When Noelle Schumacker crossed the finish line at the Lake Merritt triathlon sprint in late August, the Cal High senior was quite pleased with her race.

Placing second in her second major trathlon will do that to a person.

Schumacker, who is captain of Cal’s cross country team, has been an athlete for the majority of her life, but she has taken an interest in triathlons recently and already proven to be pretty  good at them.

“You don’t know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have left,” Schumacker said when describing how it feels to complete a triathlon.

Schumacker’s step-mother, Kimberly Schumacker, has been extremely supportive of her step-daughter once she started pondering the idea of competing in triathlons. She knew her step-daughter could put in the effort and do anything she put her mind to.

“She’s insane, just insane,” said Kimberly Schumacker.

Schumacker first became interested in triathlons when her U.S. history teacher, Michelle Curach-Turner, came into class one day early last year with a swim bag.  After inquiring about her teacher’s swim career, she found out Curach-Turner is a triathlete who has been competing for five years.

Curach-Turner was able to provide Schumacker with an abundance of information on competitions. The two have discussed triathlons, training, and possible races to compete in for quite some time and developed a unique student-teacher relationship.

“She really kind of took the initiative to, like, find the one she wanted to do,” Curach-Turner said. “A lot of it she did on her own.”

Schumacker also took the initiative to find a triathlon training group. When she was not training with her group, she was either running with Cal’s cross country team or swimming with the swim team. To work on the final component of the sport, she biked often, especially on the weekend.

“Triathlons are insanely tasking, but she has the mindset for it,” said cross country teammate Morgan Hathaway.

All of Schumacker’s coaches were supportive in her decision to compete in triathlons.

“Swimming can be boring at times and doing triathlons can add layers,” said Cal swim coach Hillary Halvorson.

Training was extensive, but Schumacker worked really hard to reach the level she is at.

Cross country coach Tracy Lillig said Schumacker is very hard working.

“Off the charts work ethic,” said Lillig.

Schumacker has competed in two triathlons in California. The first was the one in Morgan Hill and her second was the Lake Merritt race on Aug. 29.

She trained for months for the  first race, and when it finally arrived she was ready to embark on her new athletic journey.

She still recalls that first race in Morgan Hill vividly.

The gun sounded as she dove into the water and began to swim freestyle. This happened to be her least favorite part of the race because there were so many people in the water. They ended up swimming over and under their competitors.

After the swim came the biking portion. Schumacker recalls racing to the transition station to mount her 40 year old bike.

“She could have placed better if she had a better bike,” said Curach-Turner.

The transition is the area between each portion of the race that athletes use to transition to the next portion. It becomes easy to lose time if the athlete is not familiar with the way a triathlon works or if they didn’t set up their station correctly.

The final part of the race is the run. This is where Schumacker could practically taste the finish.

After running a few miles (mileage varies race to race), the finish line was within eye sight. This is where many athletes put in their kick to power through the finish.

Once the race is over, many triathlons hold after parties and provide food to the competitors. Schumacker said her favorite snack after a race is a good muffin and fruit.

Having raced in more than one triathlon, Schumacker was able to compare her performance at Merritt to the previous race in Morgan Hill.

She said Morgan Hill was a bit more challenging than Lake Merritt because the water was disgusting and dirty, and the transition station was a quarter mile long with stairs.

Schumacker plans on continuing her athletic career in triathlons.

People may say racing in a triathlon is absolutely absurd, but Schumacker says every bit of it, painful or not, is a great experience and she would highly recommend giving the sport a shot.

“I’m not gonna die, and if I do, it’s worth it.” said Schumacker.