Week One in Review: South Central

March 11, 2013

Amy Duchene

This year for 13.1, competitors were met with a brutal mash-up of the first two workouts in last year's Open: burpees and snatches.
 

On Wednesday evening, CrossFitters all over the South Central Region waited in anticipation for the announcement of Open Workout 13.1.

Competitors were met with a simply brutal, mash-up of the first two workouts in last year’s Open: burpees and snatches.

As the Leaderboard came to life, new and familiar names began to populate the region’s top spots, but as any experienced Games competitor knows, the first workout of the Open is only the beginning of a story with many twists and turns yet to come. So far, it seems that athletes who fared better in last year’s Snatch Ladder found an advantage in 13.1 where simple burpees met the humbling Snatch Ladder for 17 long minutes.

MEN

On the men’s side, when the first workout wrapped, there was a noticeable lack of previous Game’s qualifiers near the top of the board. Bryan Diaz, winner of the 2012 Regional, finished in 50th place, and 2011 Regional winner and 2012 third-place finisher, Aja Barto was seeded in 39th place.

Jason Hoggan, however, last year’s second-place finisher at the Regional level, broke the top 10 and enters Week Two in a secure sixth place.

Powerful scores were seen by athletes who dominated last year in 12.2. Jeremy Calahan and Courtney Wuistinger acquired two of the top three positions along with newcomer, Marco Coppola, of CrossFit Overtake.

WOMEN

For the women, a huge opening occurred this year with the transfer of last year’s dominant force, Azadeh Boroumand, to the South West Region.

Among the women to talk about this year is CrossFit Games veteran and South Central newbie, Jenn Jones of CrossFit EaDo. Jones, who relocated from Washington, D.C., to Houston, Texas, is fresh off of a first-place finish at the 2012 Mid Atlantic Regional and 28th place at the Games. After her first official workout as a South Central competitor, she was not only the top finisher in the region, but also the eighth best scorer worldwide with 204 reps.

Candice Ruiz and Kelley Hennigan who took second and third place, respectively at the 2012 Regional, also showed promising performances with fifth- and 22nd-place finishes. Nikki Isbell, of CrossFit Cedar Park, and Megan Norris, of CrossFit Lake Charles, rounded out the top four positions, showing once again this week seemed to favor the South Central’s strong lifters.

TEAM

Finally, in terms of overall Team scores, west Texas powerhouse, Get Lifted CrossFit, dwarfed the competition in the region, beating second-place team CrossFit Central by more than 30 points. Rounding out the top three was Woodward CrossFit in Austin, Texas.

Going into the Regional last year, Get Lifted showed similar dominance, but with primary scorers like Paul Smith, Holly Mata and formerly Boroumand opting to compete on the individual level, the team was eliminated early on. It remains to be seen which athletes from this year’s strong team will go individual and which will try to score for the team.

*Note: The scores and rankings are unofficial until Tuesday at 5 p.m., PT.