Sanaa Kulkarni runs during the Columbus Youth Triathlon at Donner Park, Saturday, July 15, 2023.
Paige Grider | For The Republic
Swimming has long been the primary sport for the Kulkarni siblings, but Saturday evening, they added a little variety to their athleticism.
Shreyan Kulkarni was the overall winner for the 11-14-year-old boys division, and his sister Sanaa Kulkarni captured the overall 11-14 girls division at the Columbus Youth Triathlon at Donner Park.
“The swimming part was pretty easy for me because I do it all the time, and I’m usually pretty good at biking because I enjoy doing it,” Sanaa said. “But usually, the run is the hardest part for me because I’m not naturally good at it. So I just had to try a little more on that part. Otherwise, it was pretty good.”
The 11-14-year-olds swam 200 meters, biked four miles and ran one mile. The 6-10-year-olds swam 100 meters, biked two miles and ran a half-mile.
Sanaa, who will be a freshman at Columbus North, finished in 24 minutes, 55 seconds. That was five seconds faster than last year’s champion, Nandini Kondhare.
“Last year, I got second, so I really wanted to get first this year because it was my last time,” Sanaa said. “So I just tried extra hard to see if I could do it.”
Shreyan, who will be a sixth-grader at Southside Elementary, finished in 22:39. Garnet Hauk took second in 27:57.
“I thought maybe (a win was possible), but I would have to really try for it because I knew I would do probably pretty good in the swimming, but I didn’t know for the other two, how I would do,” Shreyan said. “I’m not really that good on biking, so I was just trying to get through it and get to the run, and on the run, just try to not let the fatigue from the previous two legs get to me and finish fast.”
Natty Dismore, who will be a third-grader at Parkside Elementary, won the overall 6-10 boys division in 15:52. Bryce Seger was second in 16:21.
Dismore’s background primarily is in running.
“For the swim, it was pretty hard,” Dismore said. “One thing that was probably the best was biking because I had a sprint bike, and I had really good acceleration. So that was good.”
Ella Bringman, who will be a fifth-grader at Southside, was the overall 6-10 girls winner in 17:33. Haley Hauersperger finished second in 18:19.
Bringman has primarily been a swimmer growing up.
“It was exhausting because I don’t really like running,” Bringman said. “I’m OK with biking.”
Boys age-group winners included Dismore (9-10), Seger (7-8), Shreyan Kulkarni (11-12) and Eli McIntier (13-14).
Girls age-group winners were Bringman (9-10), Harlowe Hayden (7-8), Sanaa Kulkarni (13-14) and Tora Vreeland (11-12).
