Moving on to Games!

Moving on to Games!
Written by C.J. Martin

It’s been four incredible weeks of Regionals, but I am so glad to be done traveling and get home to dig in and make sure all of our athletes are prepared for the 2013 CrossFit Games!

I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the Regionals season. We started in our own backyard with three of our males competing individually, honorary Invicti Val Voboril crushing it for females, and both of our teams giving it everything they had on the floor. That’s probably as good as it gets as a coach, but I am pretty darn happy with the way we rounded out the Regionals season as well. We had Invictus athletes competing in three different regions: Canada West, Latin America and Central East. They all gave full effort, and in the end they finished extremely well. In Canada West, Erica Livett finished in 3rd place, Taryn Romanowich earned 4th place, and Janine Walinski finished in 7th place; in Latin America Tarasa Barnett earned 2nd place and Andres Danelutto earned 6th place; and Michelle Kinney earned her way back to the CrossFit Games finishing in 2nd place in the Central East.

This has been an incredible season, and not just for the individuals and teams we have moving on to Games, but also for the many athletes who we were blessed to help this season as they worked to become the best athletes they could be. Some of my absolute favorite moments of Regionals were from our athletes who never dreamed of moving on to Games, but were nonetheless determined to give everything they had in the arena. I got to see and help at least one of those athletes (and normally several) every weekend. That is the most fulfilling thing that can happen for me as a coach. Regardless of talent level, if I can help an athlete perform to the very best of their ability, I will be happy and fulfilled. So a huge thank you to all of those athletes who put their trust in me and the Invictus coaching staff and busted their butts for months for the opportunity to test themselves in competition.

Finally, please join me in congratulating the following Invictus athletes who have earned the right to continue training hard to be at their very best in July at the CrossFit Games!

Teams

• Team Invictus (Nichole, Nuno, Shane, Ayo, Tino, Lauren, Hank and Heather)
• Team CrossFit 808 (Elyse, Kyla, Brandy, Kashayla, Rich, Joe, Josh and Jeff)

Individual Males

• Josh Bridges (SoCal – Invictus)
• Zach Anderson (South East – CF Paragon)
• Aja Barto (South Central – Behemoth)
• Bryan Miller (North West – Beaverton CF)
• Ryan Swobody (North West – CF Marysville)

Individual Females

• Valerie Voboril (SoCal – Dogtown)
• Caroline Fryklund (Europe – CF Kalmar)
• Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (Canada East – CF Brossard & Invictus)
• Ashleigh Moe (North West – CF Skagit)
• Nikki Tainatongo (Asia – CF 671)
• Michelle Kinney (Central East – CF Chickasaw)

Master’s Athletes

• Brad Posnanski (40-44 – Invictus in his High School weight room)
• Mike Ford (45-49 – Beaverton CrossFit)
• Elizabeth Terris (50-54 – Invictus)
• Litsa Olsson (50-54 – CF Marysville)
• David Hippensteel (55-59 – Screaming Eagle CF)
• Terry Dickman (55-59 – CF Excel)

Sea of Green, if you don’t already have tickets, find a way to get your hands on them! We have an unbelievable group of Invictus athletes ready to go out and crush it in Carson next month. We need every member of the Sea of Green we can get to be there to cheer them on.