Chris Spealler and Taylor Richards-Lindsay turned in the top performances on 12.4.
...and then there was one. Week 4 came and went over the weekend, meaning only a single workout remains before the Open closes and the South West region begins to gear up for the South West Regional in Colorado.
As we saw following Workout 12.3, there was quite a bit of continuity across the various Leaderboards, with many of the top athletes in the South West holding their ground.
Here is a recap of Week 4’s Workout 12.4, which consisted of rounds and reps of wall balls, double-unders and muscle-ups.
WOMEN
Ashley Nowe from Tucson, Ariz., was the first among the women to break the 250-rep mark, but she certainly was not the last for the afternoon. The 28-year-old's 253 reps were good enough for 7th best in the bracket, and she remains a dark horse candidate, sitting at 23rd overall in the region as we head into Week 5.
Ute Crossfit's Taylor Richards-Lindsay posted the top number of reps among the individual women, putting up 261 combined (earning 8th place in the worldwide standings). After back-to-back strong weeks – Richards-Lindsay had the 5th-best score during workout 12.3 – she has now cracked the top 10 athletes in the South West and sits at 9th overall.
There was no major shakeup among the top five athletes in the region, with Colleen Maher, Tiffany Hendrickson, Becky Conzelman, Natalie McLain and Juli Bauer holding down the one-to-five slots, respectively.
CrossFit Verve's Emmalee Moore and Front Range CrossFit's Jasmine Dever did, however, leapfrog CrossFit Now's Amanda Derosa after posting the 2nd (259) and 3rd (258) most reps, respectively.
With the top 60 heading to Colorado for the Regional in May, there will be plenty of CrossFitters jockeying for position in Week 5. Currently sitting at 60th is 19-year-old Madison Hirase of Copper Mountain CrossFit. However, Hirase has plenty of other athletes nipping at her heels.
MEN
If Week 4 workouts proved anything, it will be a sprint to the finish line for the men's bracket, with a number of prominent athletes making a strong push as the final week fast approaches.
CrossFit Furty's Peter Egyed continued his meteoric rise up the Leaderboard, registering the 4th-best number of reps (280) over the weekend to move from 37th to 28th overall in the South West.
Like Egyed, UTE CrossFit's Tommy Hackenbruck is also surging into to Week 5. His 270 reps were the 6th-best among the individual men, and the 3rd consecutive week of registering a top-10 workout score. In a matter of three weeks, “Hack” has risen from 336th overall to 35th.
CrossFit 702's Jared Glover and CrossFit Unbroken's Kevin Ogar are two others to watch as we approach this year's Regional. Glover jumped from 36th to 27th overall after posting 270 reps for Workout 12.4, while Ogar's 9th-best tally over the weekend, 268 reps, saw the former collegiate rugby player jump from 35th to 28th in the region.
After cracking the top-three following a strong effort in Week 3, CrossFit Modig's Geoff Turner now sits at 6th overall after getting bumped by Nick Zambruno, Will Trujillo and Matt Chan, who now rank 3rd to 5th in the region, respectively.
Former Division I wrestler and CrossFit Park City athlete, Chris Spealler, had the most number of reps among the men's bracket with 291 total. However, he was unable to knock CrossFit Max Effort's Zach Forrest from his perch atop the Leaderboard. Forrest's 282 reps over the weekend were good for 3rd place, while CrossFit Unbroken's Matt Hathcock had the 2nd-best total for Week 4 with 284.
Isaac Toomer of CrossFit Max Effort currently sits in the 60th and final spot to qualify for the South West Regional, but he will need to hold off the likes of Colby Blauwkamp, Chris Zienkievicz and Jonathan Pink, each of whom posted strong efforts for Workout 12.4.
TEAMS
There was a minor shakeup among the top five teams in the South West, with MBS CrossFit surging into the 5th overall position and CrossFit The Club simultaneously dropping a rung. MBS had the 10th-best team score with 1,521 combined reps, while The Club managed 1,503, good for 14th among teams competing in Week 4.
As they did in Week 2, Front Range CrossFit had the top overall score for workout 12.4, posting a colossal 1,557 reps, followed by Hacks Pack Ute with 1,549, CrossFit Park City with 1,548, CrossFit Verve with 1,544 and a Bomb Squad team that registered 1,536 reps.
Front Range, Verve, Hacks Pack Ute, Park City and MBS CrossFit are in 1st through 5th, respectively with The Club, Bomb Squad, Max Effort, SoCo and CrossFit Scottsdale not far behind.
