Terminus, Rising Orange, 12 Labours, Wilmington and Bound will advance to the Games.
By definition, terminus is the end of a long journey. And for CrossFit Terminus’ team, a goal that was set in October was achieved today as they earned a trip to the CrossFit Games.
Terminus—which began the day in second place by 1 point— took a commanding lead after Team Event 6 and never let up, taking first place overall with 576 points to grant the South East Region the top spot at the Atlantic Regional.
Rising Orange took second in Event 7 to punch its ticket to the CrossFit Games and on the podium with a second-place overall finish (564 points). And in an almost unbelievable comeback fashion, 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia rallied from sixth place to third with a pair of first-place finishes Sunday.
Competitive EDGE Wilmington and CrossFit Bound complete the top five, which saw three Mid Atlantic teams advance to the Games. RAW Training started the day in fourth, but finished just outside qualification.
Team Event 6
12 Labours CrossFit Columbia was dangerously close to withdrawing from the team competition. After a horrific Day 2, which saw the team drop from first to sixth overall, an injury to team member Teresa Luz cast serious doubt as to whether they could even continue.
“Personally, me and Christen (Wagner) didn’t think today was going to even happen,” said 12 Labours’ Christa Giordano, whose team was tasked with each female member opening Event 6 with 50 GHD sit-ups.
But Luz—who is dealing with a back injury—gutted out the sit-ups as the third female, even taking to the rings at one point to let Wagner and Giordano rest as she helped tackle some of the group’s 50 muscle-ups. The trio operated as a two-person team during the 50 135-lb. hang power cleans and showed serious moxie. They crossed the finish line ahead of the pack for the first half of the event in 9:46. Then 12 Labours’ men kept that lead intact, taking a huge first-place win in 18:51 to put them back in the top five overall.
“Going into this, we said ... ‘We’re going to do whatever we could do and if Teresa could help us, that’s a bonus,’” said Giordano, who teamed with Wagner to do 30 cleans before splitting the rest up. “(Teresa) has gone above and beyond anything I ever thought possible, and she has allowed us to get the work done that we needed to get done.”
Rising Orange, which was the third men’s team to get to the cleans, got within 5 reps of 12 Labours and was able to make up some serious ground down the stretch to take second in the event.
“All of those moves are really good for us,” said Rising Orange’s Ryan Boswell, who opened with 10 unbroken hang power cleans at 205 lb. “Luckily on the hang cleans, I was still really fresh because I didn't have to do as many muscle-ups, and I was able to roll off a few and pass a couple of teams. So it worked out for our benefit.”
Rising Orange’s finish kept it in fourth overall while CrossFit Terminus took third in 20:10 to take first overall and drop Competitive EDGE Wilmington (seventh in Event 6) to second overall. Fourteen teams did not finish the event, which required the women to complete all their work before the men could start within the 25-minute time cap.
“When I left here yesterday I was not (going to be able to do any GHDs); it was very painful,” said Luz, who knew she had to complete 50 for her team to stay in contention. “(Doing multiple sets of muscle-ups) was part adrenaline, part feeling great, and just the competition. (It) all just kind of got me through a couple sets, and I was able to help a little.”
Team Event 6 Results
1. 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia (18:51.4)
2. Rising Orange (19:03.7)
3. CrossFit Terminus (20:10.4)
4. TEAM CrossFit Love (20:18.3)
5. The CrossFit Squad (20:39.6)
TEAM EVENT 7
The only thing standing between potential teams and the CrossFit Games was a brutal follow-the-leader style chipper. And again, the floor belonged to 12 Labours.
Luke Espe was the first to row 30 calories and set up for a deadlift hold, though 12 Labours was passed early on by CrossFit Terminus—which was the first through 30 strict handstand push-ups—and Rising Orange took the lead after the 30 toes-to-bars and was the first team to overhead lunge its first member across the finish.
But the conga line of cruelty that awaited each team member was also a test of strategy since advancing each movement was contingent on the trailing team member doing their work. Rising Orange was the first to put three across, all of its men, but 12 Labours used a male/female/female combo that helped them overtake Rising Orange, as Brad Weiss—powered by a solid effort from Kevin Grear—reached the axle bar first and pushed a fourth member across.
While no team completed the event, 12 Labours did the most work within the 20-minute time cap, finishing with CAP+11 to put the team in third overall.
Rising Orange finished in second to also secure its spot at the Games while Terminus was able to hang on and get third in the heat, and fifth overall.
Terminus finished third in Team Event 6, fifth in Event 7 and overtook Competitive EDGE Wilmington for good on the leaderboard to win the Atlantic Regional.
“Everybody decided we were going to try to do this as a team, sacrifice all of our personal goals for the greater good of the team and work together,” said Terminus’ Steve Hoover. “This is the better part of a year of coming together and making it happen.”
Team Event 7 Results
1. 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia (CAP+11)
2. Rising Orange (CAP+24)
3. CrossFit Unrivaled (CAP+46)
4. Smashletics (CAP+77)
5. CrossFit Terminus (CAP+80)
CrossFit Games Qualifiers
1. CrossFit Terminus (576 points)
2. Rising Orange (564 points)
3. 12 Labours CrossFit Columbia (562 points)
4. Competitive EDGE Wilmington (537 points)
5. CrossFit Bound (533 points)
