Rudd leads Poly to 1st place at Wildflower event

The Cal Poly Triathlon Team won the Olympic event at the 25th annual Wildflower Triathlons on Sunday at Lake San Antonio in Bradley.

The Mustangs were led by Evan Rudd, who took third individually with a time of 2 hours, 12 minutes.

“That’s huge for us,” Rudd said of winning the event. “We were second last year, so to win our home race is awesome.”

The Olympic event is comprised of a 0.9-mile swim, a 25-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run.

Competing in the event for the fifth time, Rudd said the run portion of the event was the most difficult.

“I pushed really hard on the bike and my legs cramped up on the run,” Rudd said. He was happy, though, with his third-place finish.

“My goal was to be in the top three and I was third, so I was really happy with that,” Rudd said.

Cal Poly’s second and third finishers, respectively, were Philippe Mickelson and Ryan Johnson.

Rudd came in just behind Cal’s Steve Sexton and John Dahlz.

“I’ve been racing against those guys for years,” Rudd said. “They’re incredible athletes.”

For a first-person account of Wildflower by Rudd, who is also a Mustang Daily staff reporter, check out the Mustang Daily later this week.