The second day's events shuffled the overall leaderboard.
At the end of Day 1, four of the top five teams were from the Mid Atlantic, including top seed 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia, a heavy favorite that placed ninth at last year’s Games.
But if past regionals are any indication, Day 1 is merely a warmup and Day 2 is the separator. A morning filled with a brutal combination of unfamiliar elements, brute strength and gymnastics skill greeted the teams Saturday, and the end result changed the landscape of the Atlantic Regional competition.
First on the agenda was a mixture of running and wall-ball shots, though it wasn’t any ordinary lap across the floor. Athletes contended with the TrueForm Runner, an athlete-powered treadmill on which some athletes stumbled and many got off of heaving as though they had run a much longer distance; the curved platform of the treadmill punishes any flaws in the athlete’s running form. There was a test of strength and speed next, a 1-rep-max snatch in Team Event 4 followed two-minutes later by Team Event 5’s 100-meter handstand walk relay. The combo was a serious test of each athlete’s strength and skill at Olympic weightlifting under pressure, and speed on their hands.
In the end, several teams took a step closer toward the ultimate goal of being one of five teams to advance to the CrossFit Games. Other teams watched that dream begin to fade.
TEAM EVENT 3
This event was dominated by one thing: the TrueForm Runner. Like Team Event 2, teams were able to rely on their speedier team members by having them do more work with the 0.5-mile run and 50 wall-ball shots, as the reps were lowered by 0.1 of a mile and 10 wall-ball shots in each successive round.
While Team Event 2—the Randy and Tommy V mash-up of power snatches, rope climbs, and thrusters—was set up so the work could be parceled out, or completely avoided, by certain team members, Team Event 3 put everyone on the treadmill for at least 0.3 of a mile and the weaker runners were exposed.
RAW Training capitalized on the event, taking a lead with the help of its second male/female pair—each tasked with a 0.4-mile run and 40 wall balls—and cruising to an event win in 17:45.
“Wall balls were pretty much ancillary for us, so we just focused on running as fast as possible,” said RAW’s Bruce Barger, whose team started the day in fourth place. “We put (our team) in order of who has the fastest times at those distances. We have a TrueForm treadmill at our gym, but it’s a little bit older than these ones, so it was much different. But we at least got some practice on them. So I definitely think it helped.”
Rising Orange was one of the six teams that had its male/female pair finish their 0.5 mile and 50 wall balls in sub-10 minutes, as Michelle Crawford was the first female off the TrueForm. That came as no surprise—Crawford won the ZigZag Sprint as an individual in the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games.
But Rising Orange struggled later on the treadmill and was passed as CrossFit Bound’s final male reached the treadmill first and took second in Heat 3 and third in the event in 18:26.
Team FYF took second overall (18:22) and was able to out-maneuver many of its competitors in Heat 2 as several guys were held up waiting on the treadmill while the female in front of them had not yet completed her wall balls. Chase Daniels of HustleHard CrossFit did his 50 wall balls unbroken—an amazing feat considering many athletes parceled them out in small sets, even in the middle round of 40.
But this event was all about the running, as athletes got off the TrueForm with quads burning and lungs gasping for air. Sixteen teams did not finish within the 20-minute time cap, including 14 of the top 20 teams.
“It’s a little more difficult,” RAW’s Maria De Iuliis said. “You just have to keep your momentum going when you’re tired.”
12 Labours Columbia CrossFit and Competitive EDGE—the top two teams entering Day 2—finished sixth and eighth on the event, respectively.
Team Event 3 Results
1. RAW Training (17:45.4)
2. Team FYF (18:22.1)
3. CrossFit Bound (18:26.7)
4. Rising Orange (18:30.0)
5. CrossFit Ybor (18:35.7)
TEAM EVENTs 4 and 5
Teresa Luz, of 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia, approached the bar in Heat 4 and gingerly bent over with just 75 lb.—easily the lightest weight on the floor—set as her snatch opener. With a pained expression, Luz—whose one-rep is listed at 153-lb.—grabbed the bar and eked out a muscle snatch, an ominous start to a disappointing Day 2 for the top-seeded team.
12 Labours dropped to second after a sixth-place finish in Team Event 3 and continued to fall down the leaderboard with a 24th-place finish in the max snatch event. Christen Wagner, who has a 190-lb. snatch and has competed at the Games as both an individual and part of last year’s CrossFit Syndicate Games team, failed twice at 165 lb. as the six members totaled 875 lb. in the 6-minute allowance.
“We kind of knew the snatch was going to be a bad event, just because Teresa could barely get 75 lb. off the floor, but we thought Christen could make up some of that time and maybe we would hit some good numbers,” 12 Labours team member Luke Espe said of the event, which gave each team member 1 minute to lift. “I don't know if it was the men’s bar or what it was, but Christen just couldn't stabilize underneath.”
Three lanes over, CrossFit Bound had no trouble locking out as they cruised to a first-place finish with 1,230-lb., the highlight in a solid Day 2 from the Games-hopeful team. Bound recorded the highest female snatch of the day for the teams at 175 lb., as well as two 265-lb. snatches set by two of the men, 2009 - 2012 Games individual competitor Brandon Phillips—who has a max snatch listed at 290 lb.— and Andy Miller—a former member of five-time Games team CrossFit Atlanta.
“We knew we would do well on the lift,” Miller said. “The plan was to stay safe and we did that until Brandon, where he ran out of time to switch the weights. I planned on starting with 225 and ending up starting with 265."
The bold start paid off as Miller came up smooth on his first attempt. He failed at 285 lb., losing the bar just at the last second, but the team’s lead was already safe. Bound beat second-place team CrossFit Terminus (1,141-lb.) easily.
"I planned on starting with 175,” said Phillips’ wife, Jessica, who hit the lift with ease. “I didn't think we would really need the extra 10 lb., but I can easily snatch 185 with power all day long. My lower back was a little bit fried from yesterday and I felt like I had no pull, but I have an upper back, so I compensated from this morning because we haven't used our back or our shoulders yet.”
Those shoulders were put to the test again in the handstand walk relay race, which forced every member to go nearly the entire length of the competition floor. Taller athletes had to make adjustments with the legs to sneak under the pull-up rig.
CrossFit Terminus, ahead for most of the final heat, was first to have its final team member take the floor and despite several trip-ups at the halfway point was still able to post its second top-five finish of the day.
"We felt really good going into the handstand walks,” said Joey Konieczny. “We have some tremendous athletes, everyone knew they could do it. We did exactly what we planned to do and exactly what we needed to do.”
Terminus, which moved into the top three with a strong showing on Day 2, was the only team to record top-five finishes on the back-to-back events. CrossFit Unmatched and CrossFit Balance were neck-and-neck for the final 10 feet, but Balance twice fell shy of the final marker and Unmatched edged the team out to win Heat 2 and take second place in the event.
All 10 teams in Heat 1 did not finish the handstand walk relay within the 7-minute time cap, with six more teams failing to finish across the following heats. The common strategy to put the least-skilled athlete dead last reduced their total penalties, but didn’t save them from the time cap. Among those teams who hit the time cap were Competitive EDGE Wilmington, tied for eighth place, and CrossFit Bound and 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia, which finished in a tie for 12th place.
“I honestly think we did a lot better in the handstand walk than we thought (final walker Teresa Luz) would. We still got 60 feet and we didn't know if she could kick into a handstand,” Espe, of 12 Labours said. “But (we will) see how the points shake out and then maybe get her fixed up for tomorrow and try to make up some ground.”
Team Event 4 Results
1. CrossFit Bound (1,230 lb.)
2. CrossFit Terminus (1,141 lb.)
3. HustleHard CrossFit (1,137 lb.)
4. Competitive EDGE Wilmington (1,130 lb.)
5. CrossFit Greensboro (1,120 lb.)
Team Event 5 Results
1. CrossFit Spartanburg (4:48.2)
2T. CrossFit Unmatched (6:08.0)
2T. TEAM CrossFit Love (6:08.0)
4. CrossFit Terminus (6:08.9)
5T. CrossFit Balance (CAP +1)
5T. Peak 360 CrossFit (CAP +1)
Overall Standings
1. Competitive EDGE Wilmington (407 points)
2. CrossFit Terminus (406 points)
3. CrossFit Bound (397 points)
4. RAW Training (376 points)
5. Rising Orange (374 points)
6. 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia (362 points)
7. CrossFit Unmatched (341 points)
8. CrossFit Balance (340 points)
9. The CrossFit Squad (332 points)
10. TEAM CrossFit Love (325 points)
There was a big shake-up in the team leaderboard in Day 2 and none was as noticeable as 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia, which dropped out of the top five after taking first overall though the first two events. Competitive EDGE Wilmington moved up to the No. 1 spot with a consistent Day 2, taking top eight in all three events including a fourth-place finish in Event 4.
CrossFit Bound, which started the day in seventh, jumped up to third in a huge Day 2. After placing third in Team Event 3, Bound won the max snatch Event 4. Rising Orange, which rebounded after a disastrous Team Event 1 on Friday, remained in fifth.
