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Matt's Unofficial Men's Team Minnesota...

Friday, 19 May 2023 00:10

By Matt

2022 Re-Post - Last Tuesday, Damon revealed his unofficial and unranked list of women that he believes would comprise this year's Team Minnesota. Here, in alphabetical order, are the men that Matt believes will comprise the 2022 Team Minnesota if official rosters are announced in the future:  ...

Josh Blankenheim (top photo)
Josh has been Duluth's numero uno for several years now. This season he won at Timberman Olympic and Lakes Country. He placed 3rd in his age group at Olympic Nationals.

Stuart Gildea
Matt's pick for this year's male Most Improved. He won Pigman Olympic (6 minutes faster than his 2021 showing), placed 7th at the abbreviated Sprint Nationals, and broke the 2-hour barrier (we're talking olympic distance triathlon, not Kipchoge's marathon racing) twice, managing to place 4th at Maple Grove Olympic in 1:55:19.

Brooks Grossinger
Three 2nd places behind credentialed athletes, a M45-49 National Championship at the olympic distance, and a win at Northwoods.

Henry Jesson
Henry managed 1:58:xx Olympic times twice this season, and one of those was good enough for 7th place at Olympic Nationals.

Andrew Kershaw
A win at Timberman Sprint, respectable olympic distance times including a 1:58:01 at Maple Grove Olympic, and 17th overall at Ironman Tulsa.

David Koppel (photo L)
1st amateur, behind pro Ted Triese at Tri West Olympic in 1:56:01, 2nd in his age group at Olympic Nationals, and a 4:14:10 at Steelhead 70.3.

AJ Manning
Matt believes AJ's course record at Green Lake Olympic is this year's male Performance of the Year. He won that race, won the amateur race at Buffalo Olympic ahead of Preston Youngdahl, and won the Watertown HyVee Sprint in course record time. He also threw down a 4:26:00 at Chattanooga 70.3 and a second place, behind Youngdahl, at Clearwater Olympic.

Kyle Swenson
The former Junior of the Year, now 20, placed 5th overall behind MN's top guys at Buffalo Olympic. He got 2nd at Lake Minnetonka behind Preston Youngdahl and 10th overall at abbreviated Sprint Nationals. He also went 1:56:46 at Maple Grove Olympic.

Preston Younbgdahl
Matt's pick for this year's male Triathlete of the Year. His only loss on MN soil was a 2nd amatuer result at Buffalo Olympic behind AJ Manning (and pro Ted Triese, who won the race). He won Lake Minnetonka, Clearwater Olympic in a course record 2:05:27, Maple Grove Olympic (behind Triese again) in 1:54:51, and Big Lake Olympic. He finished off his season with a 6th overall at Wisconsin 70.3 in 4:12:53.

Andrew Zabel
Andy is Matt's pick for the 2022 male Master of the Year. Zabel racked up 4 local wins, including Apple Duathlon and a stellar 1:02:46 at Hopkins. He also placed 7th overall at Ironman Alaska in 9:51.