Rich Froning’s New Games Journey: Team CrossFit Mayhem Freedom

Rich Froning may no longer be competing as an individual, but based on the evidence of last Thursday’s Open announcement, one might expect to see him at the Games once again this summer at the head of his new team: CrossFit Mayhem Freedom. That’s right—as of last week, Rich Froning is registered as a team competitor for the first time in a CrossFit Games season.

So what do we know about this squad? Let’s take a look at the Open Team Roster—available on games.crossfit.com.

Rich Froning

Four-time CrossFit Games champion (2011, 2012,2013,2014)
Four-time CrossFit Open winner (2011,2012,2013,2014)
Two-time CrossFit Invitational winner (2012,2014)

James Hobart

Three-time CrossFit Games individual competitor (2009, 2010, 2014)
Three-time CrossFit Games team competitor with CrossFit New England (2011 Champions, 2012, 2013—2^nd)
Finished 44^th worldwide in 2014 Open

Matt Hewett

Two-time Central East Regional competitor (2013-9^th, 2014-20^th)
Finished 171^st worldwide in 2014 Open

Elly Kabboord

Four-time South East Regional competitor (2011-19^th, 2012-35^th, 2013-23^rd, 2014-13^th)
Finished 468^th worldwide in 2014 Open

Lauren Neal

Competed with CrossFit Mayhem at 2013 CrossFit Games (finished 27^th)
Finished 4738^th worldwide in 2014 Open

Kristin Reffett

Competed at 2013 Central East Regional (finished 17^th)
Finished 178^th worldwide in 2014 Open

Aside from Froning, the other big name on the team is six-time Games athlete James Hobart. Hobart finished 21^st at the Games last summer. The other four members of CrossFit Mayhem Freedom have some Regional experience, but it’s hard to estimate what kind of success the team will have in this year’s CrossFit season. To compare, let’s look at how the athletes of 2014’s Team Champions—CrossFit Invictus—performed during last year’s Open. Below is a chart depicting the roster of Invictus’ 2014 squad, as well as their scores for each Open workout.

CrossFit Invictus	14.1	14.2	14.3	14.4	14.5	Final 2014 Open Standing
Melissa Hurley	372	193	168	182	11:35	409th 3909 points
Heather Hippensteel	293	195	145	189	12:54	1507th 11599 points
Ayo Anise	315	140	169	185	13:24	1074th 8671 points
Rasmus Andersen	400	338	155	244	09:49	24th 634 points
Nuno Costa	397	320	152	218	09:58	79th 1462 points
Henry Lopez	360	322	155	250	08:45	84th   1519 points
						Total points: 27,794

 

Now, lets look at the scores for the same workouts from the current CrossFit Mayhem Freedom team.

CrossFit Mayhem Freedom	14.1	14.2	14.3	14.4	14.5	Final 2014 Open Standing
Rich Froning	444	359	177	277	08:26	1st 18 points
James Hobart	393	327	152	261	09:51	44th 1075 points
Matt Hewett	369	268	149	240	10:00	171st 2523 points
Elly Kabboord	351	194	143	190	10:40	468th 4296 points
Lauren Neal	270	133	130	181	15:35	4738th 32322 points
Kristin Reffett	367	255	154	187	11:22	178th 2279 points
						Total Points: 42,513

 

On paper, CrossFit Invictus has the edge on Mayhem Freedom. However, this is primarily due to Lauren Neal’s high score during last year’s Open. In fact, her final score was higher than the entire Invictus team combined. Remove that score, and it’s a much different story. However, numbers don’t tell the entire story; Neal is in fact a valuable competitor. She has competed at the Games before (as a member of CrossFit Mayhem in 2013), and anyone who has earned a trip to Carson is worthy of our respect.Now, lets look at the scores for the same workouts from the current CrossFit Mayhem Freedom team.

Granted, we have to keep in mind that we are comparing the fittest team from 2014 against a group of individuals who weren’t competing as a team last year. But what the numbers do reveal is that one person can make a difference. Indeed, that one person may be Rich Froning. The fact that Froning has won every single Open since 2011 should catapult Mayhem Freedom up the Central East leaderboard, as he should post an elite score for every workout. Add in quality scores from James Hobart and some solid numbers from the rest of the team, and CrossFit Mayhem Freedom may have enough to send them on to the Central Regional on the weekend of May 29^th. However, only the top 15 teams from each U.S. region will advance to the Regional. At the time of publication, CrossFit Mayhem Freedom sits in 169^th place, some way off that goal.

Though it’s still early in the Open, one can start to wonder: will Rich Froning be able to carry his team on to Regionals? Will we see the champ compete once more at the Games this summer?

Only time will tell!

Photo courtesy of Reebok