Race Coverage

Alissa, Chap & Maggie...

Tuesday, 12 July 2016 05:10

LIFE TIME TRI - MINNEAPOLIS - Studying the results of last Saturday's race, the historic 15th edition thereof, three performances immediately jumped off the page at us: Alissa Doehla's, Chap Achen's and Maggie Weiss' (photo L).

Doehla's name was familiar to us, but we couldn't place her. Until we did a little research. She was a track and cross country All American at Michigan State University a few years back with Olympic aspirations. The 1500 was her favorite distance, but she excelled at all distances. Her PRs: 15:28-5K, 32:14-10K, 1:13 - half marathon, 2:31-marathon.

Doehla won the Minneapolis Tri this year in 2:08:07, becoming the 2nd amateur woman in race history...

to go under the 2:10 mark. (The other was Heather Lendway - 2:06:21 in 2014.) He margins over the early favorites, Hanna Grinaker, who placed 2nd, and Gaby Bunten, who took 3rd, were substantial. In fact, her 5:34 margin over 2nd place was the widest MOV ever at this race.

Relatively new to triathlon, we were able to find three other 2016 tri results for Alissa, all of which were as impressive as her Minneapolis performance. She was the amateur champ at REV 3 - Knoxville in 2:08:02, where she managed to outrace several pros. She also won at HITS - Naples Olympic (beating pro Brittany Pierce) and was top amateur at Great Clermont.

Alissa Doehla is the real deal. She will certainly be one of the favorites to win or podium at Nationals next month.

Next, we were pleased to see that two-time Master of the Year nominee Chap Achen, 47, placed 3rd overall in the men's race. (Fellow 47er David Holden finished 4th overall.) Chap's 2:02:46 was oustanding and lowered Rhett Bonner's seven-year-old 45-49 record by 12 seconds.

Finally, we were somewhat taken aback by Maggie Weiss' 4th place overall finish, for which she earned Top AG honors, i.e. she was the first female non-"Premier Division" (Elite Amateur) finisher. The last time we saw Maggie race was at Lake Waconia, where she placed 14th. The only other tri result we could find for her was a 2:31:23 at Life Time Tri - Maple Grove last year.

It appears that Maggie had a true breakout effort at Minneapolis. And if the Waconia and Maple Grove efforts were her only prior tri performances, then she would be eligible for a 2016 Rookie of the Year nomination.

Now for some of the predictable stuff.  Matt Payne's successful defense of the men's title and Sean Cooley's 2nd place finish were foreseeable, though Kris Spoth's apparent mechanical problems on the bike were not. He was expected by most to claim a podium spot.

We were also impressed by Nick Klonne's Top AG performance, which landed him in 7th overall. Nick, 19, though racing as a 20-year-old, won the MInnesota Junior of the Year award in 2015. He also raced at Graniteman Clearwater the day after Minneapolis. There is placed 2nd less than one second behind winner Casey Miller. Klonne had launched in an earlier wave than Miller, thus he was the clubhouse leader for several minutes before Casey made his victory, his third straight at G-Man - Clearwater, official.

Magnanimously, Life Time creates various races within the the larger event. That way Nick and Maggie could, for instance, receive Winner's trophies.

For MTN's record-keeping purposes, we merge the data. Premier, AG and Collegiate are scored together. Here are the Overall Top 10s for the Olympic and Top 5s in the Sprint:

Olympic Men - 1. Matt Payne - 1:58:06, 2. Sean Cooley - 1:58:52, 3. Chap Achen - 2:02:46, 4. David Holden - 2:05:15, 5. Chris Tatton - 2:06:08, 6. Tyler Christiansen (UW-Madison) - 2:07:05 - 1st Collegiate Division, 7. Nick Klonne - 2:07:57 - 1st Overall AG, 8. Reece Linder (IA) - 2:07:57, 9. Alissa Doehla (NC) - 2:08:07, 10. Brandon Ordway - 2:08:46.

Olympic Women - 1. Alissa Doehla (NC) - 2:08:07, 2. Hanna Grinaker - 2:13:48. 3. Gaby Bunten - 2:15:49, 4. Maggie Weiss - 2:20:29 - 1st Overall AG, 5. Kelly Trom - 2:23:01 (awesome photo above), 6. Julia Weisbecker, 50 - 2:23:24, 7. Jessica Rossing - 2:24:07 - 2nd Overall AG, 8. Melanie Rabino - 2:26:10  - 1st Collegiate, 9. Liz Lieberman - 2:28:08 - 3rd Overall AG, 10. Katherine Lenglet - 2:28:08 - 4th Overall AG.

Sprint Men - 1. Brian Sames (IL) - 1:09:53, 2. Thomas Anderson III - 1:11:48, 3. Michael Weissenborn - 1:12:19, 4. Mike Ladendorf - 1:13:31, 4. Garrett Welsch,  19 - 1:14:20, 5. Mitchell Clayton, 19 - 1:15:28.

Sprint Women - 1. Anne Grabowski, 49 - 1:18:46, 2. Jennifer Fitzharris-Funk, 41 - 1:19:57, 3. Laura Swartz, 50 - 1:22:34, 4. Andrea Jensen - 1:23:02, 5. Michelle Hoffman - 1:23:14.