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Pleasant Surprises...

Sunday, 12 February 2017 23:10

The MTN Guys like surprises. We can't wait to be surprised by the new talent that will rock our tri and du scenes next season. We are anxious to find out who the Team Minnesota newcomers will be this year.

Let's look back at the 2016 rookies and Team Minnesota breakthroughs.

2016 - Hanna Grinaker was the Rookie of the Year and topped women's Team Minnesota. Only one other athlete has done that during this century (Sarah Kolpine in 2005). Many knew that she would make her tri debut in 2016. They expected her, a former collegiate runner, to be good, but few if any (other than Sean Cooley, perhaps?) could have predicted that she would rise to the top of the deepest list of amateur women that our state has ever seen.

After the 2015 season it seemed likely that there would be a spot on the 2016 Team for Wade Cruser. His competitive trajectory suggested that a 7th - 10th was possible. But Wade exceeded everyone's expectations, except his own. He rose to the #3 spot in 2015....

The rise of Hanna and Wade was exciting stuff. A very pleasant surprise indeed. Jordan Roby and Andy Wiberg also earned spots on the Team for the first time, as did Dani Vsetecka and Erin Farrens-Hyndman. The women didn't surprise us. 2015 Rookie of the Year, Dani was expected to make the '16 squad, perhaps even a Top 5 placing. (She placed 4th.) Erin had narrowly missed the team on two prior occasions, both times due to low racing volume. She raced more often last season and, unsurprisingly, made the Team.

Tomorrow we will discuss the pleasants surprises of 2015.