FEATURES

Henry, David & Kyle...

Tuesday, 02 November 2021 00:10

2021 MINNESOTA MULTISPORT HONORS - Here are the finalists for Men's Performance of the Year:

HENRY JESSEN (photo L) - 7th overall male at USA Triathlon Sprint Nationals. Henry's time was fast - 57:29--and he was only 1:15 behind the national champion.

COMMENT: Jessen, a tri rookie, was also the fastest Minnesotan at Olympic Nationals. Once again, his time was impressive - 1:58:25, and he outpaced all of his Minnesota peers. However, the national champion was almost eight minutes faster. It was agreed that Henry's Olympic performance deserved at POY Honorable mention.

COMMENT: Field depth and margin of victory made this performance special.

DAVID KOPPEL (photo below L)-  Amateur Win at Heart of the Lakes - 1:31:37 on a hot day. Outraced the deepest men's field of the season....

KYLE SWENSON (photo R) - Win at Maple Grove Olympic. Great time: 1:55:07, 2nd fastest in race history (CR - Kris Spoth - 1:43:32 - 2015). 

COMMENT: Age is not taken into account when determining the POY. If it was, Kyle, 19, would get extra credit. His Maple Grove win is arguably the finest perfomance by a junior on Minnesota soil in decades, perhaps ever.

HONORABLE MENTION:

HENRY JESSEN - 1:58:25 at Olympic Nationals. The fastest time by a Minnesotan.

DAVID KOPPEL -  Win at Buffalo Olympic - 2:02:24 on a very hot, very windy morning. He beat runner-up David Thompson by 3:05. Also outraced Team MInnesotans Josh Blankenheim and AJ Manning.

AJ MANNNG - Course record 56:01 at Young Life Sprint, lowering Braden Scheel's previous record by 48-seconds.

AJ MANNING - Course record 54:32 at Green Lake Sprint, crushing his prior CR by 2:06.

TIMOTHY BONTRAGER - 1st @ Square Lake Sprint and his course record at Buzz Ryan Sprint were also significant performances. His 1:15:50 at Square Lake is 2nd only to David Thompson's winning time (1:15:17) in 2020, and his 46:12 at Buzz lowered Branden Scheel's 2018 CR by a full minute.