FEATURES
Nine Minnesota Duathletes Honored...
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Friday, 26 February 2016 00:10
As promised, here are the Minnesota duathletes that received USAT honors, and some commentary on the federation’s selections.
Minnesota’s Honorees:
- Patrick Parish – Elite Duathlete of the Year
- Matthew Payne – Amateur Duathlete of the Year
- Bennett Isabella – DOY HM
- Nathan Hoffman – DOY HM
- Jenn Scudiero – DOY HM (photo L)
- Suzie Fox – DOY HM (photo L)
- James Hannon – Du Master HM
- Kevin O’Connor – Du Master HM
- Manuela Knispel – Du Master HM
Now for our comments: ...
Duathlete - Elite Male
EDOY – Patrick Parish (MN)
HM – Ryan Ray (MI
Duathlete – Elite Female
EDOY – Dani Fischer (IN)
HM – Lauren Olsen (AZ)
COMMENT – The MTN Guys agree with these selections but had hoped that more elite duathletes would have raced often enough in 2015 to contend for honors. We would have liked to have seen Ruth Brennan Morrey, Sarah Jarvis, Josh Merrick, Dan Hedgecock, Chad Hall and others in the mix.
Duathlete – Amateur Male
DOY – Matthew Payne (MN)
HM – Jeff Wilson (OH)
HM – Bennett Isabella (MN)(great photo L with preggers wife Jessica)
HM – Nathan Hoffman (MN
COMMENT – Payne was a slam dunk and Wilson deserved the #2 spot. Had USAT gone with five HMs, as they did in Triathlon, at least one more Minnesota athlete—Brian Sames or Brooks Grossinger—would have made the list.
Duathlete – Amateur Female
DOY – Kirsten Sass (TN)
HM – Laura Kline (NY)
HM – Jenn Scudiero (MN)
HM – Suzie Fox (HM)
COMMENT: We’re pleased with these selections. We also believe that had a fourth HM been added, Lisa Lendway was next in line.
Duathlete – Masters Men
MOY – Fred Bunn (MI)
HM – James Hannon (MN)
HM – Kevin O’Connor (MN)
HM – Kevin Konczak (CO)
COMMENT – We like these selections (Bunn and Hannon were shoo-ins), but Konczak did not make our list. We had Thomas Woods (NE) and Rick Cordes (CA) ranked ahead of him. We had hoped that David Slavinski (NJ), Andy Ames (CO), Shane Thread (IN), and Dan Chapman (OK) had each raced at least one more time in 2015. If that were the case, this list would probably look a little different.
Duathlete – Masters Women
MOY – Kirsten Chapman (OK)
HM – Manuela Knispel (MN) (photo below)
HM – Celia Dubey (FL)
HM – Geraldine Lupini (MI)
COMMENT: We totally agree with these selections, though we wish that Brenda Williams (AZ), Deanna Newman (AL) and Rachel Wheeler Northrup (NC) had raced often enough to be considered, especially Williams. She is a major talent.
Duathlete – Male Grand Master
GMOY – Wolf Hillesheim (CA)
HM – David Burkhart (MI)
HM – Jean-Pierre Bacal (VA)
HM – Mike McCarty (AZ)
COMMENT: We’ve got some disagreement here. Burkhart was our clear pick and Hillesheim was our #2. We also agree with Bacle’s placement. McCarty, in our opinion, made the list because Kerry Mayer (WI), Don Ardell (FL) and Ken Fleischhacker (CO) didn’t race enough to be eligible. Mike is a great guy and we’re happy for him. You can’t win if you don’t play.
Duathlete – Female Grand Master
GMOY – Patty Peoples-Resh (CA)
HM – Ellen Hart (CO)
HM - Diane Travis (FL)
HM – Kristin Allyne (NC)
COMMENT – Peoples-Resh was slam dunk--She is a very special athlete!—to win, and Hart had a lock on the #2 spot. Allyne was #3 on our list. We disagree with Travis’ inclusion believing that Vickie McCloskey (NH), Patricia Driscoll (VT) and Heysoon Lee (NJ) were more deserving.
Duathlete – Male Junior
DJOY – Tim Winslow (CA)
HM – Nick Amato (MI)
Duathlete – Female Junior
DJOY – Kaytlynn Welsh (TX)
HM – Lauren Garriques (IL)
COMMENT: Few juniors raced in more than 1-2 dus in 2015. Of the mentioned athletes here, only Welsh truly rocked. Only 15, she is an incredible multisport athlete.
As with their triathlon list of honorees, USAT did a great job figuring out the du categories.
