FEATURES

Why Ted?

Thursday, 25 October 2018 23:10

MINNESOTA MULTISPORT AWARDS - Two of the most intriguing categories to determine were male and female MOST IMPROVED. Let's start with the men, a terrific group of nominees, certainly one of the most talented groups to ever be considered.

We'll discuss the women's MI selection in a later post.

We have no doubt that GARRETT WELSCH is destined for stardom, but a spot on Team Minnesota may not be available to him until 2020. We need only remember, however, that we felt the same way a few years back about a guy named DAN HEDGECOCK, who emerged as the Triathlete of the Year and #1 on Team MInnesota in his sophomore season.

BRANDEN SCHEEL's improvement in 2018 was meteoric. He won five races in course record time, but he never went head-to-head with any of the guys--WADE, SEAN, MATT, PATRICK etc.--that set the performance standards in our region. Could he have held his own against those guys? We think so, but we wanted proof.

Which brings us to JOSH MORK. When he placed 2nd against the deepest men's field of the year in a Minnesota multi (Lake Waconia), he truly proved that he can bark with our region's Big Dogs. Josh was thus the early season frontrunner for the MI....

By mid-July, Josh stopped racing, concentrating instead on training for his IM debut in September.

This opened the door for eventual MI recipient TED TREISE, a long distance aficionado with his sites set on a pro license. His 2nd place finish at Superior Man in late August pushed him to the front of the MI pack, then his stunning victory at Augusta 70.3 in 4:08:29 in September put him over the top. Here's what we posted after his victory:

Prior to the race our fingers were crossed for Ted. We believed that a podium was possible, but wondered if he was ready to give pre-race favorite Nathan Buttrick of South Carolina, a run for his money. Buttrick's PRs at IM and 70.3 are among the best in the country for an amateur: 8:37 and 4:02.

But as we know now, Teddy not only gave him a good race, he beat him, and did so somewhat handily, thanks to a superior run split (1:21:34 with temps in the high 80s). Treise's time was a personal best 4:08:28. Buttrick clocked in at 4:11:10.

Ted's performance at Augusta was SO impressive that it was nominated for POY, and it elevated him all the way up to 5th on Team MInnesota.

ED. Ted will race at at Waco 70.3 this weekend.