Week Two in Review: South West

March 6, 2012

Neal Leitereg

Top athletes from the South West have risen and fallen across the board. 
 

The Open competition is all about playing to one's strengths, which explains why we saw an ebb and flow among the South West Region leaders, with top athletes rising and falling across the board. Here is a rundown from this weekend's action, where the featured workout was the snatch.

Women

Front Range CrossFit's 17-year-old phenom, Colleen Maher, raised eyebrows after the first week of the Open during which she put up 120 burpees, and the up-and-coming athlete did little to disappoint in Week 2 after registering the fourth-best total of reps among the individual women's competitors with 97 snatches. Maher's total had her rising from 11th overall to the No. 2 spot behind fellow Front Ranger and top athlete, Becky Conzelman, who secured the top overall position in the South West region, putting up 90 reps over the weekend.

Loree Smith of CrossFit SoCo had the best performance among the individual women's bracket with 107 reps. She was followed by Front Range CrossFit's Jasmine Dever, whose 105 snatches pushed her from 59th to 12th in the South West, CrossFit Albuquerque's Whitney Cappellucci who had 101 reps, Maher with 97 reps and Front Range CrossFit's Kristen Olson, who also had 97 reps in Week 2.

Rounding out the top five overall in the South West region this week were CrossFit Wasatch's Tiffany Hendrickson (90 reps), CrossFit Venture's Natalie McLain (87 reps), who fell from 1st to 4th, and CrossFit Now's Amanda DeRosa (86 reps).

CrossFit Verve's Beth Guse fell out of the top five after posting 82 reps. CrossFit Full Strength's Gayle Shalloo also suffered the same fate, while Kim Hagger, 2010 Regional qualifier, of CrossFit 5280, managed a rise from her sub-100 spot to 25th overall in the South West after registering 94 snatches over the weekend.

Hagger who injured herself during third workout of 2010 Regionals says: “I'm probably in the best physical shape I've been in in a long time.”

Men

As with the women's bracket, snatches provided plenty of shakeup on the South West Leader board for the individual men's competition with a slew of athletes having a strong showing and leapfrogging the region's Week 1 leaders.

No one proved greater in Week 2 of Open competition than Urban WarFit CrossFit owner and coach Rob Pyfer, who paced the way with 92 snatches to lead the South West. Pyfer is a former collegiate All-American wrestler, turned national level bodybuilder, turned CrossFit athlete. He and his wife, Ali, are expecting the birth of their first child this week, making his climb from 22nd to 2nd overall in the region all the more remarkable considering what he has on his plate.

Right behind Pyfer was the region's top individual men's competitor, Matt Chan of CrossFit Verve. Chan tied with Lindsay Hassell who just had back surgery four months ago, Kevin Ogar, Brennan Fjord, Brock Felt, Tommy Hackenbruck, Cody Fleming, and Jake Holmberg for the second-best reps count with 90 snatches on the day. Combined with his 130 burpees from Week 1, Chan now sits atop the region after two weeks.

CrossFit Max Effort's Zach Forrest secured the 3rd overall position in the South West following an 82-rep performance over the weekend, while CrossFit Park City's Chris Spealler (80 reps) and Ute CrossFit's Adrian Conway (88 reps) round out the individual men's top five for the region.

Hackenbruck, who was not ranked in the top 100 following the first week, climbed to 80th in the South West, while another of the top athletes in the region, Peter Egyed of CrossFit Fury, also saw a major climb, putting up 84 reps to rise to 58th in the region.

Teams

It was a weekend of ups and downs for many of the top teams in the South West, with the Region's top team from Week 1, Salt Lake City CrossFit, slipping from 1st to 16th after registering just 431 combined snatches in Week 2.

Jumping ahead this week was the outfit from Denver, Colo., Front Range CrossFit, which locked down the Region's top spot in team competition, pacing the South West with 546 reps. The Front Range CrossFit team, which opened at the No. 2 spot last week, now ranks 3rd overall nationally following its strong showing over the weekend.

The CrossFit Park City team, which was tied with Front Range following the first week with 733 burpees, put up just 471 reps and slipped to 4th in the region and 13th worldwide.

Seizing the opportunity in Week 2 were the Hackenbruck-led Hacks Pack UTE outfit, whose 520 reps vaulted the team from 10th overall to 3rd overall in the region and 12th worldwide, while CrossFit Verve's 505 reps saw the Denver team settling into the No. 2 position in the South West and the No. 7 position worldwide.

Masters

For the masters divisions, Sherri Biringer of CrossFit Luke had a strong showing in the 45-49 women's bracket in the South West region with 85 reps total. Men's 55-59 athlete Brett Wilson of CrossFit 801 rose to No. 7 overall on the worldwide Leaderboard with 101 reps, which also qualified for the top 10 in this week's workout of the day.

The 60-plus men's division for the South West is led by Front Range CrossFit's Scott Olson, who managed 101 reps of his own to lock down the 2nd overall position worldwide, while last year's masters champ, Greg Walker of CrossFit Northwest Tucson, is now 6th following a 92-rep performance over the weekend.

*The scores and rankings are unofficial until Tuesdays at 5 p.m., PT.