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USAT's 2016 Athletes of the Year...

Wednesday, 12 April 2017 23:10

For more than two decades the MTN Guys have contributed to the selection of USAT Athletes of the Year. Our role is to provide bios of hundreds of triathletes and duathletes to the Selection Committee. This is where our input ends. We do not participate in the actual selection of AOYs and HMs,

USAT has been especially busy doing other stuff lately, thus it has taken until now for them to determine their AOYs and post their listings on their website.

We love the Federation's mission and respect their method. We especially appreciate the democratic method used to determine the winners and HMs. This means, of course, that we won't always get what we want, but that is cool. We may argue strongly, but understand that others have arguments that are just as valid, sometimes moreso. We change our minds often, and proudly. Sticking with decisions on principle, ones that we no longer agree with or believe in, isn't very smart, is it?

Today we reveal USAT's Triathletes of the Year and our comments.

MEN'S TRIATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Christopher Douglas (Atlanta, Ga.)
Honorable Mention: Todd Buckingham, Ryan Giuliano, Tim Hola, Derek Jakobowski, Daniel Stubleski

COMMENT: Our list, which we determined last November, differs greatly from USAT's, though we concur that they selected worthy recipients. Our list: AOY - Ryan Giuliano (IL). HMs - 1. Christopher Douglas (GA), Kyle Hooker (FL), Clay Emge (TX), Tim Rea (OR), Brian Duffy (PA) ...

WOMEN'S TRIATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Kirsten Sass (McKenzie, Tenn.)
Honorable Mention: Cecilia Davis-Hayes, Alissa Doehla, Emily Lanter, Laura Mathews, Kelly O’Mara

COMMENT: Our selections: AOY - Kirsten Sass (TN), who also won in 2013 and 2015, HMs - Laura Matthews (TN), Alyssa Doehla (NC), Celia Davis-Hayes (NY), Amy Farrell (NY), Kelly Collier (PA). We were surprised that Farrell was not on USAT's list.

MEN'S MASTERS OF THE YEAR: Tim Hola (Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
Honorable Mention: Bruce Gennari, Dave Slavinski, Daniel Stubleski, Ritch Viola, Lee Walther

COMMENT: Our only change was including Tim Sheeper, instead of Bruce Gennari. Totally cool with Bruce's selection, though. MOY - Tim Hola (CO), HMs - Lee Walther (OK), Daniel Stubleski (MI), Dave Slavinski (NJ), Tim Sheeper (CA), Ritch Viola (CA

WOMEN'S MASTER OF THE YEAR: Linda Robb (Juno Beach, Fla.)
Honorable Mention: Kelly Dippold, Tina Eakin, Lisbeth Kenyon, Adrienne Leblanc, Colleen De Reuck

COMMENT: Our picks - MOY - Linda Robb (CA), HMs - Lisbeth Kenyon (RI), Kelly Dippold (KS), Deanna Newman (AL), Cathy Winkler (CA), Adrienne LeBlanc (AZ). Tons of talent in this category. USAT's list is awesome. So is ours.

MEN'S GRAND MASTERS TRIATHLETE OF THE YEAR:  Michael Orendorff (Ponca, Okla.)
Honorable Mention: Patrick Bourdillon, Simon Butterworth, Roger Freeman, Philip Friedman, Greg Taylor

COMMENT: We only selected three HMs in this category because depth was, in our opinion, somewhat lacking in 2016. Our picks: GMOY - Greg Taylor (SD), HMs - Michael Orendorff (CO), Roger Freeman (CA), Kevin Moats (GA)

WOMEN'S GRAND MASTER OF THE YEAR: Martha Whitacre (Paris, Ill.)
Honorable Mention: Cherie Gruenfeld, Lori Beck, Ellen Hart, Sherry Rennard, Janie White

COMMENT: Unlike the GMOY men, we listed five HMs here. Our GMOY - Martha Whitacre (IL), HMs - Cheri Gruenfeld (CA), Sherry Rennard (CA), Ellen Hart (CO), JAN GUENTHER (MN photo), Janie White (AZ)

MEN'S JUNIOR TRIATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Ian Hoover-Grinde (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)
Honorable Mention: Jonathan McAlister

COMMENT: Totally agree that Iowa's Ian Hoover-Grinde was the JOY. Our HM was Konor Sacks of California, but McAlister is an excellent pick.

WOMEN'S JUNIOR TRIATHLETE OF THE YEAR:  Maeghan Easler (Des Moines, Iowa)
Honorable Mention: Alma Campiani

COMMENT: Easler didn't make our list. We selected Jordyn Blood of Indiana as our JOY. Campani (FL) was our HM.

Here's a link to the Triathlete AOY story, which included Off-Road selections, on USAT's website:  LINK. We will comment on their Duathlete of the Year selections, where we predict that Minnesota athletes will be well represented, as soon as they are posted on the federation website.

We plan to share bios and explain our rationale for our selections in future posts.