Many of the guys who raced USAT Nationals aspire and are entirely capable of racing at the Olympic level. What struck me was how fast these guys executed transitions, and how fast they run off the bike.
Unlike a lot of age group races, there seemed to be more of a sense of camaraderie before the starting gun went boom. Guys from different schools were talking to each other, helping each other out and just generally having a good time. It could have been because many of them were in sunny Arizona instead of on some campus in another part of the country where winter was refusing to give way to spring. Most schools brought large numbers of athletes, so every school represented had their own
screaming cheering section.
Everyone was talking about Ben Kanute, the standout from Arizona. Solid in all three disciplines, Kanute lead out of the water, and never really looked back.