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Maddy & Olivia...

Thursday, 02 January 2014 06:10

Photo - Maddy Blain's sneakers.

The new year is underway and we're already getting excited about the 2014 season. In '13, four of the ten women on Team Minnesota were first-timers. Two of those girls--Heather Lendway and Jenn Scudiero--were national champions. How cool is that!

By comparison, only one guy--Brian Sames--on Team Minnesota had not been there before.

Will there be some new blood on next year's Team?  We think so. Guys who came close in 2013, like Dennis Dane and Jason Crisp, might do it. And then there's last year's Rookie of the Year nominees--Larry Hosch and Casey Miller. We'll need to see big time...

improvement for this to happen, but we only need to be reminded of Brain Sames' emergence in his sophomore year to know that it's possible.

For the women, we feel that 2013 rookie Olivia Bagnall, who owns a water-loving fox (photo below), will be a star. If she races often enough--she only raced four times last year--and demonstrates some versatility, i.e. in duathlon and/or long course tris, she could become a national star. In our opinion, her first year was superior, albeit slightly, to the 2012 rookie season enjoyed by 2013 Minnesota Triathlete of the Year / likely US Athlete of the Year HM, Heather Lendway.

There's one other girl you probably don't know right now, but could rock socks next year and maybe find a place on Team Minnesota. Her name is Maddy Blain and she likes to roll up her jeans and wear old Chuck Taylors (photo above).

In 2013, Blain only raced twice (according to our records) and won both of those races by significant margins. The Wisconsin transplant is only 21-years-old and we are anxious to see her get more involved in our state's multisport scene.

In an attempt to learn more about Blain we tried to "Friend" her on Facebook. A newcomer to Minnesota (she attends Macalester, we think?), she doesn't know about MTN or the MMAs, thus she probably assumes that the guy who tried to Friend her is actually an aging Level-3 perv. Wisely, she did not accept our request. Maybe we'll meet her at the races next summer.

We hope so.