CDR Redlands: Eye on the Prize

June 27, 2012

Daisy Alvarez

"Our goal is the top spot. We want to take first place." 


CrossFit CDR Redlands was focused on getting to the CrossFit Games before the team was even formed. Calvin Davis, owner and coach couldn’t have known then the stellar team he would put together. He names some of the best characteristics of his athletes as drive, athleticism and support.

After winning a local competition, CDR Redlands started training with the Games in mind.

“We got first place in the advanced division of Jeremy Kinnick’s ‘Battle of the Boxes’ in December 2011,” team member Jacob Heighes says. “After that, we started to think that we did have what it takes as a team.”

Teresa Diaz, on the roster for the CDR Redlands team, says they work better together than individually. “As a team, we are so much stronger than we are as individuals. We are the true definition of a team. If you really look at all of our individual strengths and how we did at the Regional competition, it is evident that each member played a vital role.”

After a 20th place finish in the Open, it was a surprise for everyone except CDR when they earned second place at this year’s Southern California Regional. “We were pretty confident that we were going to make it to the Regional, so we just took the Open as our everyday training,” team member and owner Rachel Davis says.

The Regional weekend began as a race for first against CrossFit SoCal. It quickly culminated into a battle between CDR Redlands and CrossFit Invictus with less than a 45-second gap separating the two teams in four of the six events.    

“Strategy was a huge part in the team workouts,” Rachel Davis says. “We practiced the workouts a couple of times each to tweak and adjust our rep schemes. We wanted to be at the peak of our performance.”

CDR was one of only two teams to complete Event 4 that weekend. They set a world record of 1140 pounds for Event 5 – the snatch ladder – after Calvin Davis successfully landed the 275-pound snatch. The team also took first place in three of the six events.                                                                             

“One of the challenges that we face is that we really like to workout together, but our schedules are all different. I own CDR and I am a mom of two kids,” Rachel Davis says. “Sarah is a lawyer that just passed her bar exam and Teresa is a resident doctor. Our schedules are crazy. A lot of people going into the Games are coaches and working out is what they do full time. It has been tough to find time to workout, let alone together.”

The team remains tight lipped about their exact training regimen. “We can’t tell all of our secrets,” she says. “We follow the Outlaw Way of programming. Rudy Nielsen is coaching us through the Games.”

Team CDR Redlands is focusing on preparing for the unknown. Despite humorously claiming they are getting ready by playing darts and having snowball fights while wearing white, the team is not holding anything back. “We know that right now we are sacrificing everything to make time for the Games, but it isn’t going to be like this forever,” Diaz says.  

Collectively, the team is not making any major change to diets.

“Eating well is already part of our routine, so not a lot has to be adjusted in that department,” team member Sarah Compton says. “We all eat fairly close to paleo, but on the weekends, we all go out and have a cheat meal or two.”

The synergy of this group will definitely play a key role in Team CDR Redlands achieving its ultimate goal for the Games.

“Our goal is the top spot. We want to take first place,” Heighes says. “That is what you have to shoot for. You can’t want anything less. You just have to be confident in what you are doing.”

Plans following the conclusion of the Games vary for each team member. Heighes is going to strive to compete as an individual, while Rachel Davis says it will be “one and done” for her. For now, the team is combining its strengths to win the 2012 Affiliate Cup.

“Without any one person, everything would fall apart,” Compton says. “That is why our team works.”