North East Team Report: Day 2

May 31, 2014

Keka Schermerhorn

Strategy is key.

 







 

With every team member participating in every event at this year’s regionals, teams on the quest to be crowned the fittest will inevitably also be crowned the most well rounded.

Athletes were asked to showcase ability on the snatch, handstand walk and muscle-up on Day 1.

Team Dynamix Strength and CrossFit King of Island Park are both looking for an invitation back to Carson, and have distanced themselves from the pack.

Day 2 is all about teamwork, communication and how well six athletes can perform as a unit.    

The descending ladder of thrusters and rope climbs were tackled first by the women in Event 4, followed by the men, in Event 5.

Once the bar came up on each set of thrusters, it could not come down. Creativity abounded when it came to handing off the bar from one team member to another, with some passing it from front rack to front rack, while others decided to pass it from behind the neck to front rack, and some chose to pass it from the hang, having the athlete squat clean the weight to initiate the thruster.

Some teams split up the reps evenly, while others gave the lion’s share of the thrusters to their stronger athletes, leaving the rope climbs to their taller or nimbler counterparts.

Reebok CrossFit 5th Ave Rhinos siblings Liz and Jay Adams did the majority of the thrusters for their team.

“Jay and I are the strongest and can handle the volume,” Liz said. “We wanted to aim for fewer transitions. We could take more of the load, and the rest of the team is faster on rope climbs. I did 25-18-14, and Jay did 19-15-10.”

Jay added: “I’ve got a little bit of Fran lung. I got too invested in what the girls were doing and got my heart rate all jacked up because I was screaming, which is dumb, because they can’t even hear me after the 50s.”

“I was facing the boys during the second set of thrusters,” Liz said. “Which wasn’t the plan, and I look up and said, ‘Oh God, Jay’s screaming.’”

Their strategy paid off, as they finished Event 4 in second and Event 5 in fourth, moving them up to third place overall.

Team Events 4 and 5

Team Dynamix Strength women won Event 4, performing the event nearly 30 seconds faster than at practice.

“That was smooth,” Michelle Kercado said. “Way smoother than practice even.”

Kylee Claxton added: “This was my anxious workout, and it went great so we’re excited.”

CrossFit Shrewsbury set the time to beat on Event 5 in Heat 1, with 7:31. They also split the reps up based on movement proficiency, but did not come in with a pre-set number of reps for each athlete.

“(Michael) Clancy’s strength is thrusters, and my strength is rope climbs,” Corey Lunney said.

The men of Shoreline CrossFit knew they would be at a disadvantage on the rope climbs, with all three of them weighing in at over 210 lb., and decided to transition their bar on the thrusters from the overhead-to-overhead. Although the transition was riskier, David Callahan added that they had had success with it in a previous competition.

“We like how it starts the momentum down into the thruster,” Callahan said. “And it taxes our grip less.”

Event 4 Results
1. Team Dynamix Strength (8:48)
2. Reebok CrossFit Fifth Ave Rhinos (8:53)
3. CrossFit King of Long Island Park (8:58)

Event 5 Results
1. CrossFit Shrewsbury (7:31)
2. CrossFit Southie (7:34)
3. CFCG (7:38)

Team Event 6

Event 6 was all about strategy and grit. The women’s ability to do the handstand push-ups consistently was the decisive factor of the event. 

Teams were getting no-repped on the strict handstand push-ups for a variety of reasons, including having their hands on the taped-off area, not touching the mat with their head or the slightest sign of a kip.

Only seven teams finished the event under the time cap, including CrossFit King of Island Park, which edged out Team Dynamix Strength by one second, to win the event.

“We knew we (the guys) would fall behind,” Mike Abgarian said. “We just had to stay close enough to leave our girls with enough time to catch up. They all went unbroken—that’s been our plan our weekend really. Let the girls do all the work.”

Team Dynamix Strength, a second shy of first place, had their fair share of no-reps.

“It was a race to the end,” Heather Soukas said. “And some no-reps hurt us. Just have to gun it on the stuff you are good at and pace for the stuff you need to.”

Five-time individual regional competitor Jennifer Hunter-Marshall opened up a big lead for her team, CFGC, by making short work of the handstand push-ups. Their last two women were consistent, and closed out the Event at 18:52, earning them a third place on the event.

Event 6 Results
1. CrossFit King of Long Island Park (17:55)
2. Team Dynamix Strength (17:56)
3. CFGC (18:52)

Overall Standings
1.  Team Dynamix Strength (17)
2.  CrossFit King of Long Island Park (20)
3.  Reebok CrossFit 5th Ave Rhinos (37)
4.  CrossFit Milford A (41)
5.  CrossFit Virtuosity (44)
6.  CrossFit Southie (48)
7.  CFCG (48)
8.  CFNE Team A (57)
9.  CrossFit Wicked (67)
10. CrossFit Free (68)