Liam Rutledge starts the cycling portion of the Columbus Youth Triathlon at Donner Park in Columbus, Ind., Saturday, July 9, 2022.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Nandini Knodhare, Shreyan Kulkarni and Lily Pendleton are swimmers by trade, but Saturday night at Donner Park, they had a chance to get out of their comfort zone a little and test their skill and endurance at biking and running.
At the same time, distance runner Liam Rutledge had a chance to swim and bike before he got back to his specialty. The quartet came away as the overall winners in the Columbus Youth Triathlon.
“I think I did good at biking and swimming,” Pendleton said. “I’m not great at running. It’s normal for me to swim a lot. I felt proud that I could get this (win).”
Pendleton, who will be a fifth-grader at Southside Elementary, was the 6-10-year-old girls winner. She completed the 100-meter swim, 2-mile bike and half-mile run in 18 minutes, 39 seconds.
Kulkarni, who also will be a fifth-grader at Southside, won the 6-10 boys division in 16:10, despite taking an extra 1-mile loop on the bike.
“I feel kind of sad because I did another lap in the biking.” Kulkarni said. “But I feel really happy (with winning).”
Kondhare, who will be a seventh-grader at Central Middle School, had finished second and third in previous youth triathlons, but took the 11-14 girls division for the first time. She did the 200-meter swim, 4-mile bike and 1-mile run in 23:41.
“I was doing good at the swim, and then I was doing good at the bike, as well, but then when I ran, my knee started hurting a lot,” Kondhare said. “So I thought I would not come in first because I was kind of behind everyone. It was kind of tiring. I thought it would be less tiring, but it was more tiring.”
Rutldege, who will be an eighth-grader at Northside Middle School, was competing in his first triathlon. He won the 11-14 boys division in 23:42.
“I was expecting the swim to be a little bit easier, but it was the hardest part of the race,” Rutledge said. “I didn’t feel too great, but once I got on my bike, I was reeling people back in that I lost position to. Then on the run, I felt very good. and reeled everybody back in. I felt like it was a pretty good comeback from the way I started.”
Nate Rawlings, who swam, biked and ran with his sister Claire, was the Unified division winner in 16:50.
Chad Pendelton finished second (16:50), and Nathaniel Dismore took third (17:24) in the 6-10 boys overall division. Lana Jones (19:23) placed second, and Haley Hauersperger was third (19:23) in the 6-10 girls overall division.
In the 11-14 boys overall division, Saisri Devaguptapu finished second (25:23), and Garrett Perfetto (26:30) took third. Sanaa Kulkarni placed second (23:44), and Mridula Muthukumaran was third (25:12) in the 11-14 girls division.
Top-three overall finishers in the overall categories weren’t eligible for age division awards. Those winners were Calvin Findley (6-year-old boys), Myra Jaryal (6-year-old girls), Ian Phipps (7-8 boys), Millie Fry (7-8 girls), Nathan Perfetto (9-10 boys), Lydia Chen (9-10 girls), Matt Reinhard (11-12 boys), Aashka Shah (11-12 girls) and Lukas McNeeley (13-14 boys).
