Published: April 17, 2008 12:44 pm         

Groff to compete in Olympic Trial Saturday

Staff Report

Former Cooperstown resident Sarah Groff is one of 22 U.S. athletes, and 12 American women, who have qualified to compete in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Triathlon, scheduled for this Saturday, April 19 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The Trials Triathlon is the second event in the 2008 Olympic Team selection process that will field the three American men and three women who will represent America in Beijing in August. The top American woman and top American man at Tuscaloosa will each secure spots on the team. USA Triathlon requires athletes be ranked in the top 125 in the world the week before the Olympic trials in order to compete, and Groff is currently ranked 120th worldwide. Groff is originally from Cooperstown, and trains in Colorado. She turned professional in 2004.

Groff showed athletic promise at an early age, setting the record for the fastest swim of Otsego Lake as a 14-year-old in 1996. She completed the nine-mile swim in three hours and 49 minutes, a record that still stands today.

After attending Cooperstown through middle school, she left for a private school, Deerfield Academy, for her high school years, where she was a standout runner and swimmer, earning All-New England honors in both sports.

After living in Valencia, Spain for a year after high school, Groff, now 26, attended Middlebury College, a small liberal arts college in Vermont. While at Middlebury, Groff was a member of the swim team and competed in middle distance and distance freestyle events. Groff was named to the All-NESCAC and All-American teams for her successes.

Groff said qualifying for the Olympics is her main goal, but developing into the best triathlete she can be is even more important. ``For those of us trying to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, these next few months are a critical period for growth, both physical and mental,’’ Groff wrote in a blog on her website, sarahgroff.com. ``While this period will be highly challenging (or ``character building’’, as my coach might say), I recognize that the process is just as important, if not more so, than the outcome. Whether or not I qualify for the Olympic team, I am confident that someday I will draw upon the lessons that I’ll learn.’’

The first Olympic triathlon selection event was held at the ITU Beijing World Cup last September, with Laura Bennett and Jarrod Shoemaker qualifying. The final event will be held in Des Moines, Iowa at the Hy-Vee Triathlon on June 22. The last male and female athlete will be selected after that race based on a points system that calculates the best two of three races.