The Patient Pursuit: Matt Hathcock

March 14, 2012

Gabriel Romero

Hathcock barely missed the Games in 2011, now he continues his pursuit in 2012.

 

“Be patient, my soul: thou hath suffered worse than this.”

Matt Hathcock knows this more than anyone, and though it was written by Thomas Holcroft in 1745, it rings more true today than ever before in Hathcock’s mind. 

After missing the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games by merely one point, Hathcock “hath suffered,” and now his time has come once again, but will it be a restful soul?

Reflecting back, 2010 was an interesting year for South West competitor Matt Hathcock. After an impressive performance at the North Central Regional, Hathcock took 2nd at the CrossFit/ USAW Competition in Colorado Springs Colo., in October.

With a 110 kg snatch and a 148 kg clean and jerk, it looked very promising for the 2011 Games season.  Unfortunately, there were other plans for Hathcock.

“I tore my right meniscus competing at the CrossFit/ USAW Open,” Hathcock recalls. “I didn’t really know the extent of what was wrong. I tore it doing a max clean and jerk, but I thought it was just a sprain so I still did the met-con workout we had after that.

“The next couple of weeks I took off. The swelling eventually went down and I started training harder again, but I know it wasn’t 100 percent, so I had an MRI done, and found out about the torn meniscus.”

He had surgery in January of that year and was doing heavy physical therapy to get back on track with his training. “I was pushing it through CrossFit workouts probably way sooner than what my therapist thought was a good idea. I was able to squeak through the 2011 Open Sectionals in 53rd place.”

With the shaky performance in the 2011 Open behind him, Hathcock dedicated his training to areas most affected by the injury and the months of rehab up to that point. 

It was the final day of the Regional competition that everyone witnessed the true meaning of giving it all you’ve got.  He was in 5th place and knew he had to out-perform everyone else to make the top three, and he did just that.

Hathcock dominated Event 5 with a blazing fast “Amanda” coming in 1st overall.  With one final workout to determine his fate, he could only hope for some strength from within and some help from others.

With only one outcome acceptable for Hathcock, he finished 1st once again.

With an almost perfect day of performance the only factor left to determine his fortune was luck, and this time it was not to be. Hathcock failed to qualify, by one point. 

“I came in at 5th for the day and I knew that I had to put out major to even come close, and unfortunately, you know, it sucks to lose, but there were some guys that were a little more consistent across the weekend,” he says. “Next year is the year. I can’t wait until 2012, that’s my year.”

Now, Hathcock sits comfortably in 16th place in the South West at the close of Week 3. In this year’s highly competitive South West Region, Hathcock stands ready to make his mark.