Weekly OPEN Recap – 23.1

CrossFit Open 23.1 is…a Repeat of 14.4!

It’s Open time again and in true CrossFit HQ fashion, we kick off our season with a game changer. A repeat workout in Week One is a first in Open history, but even more surprising is the introduction of a muscle up in Week One. While the workout was presented as a chipper, it went MUCH faster than most chippers. Combining a tough opening row with toes to bar, wallballs, AND cleans all before we ever consider the rings, 14 minutes went by fast!

Week 1 Top Performances
  • Top 3 RX Women: Kelsey Schlicht, Coach Jenny, Alex Rundell        
  • Top 3 RX Men: Coach Gavin, Coach George, Cory Gravesmill
  • Top 3 SCALED Women: Steph Irwin , Kim Bond, Andrea Harris
  • Top 3 SCALED Men: Joey Salser, Aaron Carmine, Scott Yana
We saw some great showings on the RTC leaderboard with some first timers and newbies making an appearance. 
  • Kim Bond & Aaron Carmine both made their first showing on the scaled leaderboards in their first EVER open experiences.
  • While the machine, Steph Irwin, found herself in the top scaled spot this week, with a huge score of 1 round + 11 additional calories! 
  • Arguably one of the most impress showings was an inspiring performance by Coach Gavin who put up a gusty 211 in the men’s RX division. We all know he’s fit, but I think we can all agree we saw a whole new gear come out for 23.1. 
  • Our top 3 female RX scores all proved to be exciting in one way or another! Kelsey Schlicht hit a fast turnaround repeat during Sunday Showdown to get back on the rings after missing her attempts on Saturday….and it worked! Coach Jenny repeated to get herself a chance at the rings…and it worked! And Alex Rundell hit the rings during FNL and managed to get her very first ring muscle up in the last seconds of the workout! Talk about exciting! 

Honorable Mentions:

  • Holly “the mighty” Thomas DID THE FREAKING THING! No she never backs down from a challenge, but this one deserves a special shout out. Due to her lack of height, rowing and wallballs are quite difficult so starting a workout with a 60 calorie buy in could prove quite demoralizing. Not for Holly on Friday! She sat down, set a goal, and rowed her 60 cals, then tackled her 50 toes to bar, all to have time remaining to do another favorite..wallballs!
  • Kevin Irwin set his sights on a 13:30 tiebreak time and came in at 13:20! He completed all 50 toes to bar RX with strategic and efficient single reps! 
  • Kathy Darmstadt was so determined to get a RX toe to bar that she came back for a Sunday Showdown repeat with a badly torn hand from FNL! I think we can all agree, her determination and work ethic are inspiring! 

Other First Times & PRs

  • Shane Phillips had his first introduction to a RTC FNL!
  • Kim Bond had her first introduction to a RTC FNL and found herself on a leaderboard! 
  • Power couple Kelsey & Jedd Schlicht both hit multiple ring muscle ups after taking more than a year away from that movement. 
  • Kenzie Szczepaniak posted her FIRST EVER RX Open score! 
  • Best bros, Greg O’Dell and Shawn Barth, both recored their first ever RX Open scores!
  • Taylor Odom did RX toes to bar for FNL for the first time ever in a WOD!
  • Lauren Ozanich came back Monday for a RX repeat to tackle toes to bar for the first time in a WOD! 
  • Mandi S did wallballs to a target and did all her knee raises without kicking off the floor!

Spirit of the Open Mentions:

  • Shawn & Mindy Barth took time out of their vacation to drop into Steel Edge CrossFit in Miami, Florida to add valuable team points for TEAM CAN YOU SAY THAT AGAIN, ALLIE. To quote Shawn, “there’s no A/C here!” That’s dedication y’all! 
  • Josh Allatzas had to miss FNL for a work event, but he made it in for open gym on Friday afternoon and made sure to swing by FNL on his way out to cheer on his teammates!
  • Jeff & Mandi Snyder came to the gym Sunday morning solely to cheer on the Sunday Showdown folks….plus Mandi sported more neon!
  • Chris Hout was sidelined due to a little back issue, but that didn’t stop him from being here for FNL to support his team and others!
  • Stacie Smith was also sidelined and also came out in full support! 
  • Meredith Jones, a newbie to the CrossFit and the Open was very nervous, but she was in the house in full NEON for FNL!!!!
  • Shelly Bailey and Maddie Blyer were IN THE HOUSE despite having very difficult weeks of life things! 

OVERALL BEST DRESSED FOLKS:

  • Greg O’Dell
  • Jerrica Thomas (she died her hair neon green, y’all….enough said)
  • Sydni Kidd
  • Scott Yana
  • Joey Salser

Other Noteables:

  • Over 80 RTC People Completed 23.1 between Friday and Monday. 
  • Redos saw improved scores.
  • We saw tons of smiles, heard endless cheers, saw countless high fives and felt that special open energy all weekend, despite some bloodshed along the way….thanks 50 toes to bar!

THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

Our CrossFit Kids also tackled 23.1 during Thursday Night Lights. Here are some highlights:

  • 12 kids did the WOD.
    • ALL worked really hard and had great attitudes!
    • The littles had never done any medball cleans and they all picked up the skill quickly!
    • The bigs helped all the the littles by cheering and encouraging them along the way!
    • Kennedy Scheeff held on for unbroken knee raises the entire WOD!

TEAM RECAP

Week One Points

  • Team Jenny & Jeanine aka GYM & JUICE: 79 pts 
  • Team Gavin & Alex aka CHALK DIRTY TO ME 2.0: 78pts
  • Team George & Romero aka FLEX APPEAL: 77 pts
  • Team Chris & Jenna aka HIGH SPIRITS, LOW EXPECTATIONS: 76 pts
  • Team Steph Marg, Nate, & Colin aka CAN YOU SAY THAT AGAIN, ALLIE: 76 pts
  • Week One of the 2023 OPEN has been our closest to date! 
  • Team GYM & JUICE ran away with the best team spirit award this week, giving them the slight edge over our other teams. They pulled out all the stops this week, with 12 of 13 team members participating in FNL and their only missing teammate was on vacation. They also had a STRONG showing at SUNDAY SHOWDOWN. No doubt, they absolutely crushed week 1, but it begs to be asked: Can they sustain this level of effort for 2 more weeks? Or will they fade out?
  • Team CHALK DIRTY TO ME 2.0 had a strong showing, with many athletes coming in clutch on Friday as well as completing workouts on other days. They brought the neon and the spirit hard on FNL and Sunday Showdown, earning many valuable points for judging and cheering outside of FNL! From the mumbling around the community, word on the street is that they are coming with a vengeance this week! Though, it was coming from 99% of their own team, so we will have to wait and see what their plan is on Friday. 
  • Team FLEX APPEAL took the best dressed overall team award this week, simply because they were the ONLY team to have 100% participation in the neon theme. Apparently that crew likes wild colors all around! 
  • Team HIGH SPIRITS, LOW EXPECTATIONS may not have taken home either of the big awards this week, but they stayed close with a consistent showing of participation and judging points over the entire weekend! Looks like the road to victory will be a close battle. What do their Team Captains have in store for week 2?….
  • And let’s not forget about Team CAN YOU SAY THAT AGAIN, ALLIE who comes in a little short this week, with a few teammates unwilling to hop on the neon train. That didn’t derail their efforts though— they also put up a strong showing in team spirit points with 11 of 13 athletes adding credit to their team total for FNL attendance while their 2 missing participants hit a gym in Miami, Florida to tackle the WOD and earn those team points from afar! We all know every competition comes with a great underdog story, and we can be sure both these team captains have their athletes fired up for a stronger week 2 showing! 

OVERALL TEAM STANDINGS AFTER WEEK 1
(including pre-open points, but not including the Impact Award Nominations already submitted – keep doing these by the way!):

WE HAVE A 3 WAY TIE IN THE MIDDLE AS OF NOW!!!! THAT’S IS A FIRST IN RTC INTRAMURAL OPEN HISTORY.

  1. GYM & JUICE: 100 pts
  2. CHALK DIRTY TO ME 2.0: 89pts
  3. FLEX APPEAL: 89pts
  4. HIGH SPIRITS, LOW EXPECTATIONS: 89 pts
  5. CAN YOU SAY THAT AGAIN, ALLIE: 86 pts

As the only team to have all their members follow the official rules of the “intheopen” pre-open point challenge by meeting the official deadline, GYM & JUICE is able to pull into the overall lead thus far. They earned valuable bonus points that the other teams that completed this task post deadline did not earn! 

BUT, IF WE KNOW ANYTHING FROM PAST YEARS, IT IS ANYONE’S GAME! 10 points is nothing with 2 weeks left. Especially with a few additional surprise challenges to appear over the coming weeks! 

………………………………..Don’t get comfortable, Team GYM & JUICE! 

What to expect this week:

As with every open, to guess what’s coming next is like trying to predict the weather in our great State. However, we can almost guarantee that we will see something NASTY! 

Be sure to tune into games.crossfit.coat 3PM or to Wodify at 8PM to see what’s in store for this upcoming Friday.

And just for fun….just like every weatherman/woman in town, I will make a predication: a triplet with Wall Walks, Dumbbell Thrusters, & CrossFit. 

….And just like every weatherman/woman in town, I will be wrong. See you guys on Friday!