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Thinking About the Kids...

Saturday, 16 September 2023 00:10

By Goose

Mav and I have begun to scutinize the 2023 tri season to determine who set the highest performance standards. More than that, we are interested in patting as many triathletes on the back as possible, whether or not they are unoffical nominees for unofficial honors. Name-dropping is a big deal to us because it's about celebrating the depth of talent in our state and how good we have it here.

Some of the people we will highlight here haven't been prior nominees but sure kicked some tush this year, liked Alexandria residents COREY NYGAARD and KADIE HOKANSON, or first-time tri winner KATIE KADERA from Marine on St. Croix. KEITH TUFTE, 63, of Excelsior had an outstanding year and could land an unoffical Grand Master nomination alongside previous winners JEFFREY WARSHAW (60, Minneapolis) and TIM BROWN (64, St. Paul).

STEPHANIE PETERSON, 46, had a breakout season, as did SEAN PICKLE (18, St. Cloud). Both are newcomers to MMH consideration....

Today we are looking at the Junior boys. The next post will cover the Junior girls. One issue is that with the diminishing number of races in our state--thirty-six races were on the 2023 Minnesota calendar--is whether two or three outstanding performances should be required for recognition. In either case, here are the Juniors that rocked out in 2023:

BOYS -

NOAH BILLINGS, 17, Rochester - A prolific racer, Noah was the 2022 Junior of the Year.

Highlights:

- 1st overall @ Maple Grove Sprint - AG Record

- 1st overall @ Tri Clear Lake (Iowas State Sprint Championship)

- 2nd @ Trinona Sprint - AG Record

- 2nd overall / 1st Jr. @ Buzz Ryan

- 5th overall / 1st Jr. @ Apple Duathlon