. Can you say that about working for Pixar?

Check out the College Multisport Association website. We have discussion forums, team directory, a monthly newsletter, and are adding new items almost daily. Also have information on the USAT Collegiate National Championship race which is being held on April 24th at Lake Havasu AZ. Feel free to contact myself of Eric with any questions regarding collegiate triathlon.

If you are a member of a collegiate triathlon team already I encourage you to check out the team registration on the CMSA website. Its free and by registering you qualify for discounts and are able to take advantage of some team management tools.

Mark Kargol
President; College Multi-Sport Association
"CMSA- The voice of college multi-sport"
www.collegemultisport.com

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http://www.ventuscustoms.com Custom Bicycle Painting.

The university of Miami only has a womens swim team. They dropped the men's program.
Great school otherwise.

I can't think of a place that I would have rather gone to school. The Naval Academy was a great place and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. But before anyone jumps on my back I'll say this: user beware, although I didn't pay money for it, it was anything BUT free.

I had a lot of friends who were recruited athletes and before they came they didn't know much about the place. Boy, were they in for a surprise. A word of caution, if it really is something you're considering, do your research and really look at the school. Don't just listen to the coach....his job is to bring athletes in, not to inform them of what being a plebe is...

Don't get me wrong, I love the place...and in fact a lot of my friends who were recruited came to like it as well...but they sure as hell didn't adapt right away. Whatever anyone tells you it is not college, it is a place that teaches you a hell of a lot more and I can guarantee that if you're willing to accept it, you'd appreciate what it can show you.

Besides, where else can you spend your summer vacation flying in the back seat of an F-14 while on detachment in Key West?

if you want to stay on the East Coast and want to do engineering. It is one of the best schools in the nation for that field.

It doesn't have a tri club, but does have NCAA cross-country and swimming teams, as well as excellent facilities (the 1996 Olympic pool is on the GT campus). The local tri-club, Tri-Atlanta, is large and active, and there are lots of local races. Also, it is only a short drive to get to the FL or NC races.

The crime isn't as bad as when I went there in the pre-Olympic area, and the gentrification of downtown/midtown is making that the place to be for young single dudes. The women of Atlanta are the equal of any in the country.

One caveat: If you can get into one of the military academies and are interested in that career, do it. VERY few people have the distinction and honor of being an academy grad.

Good luck,

Rich

Mark:

Maybe you can help me out. I am trying to find info/results from what was billed as the first collegiate tri championship, held at the Univ of Illinois in Spring of 1986. I was an undergrad at Wisconsin at the time and we took I think 3 or 4 teams down. I think a Colorado team won and there were also some Calif. schools in the mix. I think there was ONE bike with aero bars, (the old Scott triangle one-piece bars, not the clip ons).

I would love to find the results from that event, just to see what sort of times were being put up and to remember what my splits were. Do you have any ideas of how to find or access such info?

You can contact me off-line, astewart@merchant-gould.com

ars

Hey Feep26,

It has been a few years since I was in school at SDSU, (93 and 95 grad) but what happened to the pool next to the gym?

Willy in Pacifica

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Willy in Pacifica