Week Four in Review: North West

March 20, 2012

Dan & Amy Hollingsworth

The muscle-ups in Open Workout 12.4 created a clear line of demarcation between the truly elite and the rest of us who sat gazing with jaws agape.

CrossFit Games Open Workout 12.4, if you ask this Regional Media Director, it was a near perfect blend of the first two weeks of competition. We kicked things off with a 150 wall ball suck fest, which led right into a highly technical set of double-unders on gassed legs and then muscle-ups. Much like the heavy snatches on Workout 12.2, the muscle-ups created a clear line of demarcation between the truly elite and the rest of us who sat gazing with jaws agape.

If Week 3 of the Open was an opportunity for the heavy hitters of the North West Region to assert themselves on the Leaderboard, Week 4 proved to be the week they shouted “I’m here, come take it from me!”

Here’s a quick recap of the 12.4 action from the North West Region:

MEN

The top three positions of the Leaderboard remain unchanged from last week. Kevin Simons of CrossFit Basic stands atop the men for the third straight week and he holds a fairly comfortable 38-point lead over CrossFit Tualalip Bay’s Apollo Lewis. Simons and Lewis find themselves in 24th and 57th place, respectively on the worldwide Leaderboard. Rounding out the top three once again is Kevin Longmaier of CrossFit Spokane Valley. Two competitors from the 2011 CrossFit Games, Noah Pester, CrossFit Marysville, and Ben Stoneberg, CrossFit Intensify, are within striking distance of a top three finish. As is Pester’s business and training partner Ryan Swobody.

Stoneberg and CrossFit Spokane Valley’s Dan Staton were the only competitors in the North West Region who managed to make it into the 2nd round of reps on Workout 12.4. They each completed 2 wall ball shots in the second round, which was good enough for a 37th best worldwide score on this workout.

WOMEN

Ashleigh Moe of CrossFit Skagit maintained her lead on the women of the North West by posting a regionally 4th best score of 253 reps. Moe now sits in 41st place in the worldwide standings.

Just 10 points behind Moe is CrossFit Whidbey Island’s Melissa Dixon. With 256 reps, Dixon posted the highest women’s score in the region and now finds herself 9 spots behind Moe in the worldwide rankings. Kendall Burnham of CrossFit Intensify occupies the 3rd place position in the region and 2011 CrossFit Games competitor Cheryl Brost from Eugene CrossFit sits 4 points behind Burnham in 4th.

TEAMS

CrossFit Fort Vancouver put up another dominant performance in Week 4. So far, Fort Van has placed no lower than 3rd regionally and like Simons holds the regional leader position for the 3rd straight week. On the worldwide stage, CrossFit Fort Vancouver is in 12th place. 

CrossFit Intensify, also very consistent, continues to benefit from the performances of their standouts, Stoneberg and Burnham, as well as solid numbers from other top team members. CrossFit Spokane Valley continued their climb up the Leaderboard landing in the 3rd position after the four weeks of competition.

MASTERS

A solid 7th place score of 258 reps on Workout 12.4 moved CrossFit Beaverton’s Mike Ford into the 7th place position in the Men’s 45-49 Division.

Janice Spray of CrossFit Bellevue continues to establish herself as the woman to beat this year in the 45-49 year old age group. For the second time in four weeks, her performance has landed her in the No.1 spot in the world in her division.

Susan Habbe of CrossFit Emergence and Laurie Carver of Northwest CrossFit Bellevue sit in 4th place and 9th place, respectively in the Women’s 50-54 Division. Habbe put up the best score in the world in her division by knocking out 7 muscle-ups for a score of 247.

It’s hard to believe, but crunch time is finally upon us. With only one week remaining in the worldwide Open competition, athletes across the North West Region are keeping their fingers crossed for a favorable final workout.

It is sure to be a fierce week of competition as leaders will surely put up herculean numbers to maintain their positions and those on the bubble will pull out all the stops in an effort to secure a qualifying spot.