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Kevin & Bennett...

Sunday, 22 November 2015 06:10

MINNESOTA MULTISPORT AWARDS  - Though most Selectors agreed that KEVIN O'CONNOR (photo L) deserved this year's male MASTER OF THE YEAR award, two committee members argued that the prize should go to TONY SCHILLER. They invoked a compelling Age Grading argument and claimed that Tony's two national AG titles, plus a Gold and Silver at Worlds, trumped Kevin's overall national sprint du title, two silvers at Tri Nationals and eight outright victories. The majority of the voters disagreed, citing the fact that since the millennial turn, no Minnesota master has won more races in a single season than did KO. That he was ultimately ranked 2nd on Team Minnesota sealed the deal in his favor.

The other nominees--JAMES HANNON and RICH HEILMAN--raced brilliantly, but less often than O'Connor and Schiller....

MINNESOTA MULTISPORT AWARDS - The men's MOST IMPROVED category was among the slam dunks and should have been featured on MTN earlier in the week. Our bad. BENNETT ISABELLA won the award. Here's the breakdown:

- STEVE MORRIS - Steve was not on the Team Minnesota radar last year, thus his climb from outside the Top 20 to 13th meant that he climbed more rungs on the elite ladder than did his fellow nominees. Still, the climbing gets tougher on the other sider of 13th, where each place requires that you bump out a national-level peer.

- MIKE WARD - Mike finished just out of the Top 15 (16th) in 2014 and almost clawed his way into the Top 10. Devon Palmer bumped him out of the 10th spot by a single point. Mike has acknowledged that his resume lacked volume, but we remind him that it was still good enough to make him the runner-up for this year's MI.

- NICK NYGAARD - Last year's Rookie of the Year moved from 12th place in 2014 to 8th place this season. Very impressive, but not beyond what his peers, and the MMA Selectors, expected him to accomplish. Like Mike, his resume would have benefitted from another race or two.

- BENNETT ISABELLA - He went from 15th in 2014 to 5th this year. A HUGE jump, and making the Top 5 is a big deal. With 14 races, he matched the total number of races of the other three nominees combined. In addition to superior volume, he had two big wins (FYI, so did Nygaard) and excelled in duathlons as well as tris. At Duathlon Nationals he was 2nd overall and crowned 30-34 National Champ.