West Individual Report: Day 2

May 31, 2015

Hilary Achauer

Emily Abbott and Brent Fikowski keep Canada on top after Day 2.

Emily Abbott and Brent Fikowski keep Canada on top after Day 2.

 

Brent Fikowski’s win on Event 3 bumped him into first place—where he stayed until the end of Day 2.

“Every event is ‘get as many points as I can,’” Fikowski said about his strategy.

“It is 'hungry hungry hippos' from here on out. You got to store all those points, because with the new scoring system, you got to get 'em when you can,” he said.

Getting points seemed to come easily to Emily Abbott, who has not relinquished her first-place spot the entire weekend.

Below Abbott, it’s a close race for those four remaining spots. Carleen Mathews moved from third place into second by the end of the day, but she knows not to celebrate quite yet.

“It is going to be a battle,” Mathews said. “It is not over until that last 175-lb. clean. That is how I am looking at it—one (event) at a time and battle the entire weekend."

WOMEN


Event 3

Last year, at the Canada West Regional, Alex Parker missed going to the Games by one place, finishing third in a region with only two Games spots.

This year, Parker is leaving nothing to chance. She not only won Event 3, she finished it under the 26-minute time cap—a feat only 10 women in the world accomplished.

The win moved Parker into second place overall and proved she can hold her own against the best in the world.

The competitive Alpine skier and golfer said she was almost relieved she didn’t qualify for the Games last year.

“I knew I wasn't ready and didn't have the time to commit to preparing for the Games. This year, I feel a bit more prepared,” Parker said.

The athletes had a monstrous amount of work ahead of them in Event 3, but first all had to get through the mile run on the TrueForm Runner. The TrueForm is used primarily as a training tool to help improve running mechanics. To be successful, athletes must maintain good form, staying upright and engaging their core.

The first athlete to complete the mile was Whitney Darchuk-Parenteau, followed closely behind by Parker.

“I like running; I'm a pretty good runner,” Parker said. “I have a good aerobic capacity and know I could push the run and come off with the ability to recover on the overhead squats. I went as fast as I could go—there's only so much you can push.”

Parker said she practiced this event once, but with a standard treadmill. She ran the mile in seven minutes on the electric treadmill, so said she was happy with her 8-minute mile on the TrueForm.

Parker took the lead on the overhead squats, and she accumulated 15 reps before Emily Abbot and Darchuk-Parenteau started their 50 sit-ups.

Although Parker stopped a few times at the top of the GHD machine, shaking out her legs, she still was the first athlete to the double-unders, followed by Carleen Mathews and Abbott.

Parker, Mathews and Abbott ground through their sumo deadlift high pulls and then, with four minutes left, Parker started her 100 box jump overs.

Abbott was 7 reps away from finishing in second, and Mathews took third.

Like Parker, Mathews just missed making the Games in 2014, taking fourth at the 2014 North West Regional.

“(This event) was in my wheelhouse,” Mathews said. “I like the long, nasty ones. I did well in last year's 50(s) workout. I knew I just had to grind and dig deep in that one. And I like sitting in pain. (It’s) weird, but that is fun for me."

Mathews said her motivation for making the Games this year is her father, who passed away two years ago.

“It is that last thing I told my dad I'd do,” Mathews said. “He is proud of me no matter what, but that is at the heart of (my) renewed determination. I am proud of the woman that I have become through CrossFit. It has been an awesome journey," she said.

Event 3 Results
1. Alex Parker (25:25.1)
2. Emily Abbott (CAP+7)
3. Carleen Mathews (CAP+29)
4. Jayde Quilty (CAP+48)
5. Alicia Connors (CAP+50)

Events 4 and 5

The wise spectator pays close attention to the early heats in Events 4 and 5. The handstand walk and max snatch test skill and accuracy in two very specific areas, and they allow unexpected athletes a chance to shine.

The win for both Event 4—the handstand walk—and Event 5—the max snatch—went to Emily Morris. The former gymnast who started CrossFit in 2013 completed the handstand walk in 1:44.7 and snatched 176 lb. (The cards in front of Morris incorrectly showed her max snatch as 167 lb., but her lift was verified as 176 lb.)

“Last year I was with a team and when they announced the handstand walk/snatch event, I was bummed that I wasn't an individual. So when they announced the similar event this year, I was really excited,” Morris said.

The two wins moved Morris from 22nd place into ninth place overall.

"It feels awesome (to win two events), especially after yesterday, I had a cold and just a rough day,” Morris said.

Second place on the handstand walk went to Laura Tobias, in the second-to-last heat, who finished in 1:50.7, well ahead of everyone else in her heat.

The second heaviest lift of the day happened in Heat 3. Brittany Brown opened with 155 lb., then jumped to 175 lb. and made the lift.

“I didn't know what anyone else was doing. I didn't pay any attention,” Brown said. “I've surprised myself (this weekend),” she said. The lift matched her current PR.

After Jessica Core hit her second lift of 171 lb., she jumped up and down in delight.

Core’s CrossFit Fort Vancouver fans were right behind her cheering her on, and she said that helped her make her final lift.

“I just knew I could trust that energy,” Core said. “You can't recreate that. ... It's 9 lb. under my PR, so it made me a little nervous.”

Alex Parker opened with 137 lb., and then loaded the bar to 158 lb. a bold 21-lb. jump.

It’s not a jump she intended to make.

“I accidentally put 10 more pounds on (the bar) than I planned,” Parker said. “It was a mistake—I forgot to take the 5-lb. plates off.”

When she heard the announcer say she was making a 21-lb. jump, she said she thought, “Wait, I am?”

A true competitor, Parker went for the lift, and made it.

“That’s a PR,” she said. “I was pretty happy about it.”

Event 4 Results
1. Emily Morris (1:44.7)
2. Laura Tobias (1:50.7)
3. Carleen Mathews (2:37.5)
4. Chelsea Nicholas (2:43.7)
5. Emily Beers (2:49.9)

Event 5 Results
1. Emily Morris (176 lb.)
2. Brittany Brown (175 lb.)
3. Jessica Core (171 lb.)
4. Samantha Petersen (170 lb.)
5. Regan Huckaby (167 lb.)

Overall Standings
1. Emily Abbott (421 points)
2. Carleen Mathews (391 points)
3. Alex Parker (387 points)
4. Jessica Core (358 points)
5. Caitlin Ritchey (346 points)
6. Emily Morris (335 points)
7. Regan Huckaby (326 points)
8. Jenn Webber (325 points)
9. Brittany Brown (317 points)
10. Whitney Darchuk-Parenteau (303 points)

MEN

 

Event 3

Like Alex Parker, Brent Fikowski missed going to the Games in 2014 by one spot. And like Parker, Fikowski was the only athlete to finish Event 3, coming in first with a time of 25:53.

The win moved Fikowski from second to first overall, 23 points ahead of second-place Lucas Parker.

In the second-to-last heat, Cody Anderson turned in an electrifying performance on the box jump overs, trying to catch the heat leader, Allan Dunlap. Anderson jumped on top and over the box in three short hops, and then back again, keeping his knees bent and sustaining an astonishing pace, especially considering how much work he had just done.

Like a rabbit, Anderson hopped up and over the box until the time ended, accumulating enough reps for a seventh-place finish overall.

“I tried to look at the clock, but didn't know how much time I had. I got about 20 in and figured I could sprint for a minute. All I can do is really give my best,” Anderson said.

In the final heat, Joe Scali was the first off the treadmill, a lead he held through the overhead squats and 100 GHD sit-ups. Cole Sager—the “Sager-toothed tiger”—passed Scali on the double-unders. He was followed by Scali and Fikowski.

Scali fell farther and farther behind on the sumo deadlift high-pulls, walking away from the bar and chalking his hands between reps.

Fikowski, one of the only athletes to finish the 50s event at the 2014 Regionals, began to pick up speed during the sumo deadlift high pulls, passing Scali and Sager and making it to the box jumps first. Fikowski finished his first 20 jump overs before Tyson Takasaki and Sager finished their high pulls.

“I've never spent so much time in a rec center as I have the last two weeks,” Takasaki said about preparing for the TrueForm run. “I found a similar model, another curved, human-powered treadmill, to train on.”

Fikowski finished his last few jump overs with a smile on his face, and even though he stumbled on the last jump, he still finished under the time cap.

“I’m really happy,” Fikowski said. “I had one goal to win the event in our region ... I knew if I was within a few reps, I'd be able to win on the box (jump overs)."

Fikowski didn’t just win the event, he also made some money with his win.

“Joe Scali, Mitch Barnard and I just put $60 down and the winner of the event gets to keep it all,” Fikowski said. “We all thought we three would be close to the finish—and sure enough we were—so I just made $60. I don't know if I will beat them on the next (few events) but I will have some bragging rights on this one,” he said.

"I feel good,” Takasaki said about his third place finish on Event 3. “Regionals is like football. You come out to go so hot and you just gotta get hit a couple times and get into it.”

Event 3 Results
1. Brent Fikowski (25:53.0)
2. Mitchel Stevenson (CAP+23)
3. Tyson Takasaki (CAP+27)
4. Joe Scali (CAP+31)
5. Allan Dunlap (CAP+33)

Events 4 and 5

As with the women, the speediest handstand walkers for the men were not in the final heat. It was Kevin Simons, who runs Alpha Strength and Conditioning and was a gymnast from ages 12 to 18, who won the handstand walk. He easily won his heat, finishing in 1:35.

Simons also performed well in the snatch event, putting 272-lb. overhead to take third in that event.

“That's what I needed. I was a gymnast, so that really helped, and I love weightlifting,” Simons said.

Cody Anderson—also a former gymnast—continued his climb up the leaderboard, finishing after Simons and taking second place in the handstand walk. The second-place finish moved Anderson, who competed at the Games in 2014, from eighth to sixth place.

The snatch win also came in the second-to-last heat. Zach Carlin, from the Canada West region, opened with 265-lb. and then finished with an easy-looking 285-lb. Carlin has a listed max snatch of 305-lb.

“I wanted to get the record, but then I saw Nick Uranker hit 290-lb. and I didn't want to push it too much,” Carlin said.

“I came in as prepared as I could be. I have a slight back injury and Randy didn't help that any,” he said.

In the final heat for the men, all eyes were on Lucas Parker, but it was Tyson Takasaki who had the second-biggest lift of the day: 273 lb.

Parker opened with 257 lb., but missed both attempts at this weight. He made the lift in his second attempt.

“I feel pretty underwhelmed and disappointed,” Parker said. “I have been practicing this workout, hitting close to 265 lb. to 275 lb., so for me to miss my opener—big disappointment,” he said. “I will have to fight for every point tomorrow."

“Hopefully that doesn't hurt me too bad in the rankings, although I know there were guys sniping the pounds—adding each little increment,” Parker continued.

The ninth-place finish on Event 5 moved Parker into third overall.

“I will have to fight for every point tomorrow,” Parker said at the end of Day 2.

Event 4 Results
1. Kevin Simons (1:35.5)
2. Cody Anderson (1:53.8)
3. Andy Rosenbaum (1:55.6)
4. Joe Scali (1:57.5)
5. Drew Barquist (1:58.8)

Event 5 Results
1. Zach Carlin (285 lb.)
2. Tyson Takasaki (273 lb.)
3. Kevin Simons (272 lb.)
4. Jeremy Meredith (270 lb.)
5. Brent Fikowski (262 lb.)

Overall Standings
1. Brent Fikowski (431 points)
2. Tyson Takasaki (416 points)
3. Lucas Parker (395 points)
4. Joe Scali (379 points)
5. Cole Sager (372 points)
6. Mitch Barnard (368 points)
7. Kevin Simons (361 points)
8. Cody Anderson (358 points)
9. Zach Carlin (338 points)
10. Jeremy Meredith (307 points)