"It's amazing to know that all of our hard work paid off."
They’re going back to Cali.
CrossFit HardCore is making its first return trip to Carson, California, since 2011 when the team took a 10th-place finish at the CrossFit Games.
“The key of our success in 2011 was the synergy we had between the team members,” said owner of CrossFit HardCore, Adriana Grassi-Mosley.
“We treated each other like a family,” she added. “We did (workouts) together all the time, (and) we knew each other so well to the point that we didn't even need to talk during the (events) at regionals.”
After dominating the 2011 South East Regional with three first-place finishes and no finish outside of the top 10, CrossFit HardCore had disappointing showings at the 2012 and 2013 regionals, finishing ninth and fifth, respectively.
“In 2012, we lost three team members,” Grassi-Mosley said. “One got hurt, another one moved out of state and the third member decided to go individual. It was a huge loss, (and) it takes a good two years to re-develop a kick-ass team.”
Grassi-Mosley, who competed as an individual at the 2008 CrossFit Games, did not compete on the team in 2012 due to injuries.
“After 2011, I was already suffering (from) some pretty serious injuries, so after the 2012 regionals, I had to step back,” she said. “I had a slap tear on my shoulder on top of a neck injury caused by a car accident, so I decided to step (to the) side and coach a brand new team.”
Her experience as a Games athlete has helped Grassi-Mosley coach and prepare her team better.
“I really think that going to the Games has definitely helped me to understand even more how to program for my athletes,” Grassi-Mosley said. “I understand now way better how to periodize their training, and I know firsthand what their bodies and nervous system go through during a long season like ours to get ready for the Games.”
Having been a part of the competitive CrossFit world since 2008, Grassi-Mosley has learned to be prepared for each individual portion of the Games season. As the season moves forward from the Open to regionals to the Games, so does her programming.
“We always want to make sure that (our) athletes are able to perform all the skills all year round,” she explained. “I knew Castro this year was going to expose all the athletes. I saw it coming from the 2013 regionals, so I wanted to make sure they were all able to perform every single movement in CrossFit.”
When it came time for regionals this year, the CrossFit HardCore team was ready. It came out with a bang, finishing the very first event in first place. Up until Event 7, it finished every event in the top 10.
“We wanted to finish top four in Event 7 and it didn’t go as planned,” team member Jana Bieger said. “We dropped to 15th or 16th in the second-to-last workout, so we knew we had to give it our all in that last workout and leave it all out on the floor.”
The team finished Event 7 in 16th place, putting it in third place overall with 37 points total. CrossFit Unmatched was sitting in fourth with 39 points, and CrossFit Bound and Team HustleHard were sitting in fifth and sixth place, respectively, both with 41 points.
Everything was riding on Event 8.
“The last workout was definitely my favorite,” teammate Steve Walters said. “We were on the edge. The last thing had to be all out, and we fought through it.”
HardCore finished the final event in second place, only 5 seconds behind first-place CrossFit Adrenaline, to take third place overall at the South East Regional.
“It’s amazing to know all our hard work paid off,” Bieger said.
Walters, the only veteran from the 2011 team, is thrilled to be heading back to the CrossFit Games, but he knows it wouldn’t be possible without the rest of his teammates.
“I don’t really consider myself a leader,” he said. “Sure I’ve been to the Games before, but we all play equal roles on this team.”
Of the three male competitors on the team, Walters—also known as Cyborg—has the biggest engine. Jordan Khon, a professional rugby player, is strong and fast but according to Grassi-Mosley, “talks so much crap we can't even keep up with him.” The final male team member, Austin Miller, is a former wrestler who can’t stay still and never wears shoes.
“Regionals (was) so hard for him because he had to wear shoes,” Grassi-Mosley said.
Two of the three women are former gymnasts: Bieger, who was an alternate on the 2008 Olympics gymnastics team and Elizabeth Parry, who has a tendency to “train too much.”
“Sometimes I have to hold (Parry) back,” Grassi-Mosley said. “She is extremely competitive, and I love that in an athlete!”
The last woman on the team, Staci vanVonno, stands at 5-foot-2 and weighs 115 lb. and became a firefighter this year.
“I think her helmet is bigger than her,” Grassi-Mosley said.
Grassi-Mosley is also a key part of the team.
“A lot of our credit has to be given to Adriana,” vanVonno said. “Regionals was hard, don’t get me wrong, but I think the hell Adriana put us through the past month leading up to the weekend was even more challenging. We would have marathon training sessions—especially on Saturdays, we may do three (workouts) back to back.”
This year, Grassi-Mosley has been closely monitoring CrossFit’s main-site programming as an indicator of what is to come throughout the various stages of the Games season.
“One thing I was sure to see this year at regionals was strict handstand push-ups, which I loved,” she said. “I think it was genius.”
The team took second place in Event 6, a descending ladder of strict handstand push-ups, hang power cleans and burpees.
She also brought in Olympic weightlifting coach Danny Camargo to work with all of the athletes. It paid off in Event 2, the hang squat snatch, where the team took fifth place.
After Castro’s announcement that both teams and individuals would begin the Games on the beach, Grassi-Mosley wasn’t worried.
“I have been getting them ready on the beach since after regionals,” she said. “But to be honest, it really doesn't mean much because Castro can throw in there one element and screw up everybody's game plan.”
Nevertheless, Walters said the team’s goal is another top-10 finish, which means another few weeks of hell from Coach Grassi-Mosley to prepare for whatever the Games has in store.
“It is hard to predict Castro's mind,” Grassi-Mosley said. “He is full of surprises so I won't even attempt to make a prediction.”
She added: “I just know that Rogue will come up for sure with some crazy equipment to torture the athletes again this year!”
