Week Three in Review: North West

March 24, 2013

Dan Hollingsworth

It took three weeks, but the men of the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games Open finally had their day.
 

It took three weeks, but the men of the 2013 Reebok CrossFit Games Open finally had their day. In the first two weeks of competition, the women outperformed the men, handily posting higher scores all the way around.

Workout 13.3 proved to be the equalizer. In total, 174 men worldwide were able to complete all 30 muscle-ups of round one and advance at least one rep into a second round, while only three women were able to do so.

In the North West, 11 men faced another set of leg-blasting wall-ball shots while none of the women were able to complete all of the muscle-ups. Some new faces entered into the men’s top three while the women shuffled positions.

Men

Bryan Miller of Beaverton CrossFit, broke the 300-rep barrier on 13.3. Miller’s score of 303 reps was not only good enough for the top spot in the North West, but also placed him 11th in the world on this workout. This performance also launched him from 19th in the region after week two, up to seventh.

Other top performers on 13.3 were Dan Staton, of CrossFit Spokane Valley, with 295 reps and two-time CrossFit Games competitor, Noah Pester, of CrossFit Marysville with 288 reps.

Two-time CrossFit Games competitor, Ben Stoneberg, sits on top of the North West Men’s Leaderboard. Last week, Stoneberg found himself in a three-way tie with Nick Martindale and Apollo Lewis for second place. His 280 reps on 13.3 were enough to vault him to the top this week. Ryan Swobody, also of CrossFit Marysville got two reps into the second round and moved up from sixth place to second. Lewis, a frequent training partner of Swobody and Pester finished 13.3 with 266 reps and now sits in third.

Women

The same three women of the North West occupy the top three positions this week, but in a slightly different order.

Ashleigh Moe occupies the top spot. Moe’s score on 13.3 of 260 reps also places her 13th on the worldwide Leaderboard. Emily Carothers, of Maple Valley CrossFit, finished 13.3 with just three reps less than Moe and now sits in second place in the region and 25th worldwide.

The most consistent female in the North West is Rory Zambard. After three weeks of competition, she is the only woman to occupy the third-place position in the region. She has also earned 22nd in the world. That makes three North West women in the top 25 spots in the world. The ladies of the North West are coming in hot this year.

The top female performance for the week came from CrossFit Refinery’s Lindsay Vaughan. Vaughan posted 262 reps, which placed her 31st place worldwide. Melissa Dixon posted the second best score in the North West. Last year’s sixth-place finisher at Regionals posted 261 reps and now sits in 16th place in the region.

Team

Boise, Idaho’s, CrossFit Refinery made the jump into the top three this week. Refinery posted 1,543 reps, which moved them up from their fifth-place position last week.

Intensify Team A posted the second-highest combined team score of 1,567 reps, but remains in the top spot after week three. They are the only team that has a single digit score after three weeks of competition.

Just five points behind Intensify Team A is CrossFit Fort Vancouver with 10 points. The worldwide competition shows Refinery in 29th place, Fort Vancouver in 17th place and Intensify Team A in 11th place.

Masters

The biggest story in the Masters competition comes from the Women’s 50-54 Division. Three women from the North West currently sit in Games-qualifying positions with two weeks of competition remaining.

Joy Bruening, of CrossFit Reflexion, sits on top of the worldwide Leaderboard. The fourth-place finisher at last year’s Games got one muscle-up, which placed her seventh in the world on 13.3, and secured her first place overall placing for the second week in a row.

Hot on Bruening’s heels is past Games champion, Laurie Carver, who sits in 11th worldwide. Litsa Olsson, of CrossFit Marysville, remains in the hunt for a spot to Carson and now sits in 14th place in the region.

On the men’s side, Tony Kubitschek, of the 50-54 Division, continues his steady performance. Last year’s fifth-place Games finisher got 10 muscle-ups, and is in fourth place worldwide.

Other notables in the Masters categories include Nathan Loren of the Men’s 40-44 Division, in sixth place worldwide; three-time Games competitor, Cheryl Brost, in second place in the women’s 40-44 Division; and Beaverton CrossFit’s Mike Ford of the 45-49 Division, who posted the second-highest score in his age group and now holds the No. 2 position.

Holly Arrow, the eighth-place finisher at last year’s Games is in 12th place in the Women’s 55-59 Division and Lisa Long, of Rainier CrossFit, is in 16th place in the same category.

We are over the hump in the Open, but nobody is sitting comfortably in their spots at this point. It’s anybody’s guess as to what 13.4 will hold.

Be sure to watch the live announcement at 5 p.m. PT on Wednesday, March 27 to find out. Then watch as CrossFit Games legend, Chris Spealler takes on 2010 Games champ Graham Holmberg in the live showdown from CrossFit TNT in St. Charles, Mo.