For the fifth consecutive year, two-time CrossFit Games champion Mat Fraser has dominated his Regional, even if it is a new-to-him region (Fraser won the North East in 2014 and the East from 2015 to 2017).
He earned gold with five event wins, three records (Events 3, 4 and 6) and 564 points, a performance rivaled so far this year only by Katrin Davidsdottir, who won the East last weekend with five event wins and 588 points.
“I’m not thinking about any of that while I’m going, I’m just racing a bunch of guys that are really fit,” Fraser said after his victory.
On the women’s side, however, the outcome was less certain. Though the top five spots contained the same names for most of the weekend, the order flipped with nearly every event, Brooke Wells and Kristi Eramo volleying for first.
Nothing was decided until the final event.
MEN
Scott Panchik has been an icon of the Central and Central East Regionals since 2011, qualifying for the Games every year since 2012. But 28th- and 10th-place finishes in the first two events put him in 15th to start the weekend, relegating the Games veteran to the third heat on Day 2.
“There's only certain things that I can control and that's me,” he said after Saturday’s events. “So I just need to stick to my game plan for tomorrow and do the best that I can possibly do, and when the final event's over, I'll know I did everything I possibly could. Every year when I walk away from Regionals and the Games, that's my goal.”
Third- and fourth-place finishes in Events 3 and 4 nudged him over the qualification line with just two points more than sixth-place Alex Anderson going into the final day of competition.
Event 5 was a killer.
Fraser won—his fourth consecutive win of the weekend—but not even he was immune to its devastating effects: Similar to East champ Patrick Vellner last week, who was brought to his knees by the unforgiving chipper, Fraser took a seat on his box to rest before beginning the overhead dumbbell lunge.
Seated nearby was Anderson, who had turned a lead of a handful of reps over Panchik into an insurmountable distance; he’d finished the first length by the time Panchik started. Anderson’s third-place finish put him in third overall before the final; Panchik took 12th and fell to sixth, 10 points out of the last qualifying spot, held by Drew Wayman.
“That was big. I really needed that. I dug myself quite a hole yesterday,” Anderson said after Event 5.
The moment the start gun sounded the beginning of the competition’s end—descending reps of rope climbs and thrusters—Panchik launched up the rope. Though he was the first to the thrusters, Fraser soon overtook him (Fraser went on to take his fifth straight win, just one short of a shutout). It was no matter; that’s not who Panchik needed to beat.
Panchik finished second at 3:27.54; his brother Saxon Panchik crossed about two seconds later. Saxon collapsed on his brother; neither knew where the rankings would fall.
“I was just praying for the best,” Saxon would later say.
Scott tossed his sweaty T-shirt to the crowd while he waited.
When the emcee read Scott’s name as the fourth-place CrossFit Games qualifier, the crowd screeched. When he read Saxon’s name next, it positively bellowed while the brothers leapt into each other’s arms in celebration.
Moments later, just off the floor, they waited with CrossFit Games event staff before mandatory drug testing.
When asked whether he was happier that he qualified or that his brother did, Scott grinned.
“I got someone to train with now,” he said.
WOMEN
Kristi Eramo has been on the climb since 2014, when she took 16th in her first Regional appearance. She made the Games for the first time in 2016 in the fifth qualifying spot; last year, she took second at the Central Regional.
With 2017 Regional victor Sara Sigmundsdottir out of the Central Region, the way was clear for Eramo to take the crown—except for one small obstacle in the shape of three-time CrossFit Games athlete Brooke Wells.
The pair alternated first and second from Events 1 through 4, Wells taking a lead of 4 points going into Day 3. Wells’ second-place Event 5 finish to Eramo’s ninth broadened the gap by 34 points, and after the final rep was counted, it was Wells who stood on top.
The points gap between the final person qualifying for the CrossFit Games and the first person spending August at home was even smaller.
Games veteran Jennifer Smith and 2017 Games rookie Jessica Griffith were separated by just “two points,” the emcee said, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd.
“Yeah, baby!” a spectator screamed prematurely as the Jumbotron showed a split-screen image of the two athletes.
“Jen Smith!” the emcee called as the five-time individual Regional veteran raised her hands to the air and smiled in relief. This summer will mark her third trip to the CrossFit Games.
TEAMS
CrossFit Mayhem Freedom has won the Central Regional every year since 2015—though last year the team dropped the “Freedom”—and wasn’t about to break that streak. In its typical display of striking dominance, the team took gold with four event wins, two second-place finishes and two event records (Events 2 and 5).
Out of a possible 600 points, the team eared 588.
“We had a blast,” said Rich Froning, the iconic four-time individual Games champion turned team leader.
Not content to take just the title, CrossFit Mayhem—the affiliate—also sends a second team, CrossFit Mayhem Independence, to Madison. Mayhem Independence took fourth with 462 points and four top-five finishes.
Longtime CrossFit Mayhem Freedom team member Elly Kabboord competed with CrossFit Mayhem Independence this year and described the experience as “like going on a big family vacation.”
“Being on both sides has been equally rewarding, and now we get to bring even more people (to the Games), so let the vacation continue,” she said.
Second and third places went to returning Games teams OC3 Black and CrossFit 417, while CrossFit Kilo took the fifth spot, earning its fifth trip to the Games.
