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Payne & Hankee Are "Athletes of the Month"...
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Wednesday, 28 May 2014 00:10
The Minnesota Multisport Awards Selection Committee have named Matthew Payne (photo L) and Diane Hankee (photo below) Minnesota Athletes of the Month for May, 2014. This monthly acknowledgement applauds amateur athletes in our state that the MMA Selectors believe deserve special recognition.
Their criteria is “organic,” which is to say that all arguments supporting an athlete can be considered. Put another way, the selections are as subjective as they are objective. Yes, they consider times, places, racing volume, field quality, course records and such. But they also look for things like “career trajectory” and “pleasant surprises.” ...
To illustrate this we’ll explain why Diane Hankee was chosen ahead of Heather Lendway. Objectively, Lendway was the most dominate amateur women in May. Two starts, two wins. In both races she finished less than two minutes behind the winning man.
Diane’s objective stats were impressive, too. Four starts, two wins (1 CR), a podium (2nd place) at Long Course Du Nationals and a 3rd (2nd amateur) at Apple. Her four starts give her a “volume” advantage over Lendway. Also, the fact that she has emerged as, for the time being at least, our state’s premier amateur female duathlete and arguable the #1 or #2 female duathlete in the US (at this point in time), works in Diane’s favor.
Also in her favor is the fact that her emergence as a national level duathlete is a bit of a surprise, demonstrating a dramatic upward swing in her career trajectory.
Lendway’s dominance, on the other hand, while impressive, does not come as a surprise. She was, after all, the runner-up for US AOY in 2013.
Had Heather raced three or four times in May, instead of just twice, the AOM story may have been different.
Matthew Payne’s selection was a slam dunk. The only guys who beat him in May were pros, and they didn’t beat him by much. His amateur wins were convincing. He took down the amateur CR at Oakdale Du by more than two-and-a-half minutes. At Gear West Du his margin over amateur runner-up Brooks Grossinger, was 2:33.
The MMA Committee also considered ways to do some additional name-dropping. They discussed the May emergence of Bridget McCoy and Nate Hoffman, and how Ruth Brennan Morrey’s Herculean effort at Apple is arguably the current frontrunner for Pro Performance of the Year. RBM's time—1:26:28—was surprisingly fast, as if the impossible had somehow happened. Gwen Jorgenson’s ITU victories at Mooloolaba and Yokohama, on the other hand, were awesome, but neither record-breaking nor thoroughly surprising.
The MMA Selectors express their admiration and congratulations to Matt and Diane, and to all Minnesotans who raced in May. They will reveal their "Age Group Athletes of the Month" on Friday.
