Margaux Isaksen is all smiles as she nears the finish line

Three Americans cruised into the finals during the UIPM Modern Pentathlon Junior World Championships women's qualification round on Wednesday in Drzonkow, Poland.

Two-time Olympian Margaux Isaksen (Fayetteville, Ark.) easily won her Group B division by 26 seconds over her nearest rival. Her younger sister, Isabella Isaksen (Fayetteville, Ark.) finished just 35 seconds behind her older sibling in fourth place and also qualified for the final round on Friday.

In Group A, Samantha Achterberg (Littleton, Colo.) got off to a slow start placing 21st in the fencing and 13th in the swim which put her outside of the top 18 heading into the combined run/shoot. Only the top 18 from each group advance to Friday's final. But Achterberg turned in the best time in the combined (12:47.66) to vault into eighth place and easily qualify for the final round.

The only American to not qualify was Alison English (Ventura, Calif.) who placed 31st in Group A.

Competition continues on Thursday with the men's qualification round which includes Americans Brendan Anderson (Colorado, Springs, Colo.), Lucas Schrimsher (Roswell, N.M.), Nathan Schrimsher (Roswell, N.M.) and Marshall Stymer (Philomath, Ore.).

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