By: Eddie Malone

TEAM

Event 1

410-lb. partner deadlifts
Synchronized chest-to-bar pull-ups

MF pair 1 completes 45 reps
MF pair 2 completes 27-18 reps
MF pair 3 completes 21-15-9 reps

Time cap: 20 minutes

Event 1 was an awkward event, to say the least. Communication and timing were absolutely crucial with both the partner deadlifts and the synchronized pull-ups. Missed reps caused teams frustration and cost them in terms of time, throwing them off their pre-planned rep schemes. Early on teams found success with the kipping pull-up but in heat 3 the fastest teams used the butterfly pull-up to great effect.  CrossFit Mobile Midtown was the fastest team of the first two heats, finishing with a time of 17:22. 12 Labours CrossFit, formerly known as CrossFit Syndicate, finished 9^th at the CrossFit Games in Carson last year, and their experience showed. In heat 3, they overcame a quick start from CrossFit Squad, their last male-female pairing assuming the lead and never giving it up. RAW Training, another team with tons of Games experience, took the runner-up spot. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the underachievement of Rising Orange, a 2014 Games qualifier and the #5 team in the world during this year’s Open. The team struggled throughout the event and couldn’t finish within the 20-minute time cap. 

Results

1. 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia (15:45)
2. RAW Training (16:27)
3. CrossFit Spartanburg (16:28)
4. Competitive EDGE Wilmington (16:38)
5. CrossFit Mobile Midtown (17:22)

Event 2

175 snatches (75 / 55 lb.)
25 rope climbs
115 thrusters (115 / 75 lb.)

Time cap: 25 minutes

Athlete order: MMM then FFF

Event 2 was fast and straightforward, with two pulls (rope climbs and light snatches) and a push (moderate weight thruster). In general, athletes had few problems with these movements, cycling quickly. The one thing that tripped teams up was the new rope climb rule. Instead of dropping straight down from the top of the rig, athletes for safety reasons were now required to demonstrate control on the descent until they reached the 9 ft. mark on the rope. As a result, there were more than a few no reps throughout the event. Peak 360 CrossFit recorded the fastest time in heat 1 at 20:48. The women of CrossFit Unmatched and CrossFit RDU raced each other to the finish line in heat 2, with the latter taking it at 21:08. After stumbling on Event 1, favorites Rising Orange found a measure of redemption here. Behind the leadership of Michelle Crawford, a 2013 individual Games competitor, their ladies took the lead on the thrusters to finish at 20 minutes even. 

Results

1. Rising Orange (20:00)
2. Competitive EDGE Wilmington (20:12)
3. CrossFit Terminus (20:36)
4. 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia (20:36)
5. The CrossFit Squad (20:46)

Overall Standings

1. 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia (185 pts)
2. Competitive EDGE Wilmington (180 pts)
3. CrossFit Terminus (163 pts)
4. RAW Training (160 pts)
5. Rising Orange (153 pts)

INDIVIDUAL MEN

Event 1

Randy

For time:
75 snatches (75 / 55 lb.)

Time cap: 6 minutes

Some of the biggest names in the CrossFit world were on the competition floor, but it was the lesser known athletes who garnered the fastest times. 

 Speed and pain endurance were required for this Hero WOD. Despite this need for speed, the fastest athletes were able to rest a second or two, with the barbell on the ground, without it damaging their placement. As far as technique goes, the muscle snatch was much faster than the power snatch, but it got hard to persevere with that technique and not use your hips and legs, especially over the last 25 reps. Elijah Muhammad used a split snatch technique on the final 25 reps to win heat 1 with a blistering time of 2:41, but the fastest athletes were yet to come. Heat 2 featured Games veterans Guido Trinidad and Garrett Fisher, once of the Nor Cal region, but it was Joe Kearney and Thomas Nay who stole the show with times of 2:40 and 2:41 respectively. Nay put down the bar with just a few reps to go, and it was this pause in action that cost him the heat win. Still, he was able to finish a tenth of a second ahead of Muhammad, putting him in second place overall at the time. In heat 3, Julian Serna came out the hottest, muscle snatching the first 50 reps without slowing down. He started to struggle on that last 25, however, and Dominick Maurici took advantage, accelerating to outrace everyone and smash the previous top time by six seconds. The top-ranked athletes in heat 4—a field of big names including Ben Smith, Travis Mayer, Noah Ohlsen and Daniel Petro—could not catch Maurici, in spite of impressive sub 3-minute performances. With his 2:41, Ohlsen, one of the weekend favorites, got the closest. Ohlsen said that his strategy was to “hang onto the bar as long as possible. When I had to drop it, put in a little power snatches with my hips and went as hard as I could through to the finish.”

Results

1. Dominick Maurici (2:34.3)
2. Joe Kearney (2:40.0)
3. Thomas Nay (2:41.4)
4. Elijah Muhammad (2:41.5)
5. Noah Ohlsen (2:41.6)

Event 2

Tommy V

For time:

21 thrusters
12 rope climbs
15 thrusters
9 rope climbs
9 thrusters
6 rope climbs

M 115-lb. thrusters, 15-ft. rope
F 75-lb. thrusters, 15-ft. rope

Time cap: 16 minutes

Aaron Hanna from CrossFit Clearwater didn’t enter Event 2 as a name on everyone’s lips, but by the time he exited the competition floor he was both an event winner and near the top of the leaderboard after Day 1.  

In the second Hero WOD of the day, athletes by and large went unbroken on the thrusters. The rope climbs were a different story and something of a slog as arm fatigue set in and athletes were forced to stare at the rope, wasting precious seconds. Clearly, rope climbs separated the men from the boys in this event.  

From heat 1, Elijah Muhammad and Kyle Ruth tied each other with a time of 8:13, a score which would stand until the final heat. In heat 4, Noah Ohlsen took an early lead, getting to the rope first and setting a consistent pace on the climbs, with two pulls to get to the top. Hannah, however, was close on his heels and assumed the lead at the tail end of the second set of rope climbs. With both Hannah and Ohlsen on the last set of 6 rope climbs, racing, they kept an eye on one another, the pain clearly etched on their faces. In the end, Hannah prevailed, taking both the heat and the fastest time of the day at 7:17. Ohlsen stepped on the finish mat at 7:31 in second place. 

Results

1. Aaron Hanna (7:17)
2. Noah Ohlsen (7:31)
3. Nathan Keil (7:55)
4. Ben Smith (7:56)
5. Kyle Ruth (8:13)
6. Elijah Muhammad (8:13)

Overall Standings

1. Noah Ohlsen (175 pts)
2. Elijah Muhammad (165 pts)
3. Aaron Hanna (153 pts)
4. Joe Kearney (148 pts)
5. Ben Smith (148 pts)

INDIVIDUAL WOMEN

Event 1

Randy

For time:
75 snatches (75 / 55 lb.)

Time cap: 6 minutes

Samantha Briggs had something to prove. After failing to qualify from the Europe region last year, the 2013 Games champ blew away the competition in Event 1, in spite of being surrounded by Games veterans, including Emily Bridgers.

In heat 1, Jessica Carillon set the bar early with a time of 3:00. Her time would stand until the final heat. Lauren Brooks, 7^th place finisher at the 2014 Games in her rookie season, was calm and methodical as she overtook early leader Nicole Capurso to win heat 3 with a 3:05. But she was still five seconds slower than Carillon. The last heat was full of Games veterans: Emily Bridgers, Samantha Briggs, Cassidy Lance, Anna Tunnicliffe and Christy Adkins. Bridgers, the number 1 ranked athlete in the regional, was no repped trying to transition from the first set of 25 reps to the next, making her the last athlete to move on to that second set. Even without this mistake, it would have been difficult to catch Briggs. Fast and calm throughout, the Briton muscle snatched her way from beginning to end, beating Carillon by over half a minute. Five athletes total, including four Games veterans, would end up besting Carillon’s time. For her part, Bridgers finished 7^th in the heat and 15^th overall with a 3:16. 

Briggs said that her plan was to go unbroken: “I said everyone else is going to be fast.  I just had to go for it. Luckily, that strategy worked.”

Results

1. Samantha Briggs (2:28.8)
2. Cassidy Lance (2:45.8)
3. Anna Tunnicliffe (2:52.3)
4. Alea Helmick (2:55.7)
5. Christy Adkins (2:55.9)

Event 2

Tommy V

For time:

21 thrusters
12 rope climbs
15 thrusters
9 rope climbs
9 thrusters
6 rope climbs

M 115-lb. thrusters, 15-ft. rope
F 75-lb. thrusters, 15-ft. rope

Time cap: 16 minutes

Anna Tunnicliffe, Games veteran and Olympic gold medalist in sailing, capped an impressive day by outclassing the field on Event 2. Samantha Briggs couldn’t match Tunnicliffe’s speed and consistency on the rope, but her second-place finish assured her of the leaderboard’s top spot after Day 1. 

Like for the men, the rope climbs were the significant sticking point for the women. 

Three of eight women didn’t finish the workout within the time cap in the first heat. Heat 2’s Jaimie Byerly established the top time at 11:41 that was then bested by Whitney Gelin’s 10:51 in heat 3. Notably, in the same heat, Lauren Brooks did not manage to finish under the 16-minute time cap and will have a mountain to climb if she’s to make it back to the Games. 

Going in to Event 2, Emily Bridgers knew she had some catching up to do. She came out fast, getting to the rope first, but lost the lead to Games veteran Anna Tunnicliffe. Briggs and her famed engine were a distant second to Tunnicliffe as early as the second set of rope climbs. However, Briggs was still far ahead of Bridgers who lost steam and ended up 6^th in the event. Bridgers won’t be too dismayed by the performance. After a poor showing in Event 1, she did enough good work to bring her up to sixth overall, with two days of competition to go and five qualifying spots available for the Games.  

“I practiced rope climbs a lot early on in my CrossFit career,” Tunnicliffe said. “I just really knew my pace, knew I could get up there in two pulls and just tried to make sure I got a good high jump so I didn’t have to waste any extra energy holding on.”

Results

1. Anna Tunnicliffe (8:24)
2. Samantha Briggs (9:36)
3. Whitney Gelin (10:51)
4. Madi Mansberger (11:00)
5. Christy Adkins (11:01)

Overall Standings

1. Samantha Briggs (195 pts)
2. Anna Tunnicliffe (190 pts)
3. Christy Adkins (160 pts)
4. Whitney Gelin (153 pts)
5. Alea Helmick (152 pts)

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