Typically once the CrossFit Open begins, top athletes in the sport focus solely on the Games season forgoing any competitions that are not directly tied to advancing to the CrossFit Games. However, this past weekend six teams who will be competing at the North America East Semifinal headed to CrossFit Crash for the Crash Crescendo competition.Â
Organized by JR Howell, Crash Crescendo is a team-based competition featuring five divisions, including one that mimics the 2 men/2 women team format of the CrossFit Games season. “Crescendo is a great opportunity for higher level teams who may have barely missed out on advancing to Semifinals to get a taste of what it takes in order to fuel their goals for the following season,” commented Howell. He added, “For the teams heading to Semifinals, they can use Crescendo as a simulation weekend in preparation for next month.”
And that’s exactly what several teams did this past weekend. Christian Harris brought both of his Semifinals teams down to Spartanburg, South Carolina, for the weekend primer. Harris’ team, CrossFit Move Fast Lift Heavy 247, took 1st place over at Crescendo while CrossFit Move Fast Lift Heavy 365 (renamed MFLH Varsity Meat Squad at Crescendo) finished in 3rd place overall.
Will Carter, a member of CrossFit Move Fast Lift Heavy 247, spoke about the weekend at CrossFit Crash, “This was a great primer and a great competition we wanted to try and get some competition experience under out belt. We wanted to see how we perform and communicate under pressure.” He followed up by saying, “We performed and communicated well but there was room for improvement. Now we have a better idea on how to fix it.”
Carter and his team did do well. They won four of the seven scored events and never scored worse than 4th.
With both Move Fast Lift Heavy teams on the podium, Hickory Hoosiers rounded out the podium in 2nd place. Named CrossFit Enapay Hickory Hoosiers on the CrossFit Games leaderboard, the team traveled from southern Indiana to take part in the competition. Full leaderboard can be found here.
With teams like CrossFit Enapay Hickory Hoosiers traveling from Indiana, it speaks to Howell’s desire to help teams prepare for their first in-person competition of the Games season. “My goal with the program design is to not only construct workouts that are similar in structure to those they might see at Semifinals but that I might expose some holes they could run into at the Games,” shared Howell.
“With a 2/3/2 format and variable event structures and time domains, I think it’s an awesome touch point before it really matters in May,” Howell added when speaking to the three-day format of Crescendo.
But while most walked away from the weekend in high spirits after a great learning opportunity on the competition floor, there was nearly a terrible outcome for one of the team members of CrossFit CLT The Grit Haus. On Friday, Kevin Steinhaus, thought he might have injured his biceps. He and his team withdrew from the competition as a precaution.
Fortunately, in speaking with Steinhaus yesterday, he does not think the injury is too serious and that he should be fully ready to go for Semifinals next month. “I ended up with a shoulder injury but it’s not too sever. Originally, I thought it was a biceps tear but don’t have any bruising or swelling and it’s feeling better and better each day,” said Steinhaus.
He will, however, not take part in the Age Group Semifinals next week as a precaution and will instead focus solely on his team at Semifinals. And for good reason, CrossFit CLT The Grit Haus finished 5th in the North America East region during Quarterfinals. With 10 teams advancing to the CrossFit Games out of the NAE region, Steinhaus’ team has a great shot at earning a ticket to Madison this August.
All in all, the weekend was a success. Howell’s vision of giving teams an opportunity to work together in a real-world competition helped teams like Move Fast Lift Heavy find out where they need to focus their training and teamwork in the final weeks leading up to Semifinals. “As long as the CrossFit Games season stays consistent, I will continue to host Crescendo mid-April next year,” said Howell.
So if you’re near Spartanburg, South Carolina, or are looking to fine tune your team dynamics next season, mark your calendars for the 2024 Crash Crescendo.
