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Cool Stuff & Kinda Sad Stuff...

Tuesday, 23 January 2018 23:10

Lots of unpredictable stuff happened during the 2017 season, some of which was very cool, some of which was somewhat sad. Let's look at some of those things.

COOL STUFF -

- Three women--GABY BUNTEN, CHRISTINA ROBERTS, KORTNEY HAAG--were legitimate Triathlete of the Year candidates. Typically, there is a clear choice. Very cool!

- BRIAN SAMES and his girlfriend TORI NUGENT had twins who they tell apart by their hats! 

- Team Minnesota featured three first timers: NATHAN ANSBAUGH, MAGGIE WEISS and KELLY TROM.

KINDA SAD STUFF 

- 2017 Everthing of the Year HANNA GRINAKER was not nominated for awards, nor did she earn a spot on Team MInnesota. It felt weird not to have her in the mix. She only raced in three multis, in which she had impressive results:

2nd @ Apple (behind Dani Vsetecka's POY-nominated win) ...

3rd @ Madison 70.3 (Behind Dani V's POY victory, and IMOO winner Dani Fischer's 2nd place. Less than one minute separated 1st and 3rd.)

3rd @ Minneapolis Triathlon (behind Gaby Bunten and Missouri's Danielle Dingman.)

These three efforts, all against national class competition, would have been enough to land her on Team Minnesota, probably in the 7th-10th range. BUT, she lost her chip at Minneapolis and instead of challenging her 3rd place 2:10, she self-deked, a classy thing to do, which left her with a two result resume.

We truly hope that Hanna bounces back in 2018.

- A decorated athlete who had an unlucky 2017 was CHERYL ZITUR. After rocking three consecutive Master of the Year seasons, Cheryl's 2017 scorecard was low-lighted by a flat at Buffalo Sprint, and a crash/DNF at Walker. Her masters win at Liberty Half and outright victory, her 11th since turning 49 (she's 53 now), were her only viable results, not enough for an MOY nomination.

We know Cheryl. She WILL bounce back in 2018.