Marcie Nordt doesn’t get much time off as a student at West Point. Three weeks of leave this summer, to be exact.

Despite the rigors of continuous military training, she figured, why not do something constructive with her scant bit of off time? A triathlon seemed appropriate.

“This is the time I have at home,” said Nordt, a 20-year-old junior who hails from The Woodlands. “So I figured I’d do the race and train while I’m at home.”

Competitors prepare to start their swim in the Brazos River in Sunday’s TriWaco triathlon.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Now the triathlon neophyte has something to brag about when she returns to the U.S. Military Academy in a few weeks.

Nordt swept away the women’s field in the second annual TriWaco triathlon Sunday, winning the Olympic female overall title with a time of 2:22:07.

She topped second-place Liz Baugher by two minutes.

On the men’s side, League City’s Bradley Pigage eased into the overall Olympic title spot with a 2:02:38, besting Will Brewer by five minutes.

Nordt only started running triathlons competitively earlier this year to stay in sharp military shape for her soon-to-be career. She’s off to a roaring start.

A number of racers complained about the difficulty of the run, the final portion of the three-part swim, bike and run event that wound its way through Waco, plunging into Cameron Park and hugging the Brazos River in some spots.

In the longer Olympic triathlon, in comparison to the shorter sprint event, racers start with a 1,500-meter swim in the Brazos, transition to a 25-mile bike ride and then finish with a 10-kilometer run that dumped exhausted competitors onto the Waco Suspension Bridge.

The run was certainly hillier than Nordt expected. Having never run the course before, she had to power through the final few miles after leading the women’s pack for nearly the entire race.

Marcie Nordt, 20-year-old college junior at West Point, claimed the overall female Olympic distance title.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

“There were a few hills, I wasn’t expecting any hills,” she said. “But overall it was a good race. Everyone was very enthusiastic and encouraging. When you pass them or they pass you, they’re like, ‘Good job,’ so it was a good atmosphere the whole way.”

Like Nordt, Pigage, 26, found himself leading the pack almost from the beginning. When he was the second racer out of the water, he knew he was in good shape.

The bike portion is typically his strongest event, and it showed. He blew away the field with his split and obliterated the previous overall course record of 2:15:24. After he set his dominance on the bike, nobody really threatened his lead.

“It was a great day for me,” said Pigage, who also talked about the difficulty of the run. “The swim went really well. I was second out of the water not too far behind the first-place guy, and when I got on the bike, I knew I just had to (catch) up to him. I ended up passing the guys who started in front of me in the first wave and ended up seeing the lead motorcycle, which is always a good sight to see.”

The sprint triathlon finished about an hour earlier than the Olympic discipline. The 400-meter swim, 12-mile bike ride and five-kilometer run typically attracts newer contestants, and it’s not quite as physically taxing.

Bradley Pigage of League City’s eased into the overall Olympic title spot with a time of 2:02:38.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

It also gave the newly formed Baylor Triathlon Club a major point of pride going forward.

Alexa Farris, 21, won the women’s overall sprint title with a time of 1:12:15, missing the female course sprint record by just five seconds. Tyler native Jeff Waskowiak, 23, took the men’s sprint title by two minutes with a record time of 1:03:44.

Farris, a Baylor junior, is the 2-year-old club’s president. She said about 10 of the club’s 35 members raced Sunday. None were more successful than Farris, who notched her first overall win in four years of racing.

“I felt good,” said Farris, who was also decked out in Baylor race tights. “It’s nice having a home-course advantage being a Baylor student.”

When in Waco, Farris said the entire club trains on the very course they used Sunday, meaning Farris in particular was more than familiar with its quirks and difficulties. What she didn’t plan on, however, was losing her watch in the swim.

“I had no idea what my time was or my place was, I was just out there having a good time, having fun,” she said.

Competitors start the TriWaco triathlon by swimming in the Brazos River.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

As far as choosing her strongest discipline between biking, running or swimming goes, though, forget it.

“The three disciplines are like my children, you can’t love one more than the other,” Farris said. “I just love the multisport lifestyle, and being president of the triathlon club, its a great opportunity to spread that to other people.”

Waskowiak continued the trend of shattering male course records, killing the previous sprint standard of 1:09:09. He did it despite a slow start.

Swimming has never been a strength, so he estimates he was about 10th out of the water headed to the bike transition.

No matter. He’s used to it.

“I’m not the strongest swimmer,” Waskowiak said. “I usually will come out 10th out of the water. I do my damage on the bike. I usually pass a lot of people on the bike, and on the run I pass a few more people.”

One of those was a familiar face.

Baylor University junior Alexa Farris, 21, gives the “Sic ’em Bears” sign as she crosses the finish line to win the sprint division. Farris is president of the Baylor Triathlon Club.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Coming off the bike portion, he only had one competitor to pass, a familiar racing foe with whom he shares a friendly rivalry. He didn’t let the opportunity to say a few choice words fall by the wayside as he slipped past about a mile into the run.

“I said, ‘Man, Nick, you’re a good swimmer, I couldn’t keep up with you,’ ” Waskowiak said through a laugh. “I’ve raced him the last couple weekends and he always kills me, so I said, ‘Hey, I have to pay you back right now.’ ”

wparchman@wacotrib.com

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