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Men's Team Minnesota: Why...

Sunday, 11 December 2016 23:10

Today we discuss the determination of Team Minnesota, starting with the men. The five Selectors scrutinized the resumes of 25-30 viable candidates and ranked their top 12-15. The points (1st place - 1 point, 2nd place - 2 points etc.) are then totalled, and the Top 10 is determined. It is rare for a Selector's personal list to be the same as the final rankings.

The rankings are based on resume only, not reputation. An athlete's competitive history does not give him or her an advantage, at least that's the goal.

Here are the Top 10 guys, and some explanation for their placement. Please know that, invariably, certain positions are basically interchangeable. We'll explain as we go along....

1. Matthew Payne. 2. Sean Cooley. 3. Wade Cruser. All five of the Selectors ranked these guys in this order. Payne's six wins, all against elite competition, put him, once again, at the Top of the list. Cooley also excelled against top flight competition, and was the only Minnesotan to actually beat Payne in a regional contest (Superior Man). This fact, plus his two POY nominated performances (Superior Man and Lake Waconia), gave him the edge over Cruser, who nevertheless managed to beat Sean in two of their three meetings.

4. Josh Blankenheim. 5. Kevin O'Connor. Fourth and fifth places were basically interchangeable. Josh accrued 22 points, with Kevin getting 23. These men split their head-to-head battles, Josh prevailing at Apple; Kevin coming out on top at Lake Waconia. Both guys won two races. Where Blank may have had the edge over KO is that both of his (Blank's) wins (Toughman Sprint and Brewhouse) were seriously discussed as possible POY nominations.

6. Brooks Grossinger. 7. Kris Spoth. 8. David Holden. Brooks (3) and David (4) had seven wins between them, with Grossinger coming out on top in their only head-to-head. Brooks' resume also featured more races (3) with elite-level competition. David faced elite competiton at Minneapolis, where his 4th place finish was impressive, and Lake Waconia, whereas his 7th place didn't help his scorecard.

As for Spoth, his talent is undeniable. At his best, he would give Payne a run for his money. In 2016, though, bad luck at Minneapolis (20th - mechanical?) and 70.3 Worlds (Mechanical?), set him back. The rest of his resume, featuring two wins, was very solid.

9. Jordan Roby (photo r). 10. Andy Wiberg (photo top). Both of these men are newcomers to Team MInnesota. Jordan held his own against our state's best at Lake Minnetonka (3rd), Lake Waconia (5th - 1:24:42) and Timberman (4th - 1:59:31). He also racked up his 2nd career win, doing so at Green Lake Olympic.

As for Andy, he nipped Casey Miller for the 10th spot. Though Casey had three wins (Andy won once), Wiberg consistently faced tougher competition during the season, and set a PR at Superior Man Half IM (4:16:49). He demonstrated impressive results in duathlon (3rd at Oakdale), sprint (1st @ Buffalo -57:06), where he outraced Miller in their only head-to-head, and long distance.

The rest of the Top 15:  11. Casey Miller. 12. Corey Towle. 13. Nate Hoffman. 14. Michael Weissenborn. 15. Brian Bich.

We'd like to mention Nathan Ansbaugh here. An injury upended his Team Minnesota dreams. His resume featured podiums at Gear West and Heart of the Lakes. Two more similar efforts would have landed him on the Team. We'd be surprised if there wasn't a spot for him on the Minnesota Top 10 list next year.