Mormon Mom Wins Ironman World Championship

This article originally appeared in the Deseret News.

For most college athletes, graduation marks a moment of change — a time to box up game-day uniforms and training sneakers and shift to careers, sensible work shoes and maybe marriage and parenthood.

But for former BYU distance runner Jocelyn Gardner McCauley, completing her college eligibility has simply meant shifting to (and excelling in) another sport.

Sister McCauley, 27, ran cross-country and track for the Cougars from 2005-2009. With her degree in hand, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and found work as an intensive care unit cardiology nurse. She and her husband, Scott, also started a family. They are the parents of 18-month-old Emilyn.

While the lifelong Latter-day Saint relishes being a mother, wife and nurse, she remains an elite athlete. Sister McCauley recently won the amateur female division of the prestigious 2014 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, on Oct. 11.

Continue reading about Sister McCauley’s win at deseretnews.com.

Whitney studied Communications with an emphasis in Broadcast Journalism at BYU. She also served as Miss Utah 2009 and spent her year promoting Children's Miracle Network, fundraising for anti-bullying/suicide prevention programs, and speaking to mutual groups.