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Unofficial Male Junior Performance of the Year...

Monday, 20 January 2020 23:10

In our Sunday/Monday post we discussed our unofficial selections for Female Junior 2019 Performance of the Year and Male Master 2019 Performance of the Year. Today we explain our unofficial Male Junior Performance of the Year pick.

Male Junior Performance of the Year:

Like Bella Buenting, KYLE SWENSON was not beaten by a fellow Minnesota junior in 2019. Moreover, he lowered his AG record in three of his five regional starts. Like Bella, his performances were a cut above those of his fellow divisionmates. So, which one of his efforts deserves to be recorgnized at Male Junior POY?

Let's break it down race-by-race:

- 3rd overall / Age Group Record at Buffalo Sprint. Kyle's time was 1:02:37, breaking the old junior CR (set in 2015) by a hefty 3:25. His margin of victory in his AG was 3:50.

- 15th overall / Junior Course Record at Lake Minnetonka - Swenson's time was 1:10:43, breaking a divisional record set back in 2006 by three-time Minnesota Junior of the Year MIchael Williams by 2:06. Though we are not blown away by his placement, breaking a 13-year-old record set by our state's most decorated junior male is a Big Deal.

- 2nd / 1st Junior at Clearwater Sprint - Kyle did not seriously challenge Nick Klonne's record, but stiffling heat and humidity might have had something to do with that. What was impressive, though, was the quality of the junior field. Teens--Swenson, Carson Deichman and Carson Roehl--grabbed three of the Top four men's placings.

- 3rd overall at Minneapolis Sprint - Another AG record for Swenson. His 1:08:26 was a three-minute improvement on the previous mark set by two-time Junior of the Year nominee Carter Deichman in 2018.

- 2nd overall / 1st Junior at Heart of the Lakes Sprint. Kyle's time was outstanding. His 44:51 was only seven seconds off Brandon Onopa's 2010 course record. (Elite juniors led the way at HOLT Sprint in 2010, with Onopa and Kyle Serreyn--44:47--going 1-2.)

So, which of these stellar efforts deserves the unofficial Junior POY? Tough call. We compared the distances at Lake Minnetonka and Buffalo, and concluded that to match his 1:10 LMT effort at Buffalo, he'd need to have turned in a 1:00-1:01 time there.

We, therefore, support his Lake Minnetonka result as the unofficial Male Junior POY.