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Friday, 05 October 2012 02:10

(Photo -Bennett Isabella with a totally hot celebrity woman; an actress maybe. It could be Emma Stone, who's been dying her hair a lot lately.)

Minnesota Multisport Awards - We blew it last year.

Which time, you ask?

When we decided to include Ruth Brennan Morrey's runaway victory at the 2011 ITU Long Distance World Championships among the 2012 nominees for Female Performance of the Year.

LD Worlds were only a week before the MMA Party and we had already ordered and received the trophies, including, of course, Dan Arlandson's LD AOY and Claire Bootsma's POY trophies....

In hindsight, the committee should have reevaluated those two categories, including Ruther's epic performance, and, if need be, have new awards made.

Year-to-year carryover simply doesn't feel right. In our opinion, each season is a new organism, with a life of its own and distinct from prior ones. Right or wrong, that's how we (MMA Committee) feel about this.

That is why we created a new award for Ruth, one that names her 2011 Female LD AOY and celebrates her LD Performance of 2011.

There were so many great LD resumes by Minnesotans this season. It wouldn't feel right if these were trumped, and we're not saying that they would be, by a 2011 scorecard.

Here are some of the athletes and their outstanding LD highlights that are being considered for 2012 LD AOY nominations, which will be announced next week *:

* MICHELLE ANDRES - CR at Ironman Wisconsin (10:05:30) & 2nd at Liberty Half IM

* RUTH BRENNAN MORREY - CR at Chisago plus 1st amateur at Rev 3-Wisconsin Dells and Pays D'Aix 70.3 (Provence, FRA)

* SEAN COOLEY - 1st @ Superior Man Half & 9th at Chisago

* SUZIE FOX - 1st at Pigman Half and 6th amateur at Ironman Wisconsin (10:38:09)

* KORTNEY HAAG - 1st at Liberty Half, 3rd (2nd amateur) at Chisago

* BENNETT ISABELLA - 2nd at Liberty Half & 3rd at Pigman Half

* MATTHEW PAYNE - Amateur victory at Florida 70.3 (4:11) and 2nd (amateur) at Chisago (4:09)

* ANGIE SCHMIDT - 2nd at Square Lake (4:48), 3rd amateur at Leadman Epic 125 - Las Vegas and Leadman Epic 250 - Bend, OR, 3rd at Liberty

* CATHY YNDESTAD - 1st amateur at Leadman Epic 250 - Bend (9:55), 2nd amateur at Leadman Epic 125 - Las Vegas, 4th amateur at Wildflower.

* Category Eligibility: Athletes must have recorded at least 2 elite-level LD (half IM or longer) performances in 2012.