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Masters Excellence - 2024 Edition...
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Friday, 13 September 2024 00:10
In October MTN's two-man Minnesota Multisport Honors committee (Note: Simon & Grarfunkel are replacing last season's evaluators Matt and Damon) will announce their nominees for the 2024 MMH honors. Below are some of the Masters (Ages 40-59) guys who are being considered for the eventual three nominations in this category....
Sean & Vanessa....
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Tuesday, 10 September 2024 00:10
SQUARE LAKE SPRINT COVERAGE - On Saturday, SEAN COOLEY and KADIE HOKANSON were runaway winners at the Square Lake 70.3. Sunday's Sprint race was just the opposite. Only 13-seconds separated the top two men, and the positions would likely have been reversed if the run course were a half-mile longer.
Thirty ticks was all that came between the top two women on this scenic and challenging .5 -18.5 - 5K course.
Last year's runner-up and this year's pre-race favorite, SEAN PICKLE, 19, enjoyed a two-minute lead out of the water and after the bike, but four-time Square Lake Sprint podium finisher STEVE STENZEL picked up some seconds coming out of T2 and proceeded to take 30-seconds-per mile bites out of Pickle's lead, but he needed a little more real estate to overtake the two-time Junior of the Year nominee.
The W was Pickle's fourth of the 2024 season.
CR for Sean. PR for Kadie...
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Sunday, 08 September 2024 00:10
Photo - Men's Top 3 - Soren Schwendeman (4:30:02), Sean Cooley (4:10:53) and Brandon Lee (4:18:13)
SQUARE LAKE 70.3 - In 2019, JOSH MORK won the Square Lake Half in course record time: 4:11:39. That performance earned him a Performance of the Year nomination. SEAN COOLEY kicked of his tri season, which he balances with his running and cycling seasons, with a 4:07 5th place finish at Ironman. 70.3 Des Moines. He followed that up with a 4:14 2nd place effort under brutal conditions (heat and wind) at Chisago. Earlier this week he decided to take on the Square Lake Half, our state's most challenging long course event, a race he won in 2023 in 4:23. His result placed him in the Performance and Triathlete of the Year conversations. Leading from the get-go he time-trialed his way to a new course record 4:10:53.
Wait a minute! Didn't Wisconsin's PATRICK ALLAIRE's 4:10:59 in 2020 steal the CR from Mork? Nope. The swim was shortened to a half-mile that year.
And while Sean's performance can be called a runaway, let's not discount BRANDON LEE's 2nd-placing 4:18:13, a Masters Record, and whch lowered his 70.3 personal best by more than five minutes. Lee appears to be a shoo-in for a Master of the Year nomination....
2024 Kids Stuff...
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Saturday, 07 September 2024 00:10
Who are the Juniors that rocked the hardest during the 2024 season. Below are what may be the frontrunners for Junior of the Year.
Boys -
NOAH BILLINGS, 18, Rochester - The two-time JOY is a prolific racer, with at least ten completed tris on his 2024 scorecard. He won three of those races, including Junior Nationals. The only concern for the MMH Guys is that he finished behind fellow juniors on four occasions.
CORBIN DEICHMAN, 16, Mankato - Corbin won at least two (three?) races this year and didn't lose to a fellow junior in regional competition in his five (six?) starts. He was especially impressive in his win at Maple Grove Sprint where he outraced fellow elite juniors Noah Billings, Nolan Snyder and Kyler Williams. Concerns? His efforts at Nationals, however, were not as impressive as his regional performances against adult competition. (NOTE: For MMH purposes, perormances in DL races are excluded from consideration.) ...
Kadie, Vanessa & a Pair of Seans....Updated...
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Wednesday, 04 September 2024 00:10
SQUARE LAKE TRIATHLON WEEKEND PREVIEW - The 24th edition of the Square Lake Sprint is happening next Sunday, and willbe preceeded the day before by the Square Lake 70.3, which will celebrate it's 23rd birthday. The events are scenic and challenging and the lake and rural environs are nothing short of spectacular. Square Lake is the kind of place that is hard to leave, and many who do these races return for training sessions....
