Getting in on the ground floor
JACKSON TWP — When Nick Radkewich arrived at Wingate University as the school's first-ever triathlon coach, Dylan Kirchner's name was waiting for him.
It turned out to be a welcomed surprise.
“I started Oct. 1 and Dylan was the first recruit I called,” Radkewich said. “She had heard Wingate was starting a triathlon team and she had reached out to us before I got here.”
The Seneca Valley senior has become one of the first two recruits to join the team.
A member of the Southern Athletic Conference, Wingate — located in North Carolina — is the fourth SAC school to form a triathlon team. Queens, Lenoir Rhyne and Newberry are the others.
Kirchner was named Butler County Female Runner of the Year this fall by the county's cross country coaches. She qualified for the PIAA Championships both of the past two years.
She has also been a member of the Get Fit Families Elite Triathlon Team, based in Zelienople, the past three years. Joella Baker directs that program.
“I first joined them to get in better shape for running,” Kirchner said of Get Fit Families. “Joella kind of pushed me in the direction of swimming and biking as well.
“I enioy the cross-training. It definitely improved my performance in cross country and I got interested in the triathlon.”
Kirchner has traveled around the United States the past three years competing against the top triathletes in the country. She finished 38th at the Pleasant Prairie USA Triathlon Junior Elite Cup earlier this year.
She also placed 57th at the East Coast Triathlon Festival and 60th at the USA Triathlon Junior Elite National Championships last year.
Kirchner becomes the second Get Fit Families triathlete to accept a college scholarship this year. Mars senior Maddie Gagnon is headed to Wagner on a triathlon scholarship.
“I'm excited for Dylan in terms of potential because she really hasn't been doing this (triathlon) all that long,” Baker said. “She's obviously an accomplished runner, but she has plenty of room to grow in swimming and biking as she is new to those two disciplines.
“Hard work and dedication to the sport has provided her this opportunity.”
Kirchner said she's excited to be joining a team, for its first-ever year of competition.
“It's an even playing field for everyone,” she said. “I'm looking forward to continuing on in this sport. I'm sure I'll be staying with it for a long time.
“This will be a great way to maintain fitness throughout my life.”
Kirchner and Greensboro (N.C.) resident Sophia Maisano are Radkewich's first two recruits. The latter finished second in the USA Triathlon National High School Championships last year and holds swimming records at Cornerstone Charter Academy in Greensboro (N.C.).
“We're hoping to start our inaugural season (fall of 2021) with 10 athletes onour women's team,” Radkewich said. “Wingate is nationally ranked in cross country and track, so we want the triathlon program to be nationally ranked as well.
“Dylan will have the opportunity to do some cross country here, too. We're working with coaches of the swim and track teams to possibly get a few of their athletes on our team.”
Kirchner is a straight-A student at Seneca Valley and plans to enter the physician's assistant program at Wingate.
Baker works closely with USA Triathlon, which has been encouraging NCAA schools to form triathlon programs. Wingate is the 34th school to do so in the past three years.
“We have 10 years to get 40 schools to offer triathlon for it to continue to be recognized as an NCAA sport,” Baker said. “That gives us seven years to get six more.
“I think that will happen.”
