Each athlete has helped the next to reach new heights. Not only in terms of strength and endurance, but also with respect to the mental toughness required for the Games.
Many have taken notice of the force at Front Range CrossFit during this year’s competition season. Especially since three female athletes from the powerhouse affiliate swept the Regional and will represent the South West at the 2012 Reebok CrossFit Games.
In perhaps the most competitive women’s field the South West has ever seen, Front Range's Colleen Maher, Jasmine Dever and Becky Conzelman closed out the competition and punched their tickets to California to take their shot at being deemed Fittest on Earth.
Each has a different background and brings something different to the table. Conzelman, who was competing in the Mid Atlantic last season, is a former competitive cyclist. Dever describes herself as every bit the non-athlete before a CrossFit gym opened next to her work. This opened the door to a three-year run in the sport that continues to trend upward, as she makes her second trip to the Games. Maher is a 17-year-old Olympic Weightlifting National Champion, who has taken the CrossFit world by storm.
“On any given day, our team – Jasmine, Becky and I – we have a good shot of being in the top teams,” Maher says. “It depends on how you're feeling that day. The workouts, injuries. You train as much as you can, but at the end of the day, it's luck of the draw.”
It is business as usual for Conzelman, Dever and Maher as the Games approach. After following plans laid out by coaches and trainers including Skip Miller, the trio has continuously pushed one another day in and day out. Each athlete has helped the next reach new heights. Not only in terms of strength and endurance, but also with respect to the mental toughness required for the Games.
The training is rigorous. There is competition among the three, but if you ask, any one of them will be the first to tell you that a little healthy competition never hurt anyone.
"I'm never redlining to beat them," Conzelman says.
Conzelman says she feels her training with Dever and Maher has been a huge benefit this season. "I'm always redlining to better myself,” she explains. “So, I don't think there's any negative.”
As accomplished an athlete as Maher has become, she still sees areas of weakness and room for improvement. She is making her first Games appearance and pledges to have fun. That being said, she doesn’t take her training lightly.
"I think everybody has things they can work on, and I'm definitely in that category,” Maher says. “I’ve been working on everything, working the weaknesses and hopefully they'll be better by the Games."
Borrowing from previous experience is something Dever hopes will give her a leg up on the competition. She will make her second trip to the Games as a South West athlete and her third overall. “I can't say I don't have an advantage. I know what it's like. I know the pressure. I know the stadium. I know what to expect a little bit. I'm calm because I know what it's like. I know how things are run,” she says of her veteran status.
It seems Dever’s calmness is contagious as the big day approaches. Maher admits she gets nervous before competitions, but finds some comfort in the fact that she has put the work in this season. Conzelman says she is feeling mentally fresh and ready to go.
Regardless of their success this season, the trio from Front Range has pledged to have fun in the process.
“Never expect to win,” Maher says. “In CrossFit especially, nothing is ever going to be handed to you.”
