Day 1 of the 2022 Rogue Invitational began with athletes loading onto a bus to head to an unknown location for an unknown event. Shrouded in secrecy, the athletes eventually ended up at Bill and Caity Henniger’s ranch about an hour from Round Rock. There, the athletes learned the details of Event 1, Texas Trail.
Texas Trail was a 4.2 total mile trail run with the first 1.2 miles using a 30-pound for the men and 20-pound for the women ruck. From there, they would drop the ruck behind and run another 1 mile to the turnaround where they perform three sandbag over haybale lifts. After that, they would make the 2-mile run back to the finish line.
Throughout the day, fans were waiting to find out the results of the first event. At around noon Central time, we shared that Jayson Hopper and Danielle Brandon were the winners. We shared updates over the next couple hours on where some of the athletes had finished, but there still was not an official update from Rogue.
Finally, around 4:00pm Central time, the official leaderboard was updated.
Men’s Top 5
1. Jayson Hopper
2. Jeff Adler
3. Ricky Garard
4. Roman Khrennikov
5. Justin Medeiros
Women’s Top 5
1. Danielle Brandon
2. Bailey Rogers
3. Gabriela Migala
4. Matilde Garnes
5. Emma Lawson
In the men’s field, Lazar Djukic finished in last place after twisting his ankle on the run. Despite the injury, Djukic was able to finish the event. Later, Djukic made an appearance on The Sevan Podcast (along with myself) to discuss what happened. Djukic said he expects to be ready for Day 2.
On the women’s side, online qualifier and Rogue Invitational rookie, Bailey Rogers, took 2nd place behind Brandon. Rogers, who finished 6th at this year’s Torian Pro Semifinal, crossed the finish line ahead of Gabriela Migala in 3rd and Matilde Garnes in 4th.
What to Expect on Day 2
With inclement weather rolling through Texas, Rogue has delayed the start of the events by two hours. The first CrossFit event, Ski Bar, begins at 3:10pm Central time.
The CrossFit competition has three events on Friday. In talking with several athletes after Event 1, they said they feel pretty good and expect to be ready for Ski Bar this afternoon. Most reported tight calves and quads after the ruck run, but that the soreness was not too bad.
Today’s events are in stark contrast to yesterday’s trail run. Ski Bar will test the athletes’ midline endurance, while Back Attack will feature the heaviest back squats ever in a CrossFit competition metcon. And finally, the athletes will take on DT with a Spin tonight.
With three events and 300 points up for grabs, expect the leaderboard to look a lot different tonight.
