Atlantic Individual Report: Day 1

May 15, 2015

Brittany Ghiroli

Briggs and Ohlsen lead in the South after Hero Friday.

Briggs and Ohlsen lead in the South after Hero Friday.

What do you get when you combine two regions and take away a spot? An incredibly competitive regional.  

And Sam Briggs, who failed to qualify for last year’s CrossFit Games after winning in 2013, is expected to be right at the top. Briggs, who placed fourth at the Europe Regional last year, joins a stacked Atlantic women’s division that has two of last year’s top-10 Games finishers in Emily Bridgers (sixth) and Lauren Brooks (seventh).

Bridgers and Brooks are two powerhouses out of the South East Region and they’ll go head-to-head with some of the Mid Atlantic’s best women, including six-time Games competitor Christy Adkins and two-time Olympic sailor Anna Tunnicliffe.

On the men’s side, the Games spots will also be incredibly tough to secure though there are some quieter names lurking below the well-known athletes.

Ben Smith is trying to win his sixth regionals and has dominated in the Mid Atlantic, though he will now go up against rising South East star Noah Ohlsen. Elijah Muhammad, who narrowly missed qualifying for the Games last year, could make some noise and Garret Fisher, who is new to the South East Region, is trying to return to the Games after missing out in 2014.

If Day 1 is any indication, the men’s competition could bring a significant change in power. Of the top 10 through the first two events, just three men had previous Games experience. 

Men

Event 1: Randy


The first individual event of the day brought with it some surprises as none of the top-10 seeded men placed in the top four.

Instead it was Dominick Maurici who stole the show in Heat 3, finishing the 75 reps of 75-lb. snatches in 2:34.3 to earn first place by a margin of more than 5 seconds.

“I saw Jason Khalipa's time and I thought, 'If he can do it I can, too,’” Maurici said, referring to Khalipa’s ~2:28 performance he posted to YouTube May 6, which notably skipped the 125-ft. sprint to the finish that was required of all regional athletes. “The worst part about it was the running at the end (to the finish line); I couldn't feel my legs.”

While Maurici—who finished the Open ranked 14th overall in the South East Region—has never been to the CrossFit Games, he’s a regional veteran. He placed 15th last year in the South East with three top-10 finishes, including a win on Nasty Girls V2. Maurici was ninth in ’13 and his best regional to date was in ’12 when he finished fifth.

“Honestly, I've been mentally preparing myself this entire week more than physically, because we're all physically capable here,” he said. “We're here for a reason. The mental game—who can push through the pain."

The second- and third-place finishers came out of Heat 2 with Joe Kearney finishing in 2:40 and Thomas Nay in 2:41.4.

Ohlsen, who won the South East Regional and placed eighth at the CrossFit Games last year, hung on to win the final heat despite several late breaks. Ohlsen was the first through 50 snatches and went 6-9-10 for his final reps before sprinting to the finish line.

“I figured if I could get through the first two sets and (then) kind of just gut out the rest of it,” Ohlsen said. “My grip started to go and I was having to really press out as I was muscle snatching it.”

“I had 10 left and was like, ‘I have to hang on,’” he continued. “It was killing me. I thought the bar was going to fly out of my hands. But I had to finish.”

Reigning Mid Atlantic champ Ben Smith finished 12th with a time of 2:49.3, but his reps were methodical—typical of a six-time Games veteran. Garret Fisher, who is trying to return to the Games after narrowly missing out in the NorCal Region last year, finished 39th.

Event 1 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

Aaron Hanna hasn’t always been good at rope climbs, but the 26-year-old put on a clinic Friday afternoon.

While nearly all of the men’s field went unbroken on the 21-15-9 thruster portion of Hero workout Tommy V, the separator was the rope climbs and Hanna was relentless in the 12-9-6 rope ascents, edging out Noah Ohlsen to take first place in 7:17.2.

“(Rope climbs are) something that I found out in 2013 I needed to work on, and the last couple years I’ve done a lot of them and it kind of became something I like,” said Hanna, who is from CrossFit Clearwater in Florida. “So when I saw this event announced I was really looking forward to it.”

Hanna was behind Ohlsen through the first round of thrusters and rope climbs and he closed the 1-rep gap in the middle round. He was the first man in Heat 4 to head to the barbell for 9 thrusters, minimizing transition time by immediately going into the next movement.

“I saw Noah and I were neck-and-neck, and I just tried to stay one rope climb ahead of him because he’s pretty good,” said Hanna who finished eighth in the South East Region last year. “Figured it was a good guy to go up against. I was watching his judge to see how many climbs he had left. I don't know if he was watching me or not, but it was a good push there at the end.”

Ohlsen finished in 7:31.1 while Nathan Keil—third in 7:55.1—joined Ben Smith (7:56.6) as the only men to go sub-8 minutes. It was a big bounce back for Keil who took 23rd in Event 1.  

“To be honest, (my grip) doesn’t feel that bad,” Keil said. “The forearms were done after Randy, the biceps were done after that. So, it was just a different emphasis. I never felt like I was going to fail on a rope climb, I just had to be really smart using my feet.”

Elijah Muhammad won his heat for the second time, finishing in 8:13.8 to tie for fifth in Event 2 and put him in second place overall after Day 1.

Event 2 Results
1. Aaron Hanna (7:17.2)
2. Noah Ohlsen (7:31.1)
3. Nathan Keil (7:55.1)
4. Ben Smith (7:56.6)
5T. Elijah Muhammad (8:13.8)
5T. Kyle Ruth (8:13.8)

Overall Standings
1. Noah Ohlsen (175 points)
2. Elijah Muhammad (165 points)
3. Aaron Hanna (153 points)
4. Joe Kearney (148 points)
5. Ben Smith (148 points)
6. Craig Williams (140 points)
7. Dominick Maurici (137 points)
8. Nathan Bramblett (134 points)
9. Nathan Keil (131 points)
10. Travis Mayer (130 points)

WoMEN


Event 1: Randy

Briggs wasn’t going to downplay things. She had been waiting for this moment for the past year, ever since she tearfully exited the Europe Regional having fallen short of the CrossFit Games.

And Briggs didn’t just beat the women’s field in Randy’s race of 75 55-lb. power snatches. She beat everyone finishing in 2:28.8—faster than the male leader by 5.5 seconds.

Briggs’ strategy was simple: never put the bar down. And while some of her competitors enacted that same game plan, no one came close to doing it as efficiently as Briggs, who muscle-snatched and never slowed down.

“I knew it was going to be faster if I could not put the bar down hopefully I could come off first,” said Briggs. “(My grip is) fried. The last few were horrendous, but I got through it.”

Briggs was the first to 50 reps, followed closely by reigning South East champ Emily Bridgers, who faded out and finished 15th in 3:16.9. While no one caught Briggs, Cassidy Lance put on a show in the final third of the event, taking second in 2:45.8.

Games veteran Anna Tunnicliffe, known for her strong engine, took third in 2:52.3 and was able to outpace most of her heat down the stretch.

Lauren Brooks, who had a breakout year placing seventh at the 2014 Games, won Heat 2 and went unbroken on the snatches to result in a ninth-place finish (3:06).

“I feel like that’s one of those workouts where you never really know how you’re going to feel during,” Brooks said. “You can practice it as much as you want, but come game day it’s like your body does what it wants.”

Brooks continued: “So my strategy was to fill my lungs with air, let it out, take sets, and on the last one you just have to push yourself. There were a couple of reps at the end where I didn’t know if I was going to be able to hang on to the bar. Then I took off to run and my legs almost gave out on me. I was like a little Bambi. But it was a successful strategy and I’m happy with the way that I executed it.”

Event 1 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

When Tommy V—a mix of rope climbs and thrusters—was announced, Tunnicliffe wasn’t sure how she would fare. Unlike many of her competitors, Tunnicliffe didn’t practice Event 2 beforehand and hadn’t done the Hero workout for years.  

There certainly wasn’t any rust. Tunnicliffe crushed the competition, finishing the brutal pairing in 8:24.9, more than a minute faster than second-place Briggs.

“My coach was just off to the side and I could hear him in my head saying, ‘Get back on that rope,’” Tunnicliffe said laughing. “The strategy was to bust out the first couple each time and settle into a pace. Come down, do your count and get back up. I didn’t know where anyone was, I knew Sam (Briggs) was going to be good at this and if I wanted to win I had to keep moving.”

While most of the women in the top heat used a lot of upper body, Tunnicliffe scrunched herself up into a ball each time and didn’t pull until her legs were above her face.

“Especially when you have 27 rope climbs to complete, you don’t want to use your arms that much,” she said of her technique. “I think my coach taught me from the beginning how to climb the rope that way, and I knew I could make it up each time in two climbs.”

Tunnicliffe separated herself early and never let up, keeping a steady pace throughout the climbs. Behind her, Briggs was the second athlete to complete the first round of 21 thrusters and 12 rope climbs, and had a firm grip on second the entire event.

The rest of the top five emerged from a thrilling race in Heat 3 with Madi Mansberger holding a commanding lead for most of the event. But Mansberger was no-repped several times on her final climb and Whitney Gelin was able to sneak in and race across the finish line in 10:51.3, good enough for third in the event.

“I’m always a big fan of thrusters so I was going to be excited to do that part, and I think the rope climb is one of those things where you just have to keep yourself moving,” Gelin said. “I was out there with a good group of girls to pace myself off of and I was happy with my performance.”

Five women did not finish the event in the 16-minute time cap. Lauren Brooks was one of them, falling one climb short. Brooks finished the event in a tie for 33rd, which dropped her to 22nd overall.

Event 2 Results
1. Anna Tunnicliffe (8:24.9)
2. Samantha Briggs (9:36.4)
3. Whitney Gelin (10:51.3)
4. Madi Mansberger (11:00)
5. Christy Adkins (11:01.7)

Overall Standings
1. Samantha Briggs (195 points)
2. Anna Tunnicliffe (190 points)
3. Christy Adkins (160 points)
4. Whitney Gelin (153 points)
5. Alea Helmick (152 points)
6. Emily Bridgers (132 points)
7. Jessica Carillon (130 points)
8. Laura Brannen (130 points)
9. Madi Mansberger (128 points)
10. Cassidy Lance (124 points)