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Why Wade?

Saturday, 10 December 2016 23:10

All five MMA Selectors favored Wade Cruser for Most Improved, though not before they answered a couple of crucial questions:

1. Was his rise from being in the 15th-16th range in the determination of 2015 Team Minnesota all the way up to 3rd in 2016 significantly aided by the absence of four team 2015 members (Bennett Isabella, Nick Nygaard, Brian Sames, Devon Palmer). The Committee as a whole believed that it was not. Cruser's resume--five wins and four other regional podiums--would have been hard to beat by the aforementioned guys. The fact that he raced often and excelled in both triathlon and duathlon--nominated for TOY and DOY--and received a total of four MMA nominations (matching Matthew Payne and Sean Cooley) bolstered this assessment.

2. We also compared Cruser's resume to Kris Spoth's 2015 scorecard, which landed him in the 3rd spot on Team MInnesota. This didn't tell us much. Wade raced ten times, landing on eight podiums, including five wins. Spoth's 2015 card had nine starts with four podiums, including two wins. The reason we were reluctant to favor Cruser came down to "race choice." Spoth only raced in events that featured...

national-level talent, whereas Cruser enjoyed a lot of local and regional success. This said, Wade turned in some national-level performances in those local and regional events.

3. Of the five nominees, Wade's stiffest competition for the MI came from Sean Cooley, who truly had a breakout season, which is saying a lot when you note that he had been ranked 4th on Team Minnesota in 2015 and 2014. For the last four years, Matt Payne has been impossible to catch. But in 2016, Cooley emerged as a true threat to Matt's supremacy. So, Sean's move from 4th to 2nd on Team Minnesota 2016 represented a huge jump. Two of his efforts were nominated for Performance of the Year. Was this enough to dislodge Cruser as the MI favorite?

No.

Perhaps the determining factor in the selection of Cruser was the fact that, in their head-to-head matchups, Wade came out on top in two of their three meetings.

Of all the criteria that the Committee considers, "head-to-head" results are given special attention.