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Saturday, 06 October 2012 02:10

(Photos - Christina and John are two of the athletes who are being considered for "Most Improved" nominations.)

Minnesota Multisport Awards - The "Most Improved" award honors those who have demonstrated significant upward mobility within Minnesota's elite ranks. Historically, all 10 male and female annual members of Team Minnesota have raced at a national-class level during the season of their selection, thus to be considered for a nomination in this category a veteran TM athlete must convincingly upgrade his or her position ...

on the team. Or an athlete who has yet to make the Team must do just that, i.e. earn a spot on the Team. We also look at those who, say, were off the elite radar until the current year, then raced well enough to at least flirt with a Team berth.

Let's start with the women. Those who were on Team Minnesota in 2011 but should improve their team rankings this year include Ruth Brennan Morrey (5th in 2011) and Suzie Fox (9th in 2011). Among those who were not on TM last year but could make it this time around, or come darn close to doing so, are Elaine Nelson, Christina Roberts, Andrea Myers, Stephanie Solfelt, Lydia Novotny, Hilary Patzer, Jennifer Scudiero and Liv Williamsen. These are just the names that are front-of-mind as this is written. Several others will be considered in this category.

Now for the guys. It is possible that all four of the 2012 MI nominees were not on the Team in 2011. It appears that several new names will land on the Team or flirt with a berth. Who are some of these guys who enjoyed breakout seasons? Marcus Stromberg, David Holden, Kyle Serreyn (photo R), John Heinlein III and Sean Cooley come immediately to mind.

As with the women, at least a half dozen other athletes will receive consideration before the nominations are posted on MTN next week.