Top-4 Despite Flu: Wanda Brenton

April 5, 2012

Thomas Patton

"I am so proud to be an owner of a CrossFit box and see so many amazing things and see how it changes so many people’s lives.”

“I thought the Open was great. I think there was a good mix of everything – in true CrossFit Style. I think it was smart to have things everyone could do throughout.”

Wanda Brenton is a coach and co-owner at CrossFit 7 Mile in the Cayman Islands. She has been CrossFitting exclusively after just one month of training. Though she could not compete in the 2011 Open, due to giving birth to her daughter during the second week of competition, she did complete 11.1 – nine months pregnant.

Before CrossFit, Brenton played soccer and volleyball competitively for a number of years. She has received several scholarships and international awards for volleyball. When she gave up her volleyball career for CrossFit, she competed at the 2010 CrossFit Games with her team at the time, CrossFit Cayman.

Even though she worked her way through the 2012 Open with a cold, she logged 104 burpees in Workout 12.1. “The burpee WOD was really tough,” she says. “I had a really bad cough and I just couldn’t really breathe that well. I was not doing any other workouts that week and about midway, I thought I was going to die.”

Her score was good enough for 12th place in Latin America. While she was healthier for Workout 12.2, the 100-pound snatch made her nervous, she admits. “I made a few rookie mistakes, too, in my transitions that cost me some time and I got no repped twice,” she says.

Despite this, she finished 16 reps at 100 pounds for a 3rd place finish in the workout, and tied for 3rd overall.

She fell ill yet again for Workout 12.3 and almost lost motivation to keep going. “I felt like quitting. I had no energy and I just couldn’t get in any air it felt like,” she recalls. “If I hadn’t been sick, I think I may have actually liked that one. I am usually pretty good at box jumps and the push press is normally OK.”

Her best performance in the Open came with Workout 12.4. “I actually liked everything in that WOD. My goal was not to fail on any of the muscle-ups,” Brenton says.

She finished 2nd place with 246 reps. Brenton was back and better than ever going into the last workout of the Open. She was able to get 100 reps on the Fran ladder – 7th place in Latin America for the workout and 4th place overall.

“I don’t think any of them were easy! Nothing in CrossFit is easy,” she says. “I didn’t PR in anything, but a number of people in my gym did, which was awesome to witness. I am so proud to be an owner of a CrossFit box and see so many amazing things and see how it changes so many people’s lives.”