Race Previews

Green Lake XVII - Preview...

Tuesday, 04 August 2020 23:10

GREEN LAKE TRIATHLON PREVIEW - Graniteman Big Lake is in the books. Next Stop is the 17th edition of the Green Lake Sprint and 14th annual Green Lake Olympic on Sunday, August 9. Dan and his crew put on an awesome event at one of our state's most beautiful venues. Don't let this opportunity pass you by. If you haven't enrolled yet, please do so at your earliest opportunity. You'll be glad you did.

Today we are talking about a few of the credentialed athletes who are already on GL's registration list. Please note that we received this list last week, thus it is likely that several additional competitve athletes have signed up.

Also, since the list we saw did not indicate which race the athletes are doing, our comments will be general....

Expected to lead the way in whichever race he does, though we suspect that he will do the Olympic event, is second-year pro TED TREISE. Olympic and 70.3 races are his forte and he has three major victories--2018 Augusta (GA) 70.3, 2018 Waco (TX) 69.1 (cancelled swim), and 2019 Maple Grove Olympic--on his scorecard. At Maple Grove he outraced Iowa's talented KALEB ROYSER, who dominated at GL Olympic last year.

The women's Olympic race has a clear favorite: DIANE HANKEE. Diane has amassed 36 multisport wins in her career and too many podium finished to count.

In 2019, SPENCER SYVERTSON (top photo) lowered John Shelp's 2012 sprint course record here from 58:35 to 57:46. He's back and unless Treise decides to go short, he could record his third W  on this course. Standing in his way, however, is North Dakota's ANDREW MANNING, who placed a surprising 2nd last weekend at Big Lake. If Andrew races like he did then, he's our pick to win.

Giving Treise a run for his money in the Olympic race will be rising star DAVID KOPPEL, who rocked two awesome Olympic performances in 2019, where he place 4th against a great field at Buffalo, and 2nd at Clearwater behind 2019 Most improved winner / #2 on Team MInnesota JOSH MORK. He was on pace to podium at Big Lake last Saturday before he was struck, but not hurt, by a motorcycle. He's got something to prove on Sunday, so Ted needs to be on his game if he hopes to keep David in his rearview mirror. Additionally, KEVIN O'CONNOR, Green Lake Olympic's Masters Record holder, has enrolled, so the Olympic podium seems to be set, unless of course, guys like JOSH MORK, JOSH BLANKENHEIM, JOE ADRIAENS decide to sign-up.

Two-time Green Lake Sprint winner, JENNIFER NEUMAN, who has also podiumed here on six other occasions, hopes to pick up another W, the 12th of her multisport career. She's 50 now and her stiffest competition could come from fellow five-o-genarian TERESA VAN HEFTE, 53 (photo R), of bucolic Hartford, South Dakota, population 3500ish. Teresa, who sports a cool Amy Klobuchar hairdo, is a three-time winner here. These women last faced each other in 2015, with Jen winning and Teresa placing third.

The junior competition in the sprint promises to be exciting. On paper, it appears that JACK HENNEN, 19, and CARSON ROEHL, 17, will battle for the Top Spot, unless, of course, CARSON DEICHMAN, 17, who is coming off a great effort at Pigman Sprint two weeks ago, and an impressive 14th against a super field last weekend at Big Lake, decides to return to Spicer.  Carson D placed 2nd behind Syvertson in '19, with Roehl rounding out the youthful podium. Hennen, who capped the 2018 with arguably his best performance to date (2nd at One Last Tri Sprint), is making his Green Lake debut.

The junior girls field is a deep one. MACY IYER, 16, who placed 2nd overall in the women's race here in 2018, is enrolled, as is fellow Junior of the Year nominee SIMONE LUNDQUIST. So are the BELL sisters, MORGAN, 17, and MACY, 15, both of whom won their AGs here last year and cracked the overall women's Top 6. If Macy races like she did at Big Lake last weekend, she is our pick to win the women's sprint title. 

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