With one of their smaller contingents to make the trip to nationals in a few years, three members of the Grand Canyon University Club Triathlon team finished in the top half of the nearly 1100 participants at the 2026 USA Triathlon Collegiate Club National Championships at Gulfport, Mississippi. In his final race as a collegian, Lopes' Student Leader Stephen Garr ran in both Friday's Draft Legal and Saturday's Olympic Distance races, and he finished a personal-best 48^th in Saturday's race after a timing malfunction nullified his time in the Draft Legal portion Friday. Meanwhile, Lopes' freshman Nicole Smith made the most of her first appearance on the national level, finishing among the top 150 females at Saturday's event, while in his second nationals race, Lopes' sophomore David Weide hit the tape just under the three-hour mark, and fellow sophomore Joseph Dabisch finished less than 10 minutes behind Weide at just over three hours and four minutes.
 
Garr – who spent much of the fall recovering from injuries that prevented him from being at full strength at last year's nationals – shook off any lingering frustration about Friday's issues to finish Saturday in just over two hours. The native of Flower Mound, Texas, flirted with the top 40 throughout the opening swim, getting out of the water in 43^rd place overall, but a slower-than-desired cycling time of 63 minutes left him with some work to do in the running portion. As he has done throughout his career, Garr found a rhythm once in his running shoes, finishing the run in just under 35 minutes (30^th-best in the event in that category), and powering his way back into the top 50 overall with a finishing time of two hours, three minutes and 17 seconds. That topped his previous best at nationals in 2024 by over four minutes.
 
"(The reality of knowing this was my last race) was definitely with me, since whenever things got difficult, I knew the feeling of not trying my hardest would outweigh the pain of the current moment," said Garr. "This motivated me to push harder so that I could have the satisfaction of laying it all out there for my last collegiate race. I went into these races wanting to give it my all for my final races representing GCU, and I think I did just that."
 
With Garr now graduated and leaving the fold, his successor at the helm of the program will certainly have Smith firmly in his/her sights as the new "leader by example". The freshman from Rio Verde (near Scottsdale) used the excitement of her first nationals to her advantage, nearing the top 100 overall as she got out of the water in just over 28 minutes. Like Garr, the cycling portion was a grueling one for Smith, but the struggles on the bike were quickly overshadowed by a stellar run of 43 minutes, 18 seconds, which nearly placed her in the female top 50 in that category. Smith's finishing tally of 2:47:29 placed her 144^th among females (out of over 400 overall) and just outside the top 600 in the race.
 
"Nicole showed a lot of potential early on in the fall and it was great to see her hard work pay off with a great performance at nationals," said Garr. "I am confident she has even more room for growth in the sport and will excel in the coming years. David had a great performance at nationals that demonstrated the progress he has made since starting on the team last season. He was very disciplined going into the spring which allowed him to perform at the level that he did. Joey had a phenomenal showing as well, holding his own on the swim and bike and having a fantastic run.
 
"I am excited to see how the team grows as I move on from my time with them. This group has always included some of the most hardworking, dedicated people I've known."
 
The Lopes' full results are below:

OLYMPIC DISTANCE RACE (SATURDAY)
NAME	TIME	OVERALL FINISH	DIVISION	M/F FINISH
Stephen Garr	2:03:17	48th	Olympic Distance Male	48th
Nicole Smith	2:47:29	606th	Olympic Distance Female	144th
David Weide	2:54:57	713th	Olympic Distance Male	519th
Joseph Dabisch	3:04:21	840th	Olympic Distance Male	564th