If at first you don’t succeed, try again. So the proverb goes. But what if you fall short on your second try, too? And your third; even your fourth?
For every Games veteran fighting for the center lane spotlight, there’s a Regional regular doing work just off-camera. For some, the 2017 Central Regional marks the fourth, fifth or even sixth attempt to qualify for the Games. Why do they persevere?
Chris Shimley started CrossFit in 2010, originally to build strength and stamina for the football field. After completing his first Open in 2012, he preferred Fran to the tackle and set his sights on the Games.
In his first Regional appearance in 2013, he took 19th in the Central East, improving to 11th in 2014. And then the combined Regional format took over, and he dropped to 33rd in 2015.
“Where those first two years I saw myself progress and progress ... (after) the super Regional it almost felt like I took a step back,” the 25-year-old said.
Come 2016, he wasn’t sure he could do it anymore.
“Thursday we checked in, got back to our house, and I was hanging out, and I didn't have the nervous, anxious kind of feels, and in my head I thought maybe I'm not that passionate about (competing) anymore,” he said.
A competitor at heart, he said the nerves came back on Friday, and he knew he still wanted a top-five spot and a ticket to the CrossFit Games. Though he didn’t get one then and won’t this year, either—he sits in 34th at the start of Day 3—he has something now he didn’t before: perspective.
Shimley recalled struggling with strict handstand push-ups last year. In 2016, he said he couldn’t do half the volume. This year, he did all 48 strict handstand push-ups of Event 1—and that while wearing a 20-lb. tactical vest.
“I had no idea what place I got in (and) I didn't care,” he said. “I finished the workout, and that was something I was super nervous about.”
He still hopes to make it to the Games one day, but for now, Shimley said he’s learned to enjoy himself in the moment.
“It kind of is here and gone in the blink of an eye,” he said. “We train all year round for one weekend … and it puts a lot of pressure on it, and I think sometimes that gets to me, and I gotta focus on having fun and just doing what I know I'm capable of doing.”
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Kevin Schuetz, 29, has wanted to compete at the Games since he first saw them broadcast on ESPN in 2011. He thought he’d need about a year to get there, but then he walked into a CrossFit gym “and got (his) butt kicked by some middle-aged women— middle-aged moms, mind you—on a workout called Cindy,” he said.
He improved quickly, competing on a team at the 2013 North Central Regional and taking 20th in his first individual appearance in 2014. Though he dipped to 28th in 2015, it looked like 2016 was going to be his year. He stood in sixth going into the final event.
“I was seconds away from beating out Sam Dancer, and I didn't quite qualify for the Games,” he recalled.
This year ended in similar disappointment after Schuetz was forced to withdraw from the competition from a back strain. Still, he plans on returning next year. Why does he put himself through this year after year?
“The reason I want to qualify for the Games is just to try to help more people,” he said. “I can influence the people in my own gym, but I'd like to have a further reach.”
And like Shimley, Schuetz said even though he hasn’t accomplished that goal yet, he’s grown because of it.
“I was always focused on the results, and now I think I'm focused more on the effort put in,” he said. “So as long as I put the effort in in training and do my best and set an example for my own gym members and anybody else watching, that's all that really matters.”
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Katelyn Ivie (pictured at top) has been competing at the Central East Regional longer than some top Games athletes have been doing CrossFit. She took 19th in her first appearance in 2011, back when even competitors worked out at the evening class after their 9-5 jobs.
“It’s just evolved so much, it has to be your full-time job now,” she said.
Training is not a full-time job for Ivie, who teaches middle-school health education and is also a wife and mother.
She admitted that she got a bit cocky after her first few Regional qualifications—she’s competed every year since 2011 except for 2015 when she declined her invitation after discovering she was pregnant just days before the competition. As the competition has grown, her rankings have fallen—she took 33rd last year and began Day 3 this weekend in 34th—which she said has given her a “slice of humble pie.”
“Honestly, it's hard to keep up with these girls,” she continued. “They are beasts, and it's so impressive, and it's honestly humbling to be out on the floor with them. It's amazing.”
But like both Shimley and Schuetz, Ivie said with the years of competition and experience have come mental growth. The Regional is her Games, she said, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Honestly, to make it to Regionals has always been my goal,” she said. “Realistically, I am not a Games competitor. I don’t do this full time ... I have a husband and I have a 1-year-old, and for me, going to the gym after work and trying to get an hour-and-a-half workout in and making it to Regionals ... is flattering in itself.”
With hopes to have another child, today might be the last time Ivie steps on the Regional floor, the culmination of seven years of work. And she’s satisfied.
“It's not about winning,” she said. “It's about reaching your full potential.”
Men
1. Zak Carchedi (325)
2. Scott Panchik (310)
3. Streat Hoerner (308)
4. Luke Schafer (296)
5. Shane McBride (294)
Women
1. Sara Sigmundsdottir (375)
2. Kristi Eramo (345)
3. Jessica Griffith (323)
4. Stacie Tovar (315)
5. Brooke Wells (312)
Teams (Qualifiers)
1. CrossFit Mayhem (565)
2. CrossFit 417 (545)
3. OC3 Black (535)
4. Timberwolf CrossFit (502)
5. Maximus (491)
For complete details, visit the Leaderboard.
