The 2016 CrossFit Open Re-Cap
This past Monday marked the official end to the 2016 Open season, and what an exciting 5 weeks it was!The workouts this year were as tough as ever, and demanded a wide-range of skills and capacities (to see a list of all 5 workouts, including movement standards, check out the CrossFit Games site here). Our Friday Night Lights events allowed participants to push themselves to the limit, while being cheered on by their friends and peers. We saw more than a few people hit some new PR's in the Clean, as well as some folks getting their first Chest-to-Bar Pull-ups, Bar Muscle Ups, and Handstand Push-ups! In the end, our collective efforts contributed to Full Range placing 91st out of 400 teams in the Northeast Region. Bravo!We had 33 Full Rangers take part this year, and we are proud of the effort put forth by each and every one of them. We decided to recognize some of the most memorable performances this year by holding an awards ceremony at our "End-of-the-Open" Potluck on Saturday. Here's a quick rundown of who won what:
Most Improved Player (from last year):
Male Winner: Cooper MarshFemale Winner: Emma WilliamsWhile we saw some incredible improvements from last year nearly across the board, Cooper and Emma both proved this year that their hard work in the gym was effective, and that they could continue progression from what were already strong performances in the past.
Rookie of the Year:
Male Winner: Nic DerFemale Winner: Shannon BrennanThis award recognized strong performances from athletes in their first-ever Open competition. Both Nic and Shannon have started training with us within the past year, but you could never tell by watching them compete!
Top Place-Winner in any Division:
Winner: Susan ElySusan, competing in the Masters Women 40-44 y/o division, finished 51st in the Northeast and 547th in the world at the end of 5 weeks. Susan has trained with our Competition Group for the last several months, and has grown into an even more incredible athlete than she already was. Congratulations to Susan on a great showing!
Legacy Award (most Opens completed at Full Range):
Winner: Erin KatzErin has competed in every single Open since Full Range's inception, from 2013 through this year. She is the only person at the gym to have done so, and we wanted to recognize her determination, toughness, and ability to keep coming back, even after dealing with injuries over her soccer career. Erin will be graduating from Brown in May, and will ultimately move on from the Range, but her legacy will live on!
"Comeback Kid" Award:
Winner: James RochfordAs many of you know, James has been with Full Range since the beginning, as a long-time training partner of both myself and Alecia, as well as the first coach we ever hired. After taking a couple of years off from competing, James re-joined our Competition group this year, and has seen some tremendous progress over the last few months. We applaud his attitude, his patience, and his ability to continue making gains after years of training. His return to the Open competition this year was a triumphant one, with strong performances throughout.
Top Overall Finishers (Non-Competition Group):
Male Winners: Paul Kettelle and Mark SpatcherFemale Winner: Alex RangelWe created this distinction to recognize the top performers this year that do not currently train under our Competition program. This means that these folks take our regular group classes, following either "Fitness" or "Performance." All three of these individuals (the race between Paul and Mark was too close to call at the time of the awards) excelled in their showings this year, while showing that you can still get super fit in only one hour of training each day (though I happen to know that all of them have improved their Olympic Lifting skills by attending Brayn's class, hint hint). We would also like to wish a fond farewell to Alex, who is moving very soon. You will be missed!
Your 2016 Open Champs:
Male Winner: Jake MarconiFemale Winner: Alanna ManiatisBoth of our overall winners this year share a few things in common: they are young (both are 19), they work extremely hard, and their quad-game is WAY strong. Alanna was consistent across all of the events this year, never finishing worse than 8th in the gym, or top 1000 in the region, to finish just 2 spots outside of the top 500 in her first year of the Open. Jake, who made it his stated goal of finishing top 100 in the region, achieved that impressive feat (94th overall), while taking the top score in the gym on EVERY SINGLE workout this year. We are very excited to see these two develop in the coming years, and build on what are already impressive resumes!
The "Spirit of the Range" Award:
Winner: Dennis LeamyWith our last award, we as a staff wanted to recognize someone that exemplified what we would call "the spirit of Full Range." Here are some of the criteria we came up with:A true Full Ranger:
- Gives 100% effort whenever 100% effort is called for.
- Never complains or places blame on anyone other than themselves if a workout does not go their way
- Actively supports and applauds their fellow Full Rangers when it is their time to hit it
- Smiles often
After careful deliberation and voting among our coaching staff, we awarded this inaugural honor to Dennis Leamy. If you know Dennis, there is not much more to explain. While there were many worthy candidates for this prize, Dennis truly exemplified what we had in mind when creating this award, and will carry this title with him for the next year.
We want to thank everyone who came out and supported those competing over the last five weeks, and wish a huge congrats to everyone that put it all out there.**Editor's Note: I (Adam) would also like to recognize my wife and partner, Alecia, for her hard work in organizing all of our Friday Night Lights events, including: judging nearly every heat, arranging the heats, emailing everyone with details each week, staying late each week to clean up and chat with people, and a myriad other behind-the-scenes pieces that usually go unnoticed. If you enjoyed this Open season, as a competitor or spectator, please take a moment to thank her for her hard work.If any of you have ideas for next year's awards, let us know in the comments what you think we should recognize!