“I know this is a crazy competitive region, but I'm excited to represent CrossFit SoCal and see how I stack up against a lot of the world's best, and compete on the same floor as them.”
Top photo by: Stacey Snyder
After a successful career as a pole vaulter at the University of Oregon, Christina “Stina” Sloyer rediscovered her competitive fix in CrossFit. In her first year as a competitor, Team Intensify of CrossFit Intensify in Springfield, Ore., made it to the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games.
After moving to Southern California, Sloyer finished this year in 23rd place, contributing the top female score in all five of the Open workouts for her new team, CrossFit SoCal. She helped them secure 22nd place in the region and was faced with the decision to either stick with the team or fly solo.
“It was not an easy decision,” she says. “After a lot of deliberation, I've decided to go Individual this year. I've been an individual athlete almost my whole life. It’s a role that I’m comfortable and happy with, and this just feels like the right decision for me at this time.”
Leading up to Regionals, Sloyer plans to follow Invictus’ programming, as well as participate in the CrossFit SoCal team workouts.
“Teams are a very special thing, so I plan to continue supporting Team CrossFit SoCal on this journey. By working out with the team, the team can help push me to be better and, in the same vein, I can help push the team.”
After college, Sloyer went on to graduate school and no longer had a place to train for pole vaulting, so she decided to give CrossFit a try. The transition was easy, she says.
“I’ve always been good with body awareness due to pole vaulting,” Sloyer says. “But CrossFit has intensified that awareness immensely, especially regarding the midline. Because my training always consisted of gymnastic movements and interval running, making the transition into CrossFit, with its high intensity, toes-to-bars, bar muscle-ups and pull-ups, wasn’t difficult at all.”
Last year, Sloyer placed eighth in the North West Region in the Open and decided to forgo competing as an Individual and instead team up with other members of CrossFit Intensify. This was her first team experience and she loved having others alongside her.
“Regionals were super intense, physically, emotionally and mentally, especially going into the last event tied with Fort Vancouver for first place,” Sloyer says. “As a team, we formed a strong bond built on trust and it ended up being an unforgettable experience for me.”
The team continued on to compete at the 2012 Games and ended in 14th place overall.
“The Games were like Disneyland for us,” Sloyer says. “We went there with the goal of doing the best that we could and to be happy with the outcome. We went in aiming to leave it all out there on the floor and have a blast doing it. We just wanted to take in the whole experience and enjoy ourselves throughout, to represent CrossFit Intensify well.”
After graduate school, Sloyer moved back to her hometown of San Diego and joined up with CrossFit SoCal where she took on this year’s Open.
Open Workout 13.4 was Sloyer’s best performance, as she placed seventh in SoCal. When the workout was announced, Sloyer was pleased to see movements she trained as a vaulter.
“I was stoked to see the Workout for 13.4 because I consider both movements to be in my wheelhouse,” she says. “We use to do toes-to-bars every single day when I was a vaulter, so I could do those all day if I had to. And 95-lb. clean and jerks are fun, so basically this workout was a seven-minute party.”
With the exception of 13.2, she is satisfied with her Open performance. A lower back problem caused her trouble with the deadlifts on the triplet, and she ended up in 104th place in the region.
“(My 13.2 score) was a bummer for me, because I expected to do much better. Otherwise, I don't really have any regrets about this Open season. I feel like I left all I had on the gym floor each time,” Sloyer says.
With a new region and a new box to represent, Sloyer is looking forward to experiencing the 2013 SoCal Regional as an Individual.
“I know this is a crazy competitive region,” she says, “but I'm excited to represent CrossFit SoCal and see how I stack up against a lot of the world's best, and compete on the same floor as them.”
