As Wes Johnson’s Arizona triathlon team roared to its second consecutive national championship last week, I examined the competition. There are just 16 teams from Division I schools, 12 from Division II and 13 from Division III.
For the second year in a row, Arizona’s triathlon team has been named the Women’s Collegiate National Champions. The Wildcats took home the honor Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Tempe.
The only Power 4 conference schools to sponsor women’s triathlon are Arizona, ASU and TCU.
Also to be considered is that triathlon is not considered a full NCAA-sanctioned sport. Triathlon, acrobatics and stunt are currently NCAA Emerging Sports For Women. All are working to be fully certified at D-1 championships.
Does a national championship banner fit with those on National Championship Drive, sharing space with Mike Candrea’s softball teams, Frank Busch’s swimming teams and the baseball teams of Jerry Kindall and Andy Lopez?
My first reaction was, no, it doesn’t belong. But then I discovered that Utah and Colorado proudly hang NCAA championship banners — 33 combined championships — from their skiing teams. At last year’s NCAA finals, there were just 23 schools, with only Utah, Colorado and Boston College from the Power 4. The small field included Plymouth State and Alaska-Anchorage.
Cal isn’t shy to publicize its four NCAA women’s rowing championships of the last 20 years; the women’s NCAA rowing field last year was just 22 teams.
Any national title works, right? Arizona set the standard for that in 1980 and 1981 when its women’s synchronized swimming teams won national titles — then called the AIAW, not NCAA. Arizona and Ohio State were the only Power 4 schools in the field. Those UA teams included future USA Olympic medalists Tracie Ruiz and Candy Costie. They are both UA Sports Hall of Famers. Their championship banners have been on display near Arizona Stadium for almost a quarter-century. But it’s not like the UA embraced its 1980-81 national champs. In 1985, the UA eliminated synchronized swimming to save $90,000 on its yearly athletic budget.
