Team
Coming into Day 3, there were still eight teams in contention for five qualifying spots. CrossFit Torian and Injustice Crew were tied with 459 points and were straddling the 5th and 6th place spots. With three events remaining, there was little margin for error.
The top three teams heading into Sunday took care of business on Event 7 and 8, all finishing in the top six, essentially securing a trip to Carson. Not all of the teams fighting for those final spots, however, took advantage. CrossFit Loaded’s MMF trio struggled on Event 7 taking 23rd place putting them in jeopardy of sitting on the outside looking in. Â But the FFM trio came back big with a third place finish in Event 8 to keep them in the hunt.
There were no surprises in Event 9 as the teams in the top 5 all did well enough to secure their bid to Carson, California and the CrossFit Games. Injustice Crew and Functional Strength CrossFit both needed six points to pass CrossFit Loaded for the final qualifying spot.
Event 7 Results
1. Zaks Pack East Tamaki 8:00
2. CrossFit Boss 8:03
3. Tropic Thunder 8:06
4. CrossFit Torian 8:09
5. Schwartzs CrossFit Melbourne 8:21
Event 8 Results
1. Reebok CrossFit Frankston 13:03
2. Zaks Pack East Tamaki 13:26
3. CrossFit Loaded 13:45
4. Schwartzs CrossFit Melbourne 13:53
5. Injustice Crew 14:02
Event 9 Results
1. CrossFit Athletic CAP
T2. Functional Strength CrossFit CAP+1
T2. Schwartzs CrossFit Melbourne CAP+1
T2. CrossFit Torian CAP+1
T2. CrossFit Loaded CAP+1
Regional Results
1. Zaks Pack East Tamaki 820
2. Schwartzs CrossFit Melbourne 779
3. CrossFit Athletic 743
4. CrossFit Torian 706
5. CrossFit Loaded 686
***
6. Injustice Crew 681
7. Functional Strength CrossFit 680
Women
Kara Webb, Tia-Clair Toomey, Alethea Boon and Justine Beath all had basically wrapped up a spot to the Games as long as they completed the minimum work requirements and/or didn’t completely bonk. However, 5th place was still up for grabs with four women still in the hunt for the final placement.
Harriet Roberts held the 5th and final qualifying spot coming into Sunday, but struggled on the set of 10 overhead squats. Roberts took 16th in the event, allowing Madeline Sturt to make up some ground. Jessica Coughlan and Jaime Goodwin struggled even more putting themselves out of contention.
With one event left, Sturt trailed Roberts by 15 points. The short event left no room for error as a failed legless rope climb could mean the difference between making the Games and not. Sturt completed the reps smoothly and finished in 6th place while Roberts got stuck on the set of two legless rope climbs. Roberts ended up taking 19th in the event, dropping her down to 6th place and outside of a qualifying spot.
Madeline Sturt is only 19 years old and will be one of the new younger generation athletes to reach the Games at an early age. Sturt competed at the Australia regional in 2014 and finished 29th. She failed to qualify for regionals last year, but came back stronger this year.
Sammy Wood, a 2015 CrossFit Games veteran, never made an impact on the leaderboard and finished in 9th at the end of the weekend.
Event 6 Results
1. Kara Webb 10:53
2. Alethea Boon 11:58
3. Tia-Clair Toomey 12:01
4. Justine Beath 12:04
5. Courtney Haley 12:47
Event 7 Results
1. Alethea Boon 3:08
2. Courtney Haley 3:41
3. Tia-Clair Toomey 3:43
4. Kara Webb 3:50
5. Courtney Fitzharris 3:58
Regional Results
1. Kara Webb 665
2. Tia-Clair Toomey 635
3. Alethea Boon 604
4. Justine Beath 572
5. Madeline Sturt 453
***
6. Harriet Roberts 442
7. Courtney Haley 440
8. Jessica Coughlan 436
9. Sammy Wood 433
Men
Khan Porter found himself in an unfamiliar position on Sunday…sitting outside the top 5. Knowing he had to do something big, Porter pushed the gas pedal on Event 6 taking 3rd. While a strong performance, the person he was chasing, Ricky Garard, did even better with a second place finish.
This left Porter 13 points behind Garard. On top of that, Garard held the tied breaker with the 2nd place finish from Event 6. The fast pace of Event 7 can really cause havoc on the leaderboard. Knowing that, Porter pushed the pace on the thrusters and didn’t waste any time on the legless rope climbs. Porter did everything he could finishing in 2:27, good for 1st place. Porter, however, had to wait to see if Garard would finish 4th or worse. Tom Lengyel’a time of 2:39 in a previous heat was good for 2nd place as Zeke Grove finished a second slower in the final heat.
James Newbury and Kevin Manuel raced to the finish line two seconds ahead of Garard, pushing Garard into 6th place, but there was still a chance he could move back into the top 5 as Mitchell Sinnamon was still on the floor. No one knew exacty what Sinnamon had to do to stay in the top 5 as he raced down the line. Sinnamon finished in 15th place and just two points ahead of Garard for the final qualifying spot.
Kevin Manuel finished 17th at the 2015 CrossFit Games and competed on the Pacific Invitational team. Unfortunately, Manuel struggled throughout the weekend and fell short of competing for a qualifying sport this year.
Event 6 Results
1. Rob Forte 10:16
2. Ricky Garard 10:30
3. Khan Porter 10:45
4. Mitchell Sinnamon 10:48
5. Brandon Swan 10:59
Event 7 Results
1. Khan Porter 2:27
2. Tom Lengyel 2:39
3. Zeke Grove 2:40
4. James Newbury 2:46
5. Kevin Manuel 2:46
Regional Results
1. Rob Forte 555
2. James Newbury 536
3. Khan Porter 533
4. Zeke Grove 526
5. Mitchell Sinnamon 523
***
6. Ricky Garard 521
7. Kevin Manuel 469
