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Finding the time to swim, bike, run and submit an assignment before 11:59 p.m. within 24 hours is a difficult task for any individual. Yet, Eli Hinerfeld found a way

Eli Hinerfeld’s quads burned as she biked eight miles uphill to Boulder City, Nevada. She crossed the finish line of the CU triathlon’s team meet, but she had no time to celebrate due to the looming deadline of her CHEM 3321 lab assignment.

Hinerfeld competed with the CU triathlon team for four years while completing her degree in environmental engineering. Being an engineering student-athlete, balancing school, establishing a regimented routine, having a social life and participating in a three-in-one sport came with an abundance of stress.

“[My] first semester sophomore year specifically, I was extremely stressed out,” she said. Hinerfeld attempted 18 credits that semester. Her course schedule consisted of material energy balances, organic chemistry and physics. “I was trying to keep up with the team and train…I was just like, ‘I’m failing everything right now.’” She made the switch from chemical engineering to environmental to ease the curricular burden. 

Going into college, Hinerfeld knew she wanted to pursue both engineering and competing. All before her 10th birthday, she swam and ran for her local school in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her father got her accustomed to long bike rides.   

In high school, a CU engineering undergrad spoke to Hinerfeld’s physics class about her college experience. The woman informed the class about the world of collegiate engineering as well as the CU Triathlon team. This caught Hinerfeld’s attention.

The CU Tri-team welcomed Eli and other new freshman members. The 18-time national championship winning team accepted a variety of skill levels.

Eli realized she was the one of the few engineers in the freshman class and she felt, “really stressed out and the odd one out.” However Hinerfeld quickly acclimated to the new group as they all navigated the challenges of college life. “Some did have a lot of triathlon experience, some of us didn’t... but it was nice because there was just a squad of us from the beginning and I think it helped make it less scary.” 

The Tri-team did indeed have an intimidating work out schedule with two to three practices everyday except Friday. The double practices were optional, but Hinerfeld tried to attend as many as her tight schedule allowed. 

“I don’t know, honestly, how I kept up with everything that [sophomore] year because I would go to the double practices and then my engineering classes,” she said. “Then, I would run home and take an hour nap and keep going with my day.”

The team’s season begins in the fall semester. Many practices and a team sprint prepare the squad for the conference meet in late October. Hinerfeld’s favorite was the Pumpkinman Triathlon at Lake Mead her freshman year. 

Hinerfeld’s group claimed the Cadillac Escalade as their road tripping vehicle while the other groups rode in minivans. “I got put in a car with the cool kids of the team,” she said. “They took us under their wing and we had a lot of fun with them.”

Unlike the other schools, the CU tri-team camped by the lake before the meet. The next day Hinerfeld completed her first Olympic distance in the Mars-like terrain starting with a 1500 meter swim, 24.8 mile bike ride and finishing with a 6.2 mile run. “We [the team] can do something that’s ridiculously long even if we’re not in the best shape of our lives…it’s not really like, ‘oh my gosh, I’m suffering right now,’ it’s like ‘I’m working hard and getting through it.’”

In late October however, Hinerfeld also had to work hard and get through her mix of midterms. “Especially us engineers too, we would get messed up by school and exams before that specific triathlon.” 

Before the Pumpkinman meet, Hinerfeld and two other tri-team engineers were all taking, “the horrible APPM calc classes,” she said. She and her fellow engineers completed their exams and headed straight to the vans to leave for Lake Mead.

Hinerfeld had her coaches proctor her exam in a Starbucks and a physics exam in the car on the way to a meet. “While we were driving, my coach is just sitting behind me like, “Okay, you can start,’” she said. “On these travel races we always go find a Starbucks or something and we’ll fill the whole place. We’ll all be studying there together for a couple hours the day before the race.”

Head coach Brad Seng and assistant coach Dave Sheanin are lenient with students attending practice because they understand that, “school comes first,” she said.   

The frequent and grueling 6 a.m. practices, the road trips, the bike ride gossip sessions, Starbucks study groups makes crossing the finish line a little easier. “A big part of the triathlon team is not even just the sport, but us all hanging out, doing fun activities together and living through college together,” Hinerfeld said.

After Hinerfeld graduated this past December, she found herself back in her old high school physics classroom talking to the students about her engineering experience. She advised them to make friends their freshman year, focus on managing their time and sleep and read the FCQ reviews of professors before adding the class to their schedule. “They can really make or break a class,” she said.