Arizona State Among Eight Schools Selected For Grant Funding From USA Triathlon

USA Triathlon officials hope a recently announced $2.6M grant can elevate the sport to an NCAA championship level. The Women’s Triathlon Emerging Sport Grant, provided by the USA Triathlon Foundation, is the first of its kind, and will see $480,000 distributed to eight schools in ’15-16. Those schools will receive a total of $980,000 through ’17-18. “We wanted to get everyone’s attention and not only provide some of the funding, but provide all additional support and resources for schools to be able to run programs, to attract new student-athletes who normally wouldn’t consider that school,” USA Triathlon CEO Rob Urbach said. “In order to do that, we felt this grant was needed to effectively jump-start the program.” The institutions, which include Arizona State and East Tennessee State, among others, were chosen because they “were visionary -- looking at a sport that has a very high trajectory, that is economically very desirable in terms of participation,” Urbach said. The grant will help cover costs for equipment, uniforms, scholarships and coaching staff. Contemplating travel costs and other expenses, D-I schools will receive more funding than smaller institutions, Urbach said. “If you’re a big-budget school, it may not be a significant number in your final athletic budget, but we wanted to really accelerate this; we wanted to capture the success we’re having globally,” he said. ASU, which last fall announced plans to elevate its men’s ice hockey program to D-I status, would be the first Power 5 institution to adopt women’s triathlon, according to the school. “Hopefully we can convince other schools over the next few years that it should be varsity long term -- hopefully we will be the first domino to fall,” ASU VP/Athletics Ray Anderson said. “We have some of the best facilities in the country for this. Triathlon is a very popular event not just here but internationally as well. We think it would be a real enhancement.”