GA_081618

30 | August 16, 2018 | The glencoe anchor sports
glencoeanchor.com
Flynn wins first national title
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Eighteen seconds ahead
of the pack, New Trier
sophomore Andrew Flynn
beat out his nearest competitor
at the USA Triathlon
Youth Elite Boys
National Championships
Aug. 4 in West Chester,
Ohio.
The Wilmette native
went on to win the national
title with a time of 30 minutes,
21 seconds.
“It was a great feeling.
Honestly, I didn’t expect
to win it,” Flynn said. “I
thought I was going to
come in second place.
There was one other kid
that I thought was going
to, for sure, win the race.
Then I ended up breaking
away from him.
“It was a great feeling.
I don’t really know how
to explain it. You don’t
usually become a national
champ. That happened to
me and I’m still getting
over it. It’s a great feeling.”
Flynn had a slow progression
into doing triathlons.
He first started to
swim when he was 5 or 6
Flynn holds a flag over his head.
years old and then added
the running portion a year
or two later. Running with
his mom helped him get
more serious about running
and then between the
ages of 8 and 9, he started
entering triathlons.
Despite being a part
of the Mach II Triathlon
Team, a club team based
out of Geneva, Flynn trains
by himself because it’d be
too far for him to constantly
travel to practice with
his club teammates.
However, it was his club
teammates that lead him
to participate in the USA
Triathlon series, a series of
triathlons with participants
from all over the country.
This year marked the
last year Flynn could participate
in the Youth Elite
Boys age group, as next
year he’ll move up to the
Junior Elite Male level because
he’ll be 16 years old.
Prior to this year’s meet,
the highest Flynn had
finished at the National
Championships was 14th,
accomplished last year;
New Trier sophomore Andrew Flynn at the top of the podium after winning the USA
Triathlon National Championships Aug. 4 in West Chester, Ohio. PhotoS submitted
He finished 39th the year
before.
“I was just determined
that I wanted to be at
the top of my age group
every year,” Flynn said.
“My weakest link of the
triathlon was the biking
and that’s why I really
started to take that more
seriously. The last year,
I’ve really tried to work
a lot more on my biking.
That’s what helped me
this year.
“I also progressed a lot
in my swimming. I wasn’t
always the best swimmer,
but I started to go to a lot
more practices. I really
progressed in that area,
too.”
One thing that’s eluded
Flynn thus far is participating
in international events,
something he hopes to
change next year. He’s
hoping that with this recent
result, USA Triathlon
will pick him for the opportunity
to accomplish
that goal. But Flynn knows
that’s something he can’t
control.
“I’m going to be aging
up to an older category so
it’s 16 to 19 years old,” he
said. “I hope, maybe next
year, my main goal, I really
want to go race international.
I hope USA Triathlon
will maybe pick me
for some of the races, to
go out. That’s kind of like
what I really want to do
right now, to race international,
but we’ll see what
happens with me.”
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