Andie Psilopoulos has never traveled outside of North America.

She will get that opportunity in 11 months, as the 16-year-old Psilopoulos, a rising junior at Wallkill Senior High School, will represent the U.S. in Hamburg, Germany, in the triathlon in the 19-and-younger age group after finishing seventh at the age-group national on Aug. 6 in West Chester, OH.

“It was exciting,” Psilopoulos said. “I didn’t think I was going to make it this year because I’m still one of the younger ones. My age group is 15-19, and I was hoping to get a roll-down spot.”

The top 8 finishers qualify for the World Triathlon Spring & Relay championships, scheduled for Hamburg from July 13-16, the next 10 competitors up until 18th place earn roll-down spots. In the event a competitor doesn’t accept their berth in the World meet, the next person until 18th place will be offered the spot.

It took a little bit of time for Psilopoulos to realize she qualified for Worlds because thunderstorms in the area on triathlon day caused the event to get off to a rolling start, and not everyone in her age group started at the same time. That prevented her from having an idea of her standing, despite being one of the first athletes in her age group to finish.

“It was different,” Psilopoulos said. “That was my first time having a start that way. It was kind of interesting. You had to just push yourself and try to catch the people that weren’t in your age group and try to race with them, even though it didn’t really matter if you beat them or not.”

The start of the triathlon plays to one of Psilopoulos’ strengths as swimming is her strongest event, and she called the first leg of the race one of the best swims she’s ever had, passing several athletes in her age group.

“I was happy with my swim and going into the bike, my weakest, I knew I really had to push the bike to try to stay where I was,” Psilopoulos.

And push it, she did, and she said she was tired coming off the bike and into the run, but with two events behind her, she knew she was almost done.

It was about 15 minutes between the time Psilopoulos finished the event and the results were announced. However, it wasn’t an immediate concern.

“I was still really tired from the race, and I was just sitting there trying to recover, and cool down,” Psilopoulos said.

And then came the surprise. She finished seventh, getting that automatic berth at the Worlds meet, and not the roll-down spot she was expecting.

“I was really happy,” Psilopoulos said. “I was kind of surprised like I really didn’t believe I did it.”

That’s not all she did that weekend. The day before the triathlon, she swam in the open water swim. The previous week, she went to the age-group nationals in Milwaukee, where she was 25th on July 30. The next day, she participated in the mixed-team relay – two boys, two girls – and her team finished third.

It’s not an easy event, but she enjoys the varied activity and the challenge.

“I like training the three different things because it breaks it up and makes it more enjoyable and fun,” Psilopoulos said. “I’ve also liked the longer races that are just not done in a minute. It takes a while.”