Atlantic Individual Report: Day 3

May 17, 2015

Brittany Ghiroli

The Atlantic Regional is complete. 

The fittest of the Atlantic Regional have been crowned. 

 

After failing twice on her final 175-lb. squat clean in Event 7’s finale, Sam Briggs ran and grabbed her weight belt several yards away. She wasn’t letting anything stop her from getting back to the CrossFit Games.

Briggs—who failed to qualify from last year’s Europe Regional—returned to the podium in the Atlantic Regional placing second behind hometown hero Emily Bridgers.

Bridgers, the winner of the final two events, joined the men’s champion Noah Ohlsen to form a South East sweep atop the leaderboard. Anna Tunnicliffe took third for the women with Cassidy Lance and Whitney Gelin placing fourth and fifth, respectively, to grab the final two Games spots.

The men will send three rookies—Aaron Hanna, Elijah Muhammad and Nathan Bramblett—along with Ben Smith, who took fourth overall to secure his seventh consecutive Games appearance.

“(I) couldn’t be any happier,” said Ohlsen, who won his second consecutive regional. “It was a year of preparation and all the years before that, so it feels good that all the hard work paid off and the hours of my life dedicated toward this sport is for something. I got to the next level. I get to represent my gym, my family, my state. So it feels good.”

MEN


Event 6

The top three men in Event 6 were outside of the final heat, but for Nathan Bramblett, who entered the day in fifth place, winning Heat 4 was enough of a victory.

“It’s hard to not feel good about that finish,” said Bramblett, who took fourth in the event in 11:51 propelling him up to second place on the leaderboard, behind only Noah Ohslen. “Travis (Mayer) and Noah (Ohlsen) are both studs and I’ve looked up to them for a while in the sport, so it’s fun to be out there with them, going toe-to-toe with them.”

The event— which consisted of 5 rounds of a 25-calorie row, 16 chest-to-bar pull-ups and 9 strict deficit handstand push-ups— saw a blistering pace set early. Mayer did the first 2 rounds unbroken and was virtually tied with Bramblett. Ohlsen, who did his fourth round of pull-ups unbroken, made it a three-way race.

“I made the mistake last year of trying to pace workouts too much,” said Bramblett, who just missed qualifying for the Games with a fifth-place finish at the 2014 Mid Atlantic Regional. “The field is just too good; you can’t pace. You’ve got to give it everything you have, every workout and see if you have something left for the next one.”

Ohlsen took sixth in the event with 12:05, but took a formidable edge atop the leaderboard by 46 points.

Elijah Muhammad, in second place going into Day 3, again showed his weakness on the strict handstand push-ups—which set him back last year, too—and slid into fifth. Though first off the rower in Round 1, Muhammad didn’t finish under the 16-minute time cap as he struggled with the 4.5-inch deficit and placed 32nd in the event.

Jacob Anderson won the event in 11:37, moving him up to 10th overall. Garret Fisher, who was in 39th place after Event 1, moved into ninth overall after taking ninth in Event 6.

Event 6 Results
1. Jacob Anderson (11:37.8)
2. Alec Smith (11:50.2)
3. Jordan Troyan (11:50.4)
4. Nathan Bramblett (11:51.1)
5. Travis Mayer (12:05)

Event 7

There was only one word for the seventh and final event of the Atlantic Regional: electrifying.

Muhammad came off the rings in the second half of the final 10 men, then effortlessly completed the squat clean ladder, ending with a 265-lb. lift that solidified his first trip to the Games.

“I was like, ‘OK, the weight doesn’t get extremely heavy, but maybe just enough to tax some other guys and make them halt on that weight just enough for me to grab it and go,” said Muhammad, who crossed the finish line with a first-place event finish in 1:18.3 that sent the crowd into a fervor.

Muhammad—whose face was plastered on signs throughout the Georgia World Congress Center—finished in third overall, while Hanna was able to secure a second-place finish after tying for fourth in Event 7.

“Muscle-ups were never easy for me, they’ve always been something I had to work on. But I love squat cleans, so I guess it was a good combination,” Hanna said. “Just tried to get the muscle-ups unbroken … I’m super excited.”

The lightning-fast event saw the final heat of men all bunched together, though Ohlsen didn’t need to be near the top to secure his first-place regional finish. He was joined by the rookies Hanna and Muhammad, along with Bramblett in fifth to compete in Carson, California, for the first time.

“It’s exciting because this year they had strict handstand push-ups and that was the most humbling experience that I ever had last year,” said Muhammad, referring to the 39th-place finish on the strict handstand push-up event which kept him out of the Games in 2014. “So, not only am I glad to be going (to the Games) knowing I worked on a movement (strict handstand push-ups) for a full year, got as good at it as I could, learned a better game plan, learned my body better and now I’m going (to the Games). It feels that much better.”

Ben Smith secured his spot with a seventh-place finish in 1:22. The 25-year-old had a consistently solid weekend.

“It feels great. I’m really excited to go back,” Smith said. “Just super happy to make it back; the competition was really tough this year. Everybody was really fast, it was great.”

Event 7 Results
1. Elijah Muhammad (1:18.3)
2. Brian Rottman (1:18.9)
3. Gerald Sasser (1:19.2)
4T. Jacob Anderson (1:20.6)
4T. Aaron Hanna (1:20.6)

CrossFit Games Qualifiers
1. Noah Ohlsen (564 points)
2. Aaron Hanna (526 points)
3. Elijah Muhammad (524 points)
4. Ben Smith (516 points)
5. Nathan Bramblett (504 points)

WOMEN


Event 6

Emily Bridgers catapulted into second place on Day 2 and showed no signs of slowing down on Sunday.

The former gymnast put on a show in Event 6, going unbroken in five sets of 9 strict handstand push-ups at a 3-inch deficit to easily take first place in 14:01. Bridgers, who then moved atop the leaderboard, was able to outdistance herself from second-place finisher Sam Briggs and pumped her fist in the air as she raced to the finish line.

“Especially strict, handstand push-ups are kind of my thing and (I was) able to separate myself from the other girls a little more,” said Bridgers, who fell behind Briggs several times on the 25-calorie row but took the lead for good on the fourth round during the handstand push-ups. “My strategy was to break up the chest-to-bar as needed, and go unbroken on the wall and try to get that lead.”

Briggs, who went unbroken in four of the five pull-up sets of 16, did her handstand push-ups mostly in sets of three and was able to lock down second in the event—keeping her in third overall—with a 15:22 finish.

“I would have liked to do them all unbroken, but Emily was quite a ways ahead on that fifth round so I didn't want to fry my grip anymore than it already was,” Briggs said of finally taking a break on the pull-up bar. “I knew it was going to be slower with the handstand push-ups so I was just trying to take it easy and make sure no one overtakes me.”

Briggs added: “If I can come in second after the season that I’ve had, I’ll be thrilled to be make the trip out to Carson.”

The two women were the only ones to finish under the 16-minute time cap in the final heat, with Hannah Richards also sneaking in at 15:59 in Heat 2.

Event 6 Results
1. Emily Bridgers (14:01.4)
2. Sam Briggs (15:22.5)
3. Hannah Richards (15:59.0)
4T. Anna Tunnicliffe (CAP+1)
4T. Cassidy Lance (CAP+1)

Event 7

Emily Bridgers knew it was possible. After a pair of wins on Saturday and a fourth-place finish, Bridgers found herself in second place entering Sunday’s final day and a regional title was within reach.

So when Bridgers—who also won Sunday’s first event—completed her 15 muscle-ups ahead of everyone but Sam Briggs, she went for it.

“I figured she’d come off the muscle-ups first but I just needed to get good clean reps and worry about the rest later,” said Bridgers, who passed Briggs by the third squat clean (155 lb.) in the ascending ladder and never looked back. “(Briggs) struggled with a back injury, I think the cleans are something she hasn’t been able to train as much. I saw that I was gaining some ground and was able to surpass her.”

Bridgers took the event and the Atlantic Regional title, crossing the finish line in a speedy 1:33.9. Briggs failed twice before landing her final squat clean at 175 lb., allowing several competitors to sneak in before her.

Christy Adkins took second in 1:48.1 but the solid finish wasn’t enough to get her into the top five as Adkins saw her streak of consecutive Games appearances snapped at six. Anna Tunnicliffe, who was in first place for the first two days of competition, turned in her worst showing in the final event—placing 20th—but was still able to take third overall in the women’s competition.

“I knew that going into the last workout it didn't matter, but throughout the whole weekend I knew I had to do as well as I could because my muscle-ups still aren't where I wanted them to be at,” said Tunnicliffe, who finished last in the final heat with a time of 3:56.1.  

Gelin and Lance placed seventh and eighth in the final event to ensure each athlete a trip to the Games.

“I just worked really hard and it just would have been very upsetting (if I didn’t qualify) so I knew I had to come in and do a job; I was here for one reason and I could rest later,” Lance said. “My quote always is ‘pain is temporary, glory lives forever.’ Today was the last day, and these last two workouts were my favorite workouts—had gymnastics, had heavy weight (in them)—so I was really excited to do these workouts, I just had to get through the first three, and then it was all fun from there.”

“After a weekend like this you just to be grateful for your opportunities that you’re given in life,” Gelin said. “I wasn’t expecting to go individual this year, and I ended up going individual. … I guess everything happens for a reason, and I’m just really honored and privileged to be standing on the same floor as these girls right now. I’ll see what I can do in California.”

Event 7 Results
1. Emily Bridgers (1:33.9)
2. Christy Adkins (1:48.1)
3. Caroline Dardini (1:57.7)
4. Alea Helmick (2:02.1)
5. Sam Briggs   (2:13.8)

CrossFit Games Qualifiers
1. Emily Bridgers (617 points)
2. Sam Briggs (584 points)
3. Anna Tunnicliffe (561 points)
4. Cassidy Lance (541 points)
5. Whitney Gelin (483 points)