FEATURES
Minnesotans Rock the AOYs!
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Tuesday, 23 February 2016 06:10
The 2015 USAT Athletes of the Year were announced yesterday and, once again, Minnesotans stole the show. With three AOYs and ten HMs, ours was the most decorated state in the Land.
Our state’s three Athletes of the Year are:
- Patrick Parish – Elite Duathlete (selfie photo L)
- Matthew Payne – Amateur Duathlete
- Tony Schiller - Masters Triathlete (photo L)...
Minnesota’s Honorable Mentions:
- Matthew Payne – Triathlete HM (photo L with lovely wife Tiffany)
- Kevin O’Connor – Masters Triathlete HM and Masters Duathlete HM
- Cheryl Zitur – Masters Triathlete HM
- Bennett Isabella – Duathete HM
- Nathan Hoffman – Duathlete HM
- Jenn Scudiero – Duathlete HM
- Suzie Fox – Duathlete HM
- James Hannon – Masters Duathlete HM
- Manuela Knispel – Masters Duathlete HM
The MTN Guys assist USAT in the compilation of resume data, but we are not involved with the selection of the AOYs and HMs. We do not vote nor are we included in the discussions. With this said, here are the triathlete AOYs and our comments (We will evaluate the DOYs in a few days):
TRIATHLETE – Male Athlete of the Year
AOY – Barrett LeHardy (VA) - Won Nationals and Worlds
HM – Kyle Hooker (WA) - Lost Nationals because he dropped his swim cap. Outraced LeHardy twice and won St. Anthony's.
HM – Daniel Subleski (MI)
HM – Lucas Pozzetta (NH)
HM – James Burke (WI)
HM – Matthew Payne (MN)
COMMENT – Hooker and LeHardy were the most consistently successful Olympic distance amateur racers last season, enough so that for us, they sort of cancelled each other out. If we had a vote, it would have gone to Stubleski, who won the AOY in 2014 and 2013. Dan’s 8:36 overall win at Ironman Florida and being the top US amateur at Kona (9:01) put him over the top for us. We are not surprised that LeHardy won, and are good with his selection.
Our HM list matched USAT’s. We worried that Ryan Giuliano (3:58 at Muncie 70.3!) might bump The Payne Train off the list. We’re happy when that didn’t happen.
TRIATHLETE – Female Athlete of the Year
AOY – Kirsten Sass (TN)
HM – Sarah Alexander (IL)
HM – Lauren Capone (CA)
HM – Skye Murphy (UT)
HM - Abby Levene (CO)
HM - Jennifer Garrison (IL)
COMMENT – Sass, who won the AOY in 2013, was a slam dunk here. As for the HMs, we like these selections, especially the Top 3. Had USAT favored Alycia Hill (WA) or Ericka Hachmeister (NY) (or even NYC’s Cecelia Davis –Hayes) over Levene and Garrison, we would have been cool with that, too.
TRIATHLETE – Male Master of the Year
MOY – Tony Schiller (MN)
HM – Mark Harms (WI)
HM – Shane Arters (CA)
HM – Kevin O’Connor (MN)
HM – Chris Montross (CA)
HM – Christopher Thomas (CT)
COMMENT – Though Tony wasn’t our pick to win the MOY, we are elated that USAT selected him over Mark Harms, who we thought was a slam dunk. Mark was the top master at both Nationals (7th overall) and Worlds (6th overall) and placed 2nd behind Payne at Life Time – Minneapolis. Tony’s resume featured two AG national titles and a gold and silver at Worlds.
As for the HMs, we are in complete agreement with the AOY Selectors.
TRIATHLETE – Female Master of the Year
MOY – Colleen De Reuck (CO)
HM – Adrienne Leblanc (AZ)
HM – Kelly Dippold (KS)
HM – Chery Zitur (MN) (photo L with sartorially resplendent husband, Dave. Cheryl looks awesome, too.)
HM – Lisbeth Kenyon (RI)
HM – Amy McGrath (TX)
COMMENT – Colleen was a slam dunk (10:31 at Kona & 4:37 at Boulder 70.3 at age 51!) here. Leblanc and Dippold were slam dunk HMs. The list of viable HMs for the next three spots was long. In addition to Zitur, who we are thrilled to see on the list (yes, she was on ours, too), Kenyon and McGrath, there was Megan James (MI), Sue Pierson and Tracy Kellner of Wisconsin, Liz Waterstraat (IL), Lisa Rachetto (CA) and seven others. We like the way things worked out.
TRIATHLETE – Male Grand Master of the Year
GMOY – Greg Taylor (SD)
HM – Roger Little (MA)
HM - Vern Holthouse (CA)
HM – Roger Brockenbrough (PA)
HM – Douglas Hill (WA)
HM – Bill Ziering (CA)
COMMENT – As in 2014, Taylor was the clear choice. As for the HMs, we were mildly surprised to see Hill on the list. We would had assumed that either Freddie Ferraro (TX) or David Roadhouse (IL) would have taken Hill's spot.
TRIATHLETE – Female Grand Master of the Year
GMOY – Ellen Hart (CO)
HM – Cherie Gruenfeld (CA)
HM – Laura Sophiea (GA)
HM – Bridget Dawson (CA)
HM – Nancy Avitabile (MD)
HM – Karen McKeachie (MI)
COMMENT – We totally agree with these pics.
TRIATHLETE – Male Junior of the Year
JOY – Jack Toland (WA)
HM – Timothy Winslow (WA)
COMMENT – In our opinion, the AOY Selectors got this right. Toland was our clear choice, as he was in 2014. Also, had Elisha Smith (SC) gotten the HM, we would have been fine with that.
TRIATHLETE – Junior of the Year
JOY – Taylor Knibb (DC)
HM – Audrey Ernst (IL)
COMMENT – Knibb is special, clearly the best female junior, in our opinion, in the US. And we are talking about both non-drafting and draft legal racing.
Nice work USAT! This is an awesome list of honorees. We will post DOY stuff in a day or two.
BONUS - After this story was posted we learned that GWEN JORGENSEN was named 2015 Elite Triathlete of the Year, and HEATHER LENDWAY was named 2015 Elite Rookie of the Year. In all, 15 Minnesotans received national recognition.
