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Bennett and Sheena...

Monday, 13 February 2017 23:10

Photo - Bennett Isabella and another guy.

Yesterday we discussed some of the pleasant surprises that happened during the 2016 season. Hanna Grinaker and Wade Cruser, for instance, outperformed everyone's expectations, except perhaps their own, and Sean Cooley's.

Today, we'll talk about the pleasant surprises of the 2015 season.

2015 - The most pleasant surprise on the men's side was Bennett Isabella's breakout season, one that not only earned him his first-ever berth on Team Minnesota, but landed him in the Top 5. Bennett had been, as they say, "knocking on the door" since 2011, thus many assumed that his eventual placement on Team Minnesota was a foregone conclusion. Cracking the Top 5 however, required a herculean season. Isabella raced in fourteen multis, winning twice--Memphis in May Olympic and Graniteman...

Clearwater--and reaching six other podiums. He excelled in duathlon (including his 2nd! @ Du Nationals) and routinely broke two hours in Olympic-distance tris. For his efforts he was the clear winner of the Most Improved Male award.

Another newcomer to Team Minnesota in '15 was Nick Nygaard (8th). As Rookie of the Year in 2014, it was not a big surprise that he'd make the Team in his sophomore year. Since 2005, every ROY earned a spot on the squad in their second season, and some--Sarah Kolpin (2015), Jenny Shaughnessy (2010), Ruth Brennan Morrey (2011), Nicole Heininger (2013) and Hanna Grinaker (2016)--even made the Team as freshman.

Like Bennett Isabella, it was not surprising that Gaby Bunten made Team Minnesota for the first time in 2015. She had narrowly missed a spot in '14.

Also like Bennett, Bunten managed to ascend to the Top 5, which was supremely impressive. The 2015 Team was arguably the second deepest women's assemblage in the sixteen-year history of the Team, behind the 2014 Team.* So yes, Gaby's emergence was a very pleasant surprise. FYI, her season featured three victories plus two other major podiums and a silver medal at Worlds.

The biggest surprise of the '15 season, in our opinion, was the emergence of Sheena Dauer (photo R), who earned the 9th spot on Team Minnesota. She went from turning in reliable "solid" performances in 2014 and 2013, to becoming competitive with the best women in the region. She turned heads all season long, starting with her 3rd at the Apple Duathlon, which boasted the deepest women's du field of the year in the US (including Nationals), and concluding with a PR-7th place overall finish at Ironman Wisconsin (10:40:41).

Who will be the newcomers to make Team Minnesota in 2017? We'll speculate on that in future posts.

* The 2016 women's Team Minnesota was even more talented than the 2014 squad.