Newcomer in the South East: Krista Owens

March 20, 2014

Devin Killmeier

Krista Owens is new to the South East Region this year, but she didn’t think anyone would notice. “I didn't realize anyone was paying attention to me after leaving the Mid Atlantic and moving to the…

"I didn't realize anyone was paying attention to me after leaving the Mid Atlantic and moving to the South East," Owens said.

Krista Owens is new to the South East Region this year, but she didn’t think anyone would notice.

“I didn't realize anyone was paying attention to me after leaving the Mid Atlantic and moving to the South East,” Owens said.

It’s hard not to notice Owens when she is sitting in 24th place overall in the highly competitive female division of the South East.

Owens, 34, has been a regional competitor for the past three years. She competed as an individual at the 2011 and 2013 Mid Atlantic Regional, finishing 18th and ninth place, respectively. In 2012, she competed on Team RedPoint CrossFit, which finished in 14th place.

Last summer, she, her husband and their five children moved to Savannah, Ga., after her husband, Al, a U.S. Army soldier, received orders to Hunter Army Airfield in Fort Stewart.

“I really enjoyed my time in the Mid Atlantic and grew so much as an athlete,” Owens said. “It was hard to leave so many people that I loved, but I was excited to leave the hectic life of deployments and constant military training when we lived at Fort Bragg.”

This year, Owens said she had a rough start to the Open due to an injury to her quad six weeks ago.

“I wasn't able to bear any weight on my left leg and couldn't even do an air squat,” she said. “I thought my season was over.”

Since then, her quad is close to being back to 100 percent. She credits her coach, Michael Cohen and physical therapist, Erin Johnson, for their help with her rehab and recovery.

Cohen, a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic weightlifting team and coach of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic women’s weightlifting team, was out of town working with the National Wheelchair Basketball Association when Owens injured her quad. His assistant coaches were there and told him what happened.

“She was supposed to go up to 239 lb. in the clean and jerk,” Cohen said. “At 231 lb., she caught the bar in the clean position and dropped it and said she pulled her quad and felt a stabbing pain. There was no bruising and no tear in there. In our sport, pulling a quad is not unusual. We’ve had to teach her to work through an injury of that kind.”

Working through her injury during the Open forced Owens to rethink her entire strategy.

“Because of the injury, my plan for the Open was to be smart and do what I can without any expectations,” she said. “(Open Workout) 14.1 was perfect because it didn't require too much of my quad. (Open Workout) 14.2 was not good.”

Owens finished 14.2 in 122nd place in the South East, which was especially disappointing after a 16th-place finish on 14.1. When 14.3 was announced, she knew she had the opportunity to cover some lost ground.

“It really sucked watching my name continue to drop on the Leaderboard,” she said. “When they announced 14.3, I was thrilled. I have always been strong and love any workout with a heavy barbell. The deadlift was perfect, again, because it requires more hammies than quad. I knew I had to crush it to make up for the mess I made of 14.2.”

She was able to stick to her strategy of step-ups and unbroken deadlifts on the first three rounds and sets of five deadlifts thereafter. She finished 14.3 in fourth place in the South East and now sits in 24th place overall on the South East Leaderboard.

While 24th is a comfortable position on the Leaderboard, Owens wants to be more than “just comfortable.” According to Cohen, she wants to be the very best.

“She gets upset—pissed off—real quick,” Cohen said. “She’s a perfectionist. She wants to have it now, and that’s the sign of an athlete.”

When Owens first came to his gym, Cohen immediately noticed two things: she was incredibly strong, but she had poor technique. In her first session with Cohen, she hit PRs on both of her lifts.

“CrossFit athletes are incredibly strong, very powerful and have the core of an athlete, but they haven’t had anyone work with technique on them at all,” Cohen said. “I love working with CrossFitters because (they) make improvements so fast.”

In the past five months, Owens has added 20 lb. to her clean and jerk for a 231-lb. personal best, and 25 lb. to her snatch for a 178-lb. personal best.

“I know how to make you faster, stronger and more explosive,” Cohen said. “If you can transfer that to your sport, you’ll be a lot more effective.”

He also chooses not to coach Owens on CrossFit. They work specifically on the Olympic lifts, and she does her own conditioning.

“Cardio is running to the dinner table,” Cohen said. “That’s about all the cardio (Olympic lifters) do!”

Cohen’s ultimate goal for Owens, who turns 35 in December, is to qualify for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. Cohen also has plans for Owens’ daughter, Avery.

Avery, 12, is the middle child of Owens’ brood of five kids. She has inherited Owens’ strength and explosive hip power. Currently, she snatches 90 lb. and clean and jerks 121 lb. after only doing Cohen’s programming for four months. Cohen said she takes after her mother.

“You do whatever’s best for Krista,” Cohen said he told Krista. “But your daughter is mine!”

Whether that is CrossFit or Olympic weightlifting or a combination of both, Cohen does not care as long as Owens is happy.