By Tommy Marquez
Tommy predicts NorCal CrossFit will win the upcoming California Regional.
“Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it,” is an often quoted tidbit of wisdom in the realm of competitive sports. Few teams have a better understanding of that than the tight-knit crew from NorCal CrossFit.
The team from San Jose, California, overcame a handful of potentially disastrous turns at multiple points of the 2014 season to finish fifth place overall at the Games. On the first day of regionals, one of its members failed to record a successful lift resulting in a 19th-place finish in the 1-rep-max hang squat snatch. Such a low finish forced the team to battle back for the rest of the weekend to earn a spot to the Games.
At the Games, Miranda Oldroyd succumbed to heat exhaustion toward the end of the Relay Run. The effects of which carried over to the next event, Frantasy Land, and left the team with a 37th-place finish in the event, its worst of the weekend. The team recovered, and rebounded by going on to finish inside the top 10 in seven of the next 10 events.
In 2015, four of the six teammates from the 2014 Games will return. Jason Khalipa will replace Alex Rollins, and multi-year regional competitor Molly Vollmer will replace Tamaryn Barber.
So far the additions to the team have yielded sterling results with NorCal CrossFit finishing first in the 2015 Open in Northern California, winning five of the six scored events along the way. Even more impressive is the team’s first-place finish worldwide in the 2015 Open, ahead of past and current Affiliate Cup champions, UTE CrossFit and CrossFit Invictus.
I wholeheartedly expect NorCal to steamroll the California Regional this weekend, setting multiple event records along the way. In addition to checking out the team’s Instagram page, brush up on some of the athletes and their stories before Week 2 of the regionals kicks off tomorrow.
Jason Khalipa
If this isn’t your first year following the sport, you surely know about Jason Khalipa. “The California Bear” has competed at every Games since 2008, the second year of the sport. His seven-year history in the individual division puts him in an elite group, joined only by legendary athletes Chris Spealler and Rebecca Voigt. On top of that, Khalipa has finished in every place on the podium (first in 2008, second in 2013 and third in 2014). Only one male athlete has bested Khalipa’s three appearances on the individual podium at the Games, and that, of course, is four-time champion Rich Froning Jr.
This isn’t Khalipa’s first foray into team competition. As one of the highest-regarded individual athletes in the sport, Khalipa was invited to compete on the USA Team at the 2012, 2013 and 2014 CrossFit Invitationals. After winning in 2012, he encountered his first taste of adversity on the team level when communication breakdowns and costly mistakes allowed the World team to beat the heavily favored USA Team in 2013. A refocused Khalipa alongside Rich Froning, Emily Bridgers, and Julie Foucher avenged the loss by improving their communication and execution amongst the team members to beat out the Canada Team on the final event.
Known in the early years for setting a suicide pace in workouts, Khalipa worked with coach Austin Begiebing to refine his workout strategy to better fit the long, grueling nature of the competition on the individual side. Now that Khalipa has shifted gears toward the team competition, he’ll need to rediscover the break-neck speeds in workouts that made him a fan favorite, as well as lent to some tumultuous finishes over the years. His strength in the snatch and proficiency walking on his hands will provide a nice hedge for his teammates in Events 4 and 5 in case any unforeseen issues arise.
Pat Barber
When it comes to CrossFit, Pat Barber is about as old school as they come. He started training in 2004 at the original affiliate in Santa Cruz, California, while still in high school. On top of being a member of the CrossFit Level 1 Seminar Staff, he also works for NorCal CrossFit in the area of coaching development alongside his wife, Taz. Barber’s biggest assets as a teammate are both his supreme level of skill (keep an eye out for him on rope climbs), and his ability to seemingly find another gear when taking on a team-style workout.
“The Manimal” began his competitive career in CrossFit back in 2008 when he finished fourth at the Games in Aromas, California, behind Khalipa. He has competed in some capacity every year since then, with the high points of taking eighth in the individual competition at the Games in 2011, and fifth in the team competition with NorCal CrossFit in 2014.
Nick Zambruno
A member of NorCal’s team for the entirety of the season last year, Nick Zambruno was a welcomed addition to the team after two successful years competing as an individual in the South West and Northern California Regionals.
The account executive at mobile marketing company Kahuna in Palo Alto, California, will have a chance at redemption this year in the snatch event at regionals. Last year, two mistakes uncharacteristic of the athlete who finished eighth as an individual the year prior left him without a successful lift in the 1-rep-max hang snatch event. The result knocked the NorCal team down to 19th in the event but did not keep NorCal off the podium.
Zambruno has great endurance and skill as a runner, and excels whenever that is tested. A member of the triathlon club at the University of Southern California, he will make quick work of his .5-mile run portion on the TrueForm Runner on Team Event 3, allowing Khalipa and Barber to take the shorter run segments and conserve energy.
Miranda Oldroyd
When it comes to role models in CrossFit, there are few better choices than Miranda Oldroyd. She has dedicated her life to CrossFit, and is (or has been) involved in every facet, as an affiliate owner, trainer, flowmaster, Games individual and team competitor, and Games commentator.
It all came together in 2008, when she and her husband, Tyson, discovered CrossFit and opened their own affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah. That summer, she competed in the individual division in the second-ever CrossFit Games. Her road back to the competition floor took years, and was punctuated by top-10 regional finishes in 2011, 2012 and 2013, a broken neck from a car accident in 2012, and finally a switch to team in 2014.
The story of her comeback from a broken neck is nothing short of spectacular. If you haven’t watched Heber Cannon’s coverage “Live. Fate loves the fearless.” I recommend remedying that now.
Oldroyd brings years of experience to the team. I expect Oldroyd will play a huge role in helping NorCal CrossFit qualify for the Games this weekend. Her speed on the GHD apparatus is incredible, and will surely help her team get off to a fast start on Sunday morning in Team Event 6. Oldroyd said she can finish her 50 GHD sit-ups in less than 80 seconds.
Molly Vollmer
Molly Vollmer (formerly Biss) is the lone new female member on the NorCal CrossFit squad replacing Tamaryn “Taz” Barber from last year’s roster. Vollmer has spent the last two years competing in the individual division at the NorCal Regional. Prior to that, she competed on CrossFit 760’s team at regionals in 2011 and 2012.
She played competitive soccer as a forward on traveling club teams up through college, and spent time in the endurance world running half marathons before discovering CrossFit in 2009. Now an operator and coach for the NorCal CrossFit affiliates, Vollmer has dedicated her life to the pursuit of fitness through her coaching and her training for CrossFit competition.
Vollmer possesses the biggest strength numbers of the three women on the NorCal Team with a 228-lb. clean and jerk, a 185-lb. snatch, and she posted four top-10 finishes in five events at the 2014 Northern California Regional before shattering the navicular bone in her foot hindering her performance on the final day of competition. Her switch to the team competition easily makes the NorCal’s women one of the best trios of any team competing in 2015.
Jen Zambruno
Jen Zambruno (formerly Cadmus) has made huge gains over the last year. She jumped 16 spots on the NorCal Open Leaderboard between 2014 and 2015, landing in 11th overall in the region this year. She has gone from a fringe regional-level athlete to a competitor who can go rep-for-rep with any of her teammates, which includes top-tier Games and regional competitors. In fact, Zambruno managed to pass Oldroyd on five of the six Open workouts this year.
What’s particularly striking about these massive gains is that CrossFit remains Zambruno’s hobby. The account executive for the computer software company Xactly Corp has been able to balance a full-time career in the tech industry while making significant improvements in the gym.
Why They'll Win
The depth of talent on the women’s side, the speed and chemistry amongst all the athletes on their team is unmatched. I firmly believe the women on NorCal’s team can hang with any female trio in the world. Even with the new, stricter format, all three could have competed at regionals as individuals. All three can handle any rep range, movement or loading thrown at them, and all three have enough competition experience to handle the heightened expectations after last year’s fifth-place finish at the Games.
The chemistry between the group is undeniable. They train, eat, hang out and work—with the exception of Zambruno—together every day and the fun they bring to their training together is well-documented on social media (instagram: teamnorcal2015). Little things like that pay dividends when a rep, lift or event doesn’t go your way and cooler heads can prevail.
I’ve been fortunate enough to witness the team practicing in its full capacity and the speed with which the team attacks every rep, set and transition is astounding.
The team’s coach, L1 Flowmaster Austin Begiebing, has programmed a sense of urgency into every move they make, and ensured that little time is wasted in whatever they’re doing. Did I mention they added Khalipa? Yeah, that should help, too.
Event to Watch:
Predicted California Regional Podium
1. NorCal CrossFit.
2. CrossFit 808: The 10th-place team from the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games returns all six members from last year, anchored by two-time individual Games athlete Elyse Umeda. Having the same roster should help them overtake an Invictus team that is using new athletes this year.
3. Invictus: The reigning 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games Affiliate Cup champions return four of the six members from last year’s team. Bryan Miller sitting out, and the loss of Rasmus Wisbech Andersen to the individual side shouldn’t prevent them from still qualifying.
4. Kinnick: Led by three-time CrossFit Games individual competitor Jeremy Kinnick, the team finished fifth at the 2014 Southern California Regional in their first year as a dedicated team. An extra year of training specifically for the team competition should help them stay inside the top five.
5. CrossFit CSA: The team from Dublin, California, has added a handful of perennial individual regional competitors to the team including Jackie Perez, Sarah Pierce and John “Buddy” Hitchcock. CSA finished third in Northern California in the 2015 Open.
