This Monday, at 5 p.m. pacific time, score submissions for the final four workouts of the CrossFit Team Series officially closed. Teams around the world have spent the last month and a half completing the 12 workouts of the competitions, and earlier this week the scores were tallied for each division and the winners announced:
RX Division
1st Team Reebok East
2nd Rogue Fitness Red
3rd Rogue Fitness Black
Scaled
1st CrossFit Complete West – swolar-bears
2nd CrossFit Cedar Park – CrossFit Cedar Park
3rd CrossFit 813 – CF 813
Masters
1st CrossFit RockFord – The Mall Walkers
2nd CrossFit 140 – Not Young but Swold
3rd San Diego All-Stars
In what some might call a surprise result, the combined prowess of Ben Smith, Scott Panchik, Stacie Tovar and Emily Bridgers led Team Reebok East to an overall victory in the third and final round of workouts and the Team Series as a whole. The four athletes that are known for their all-round skill and consistent performance fittingly never finished outside of the top 5 in the final four events, winning workouts 11 and 12 (in which the team put up a total of 216 snatches at various weights). In fact, Reebok East only finished outside of the top 5 twice throughout the entire Team Series, and never finished outside the top 10.
2nd and 3rd place went to the two Rogue sister teams, though it was Rogue Fitness Red (Josh Bridges, Dan Bailey, Lauren Fisher and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet) who finished ahead of its “superstar” sister team, Rogue Fitness Black (Jason Khalipa, Rich Froning, Sam Briggs, Julie Foucher). In truth, only four points separated the top three teams, highlighting how close of a competition the Team Series has been. However workout 10 was tailor-made for Rogue Red, as the team dominated the event by scoring a combined 306 chest-to-bar pull-ups. Bridges and Bazinet contributed with 85 and 89 reps respectively. Not to be outdone, Rogue Black took event 9 (an ascending couplet of burpee box jumps and squat cleans) with a total score of 369 reps, beating out Reebok East and Rogue Red (who tied for 2nd) by 18 reps. However, an 8th place finish in event 11 didn’t help their cause, and they finished the competition in 3rd place overall.
But for many people, the Team Series has not been about who finishes 1st or 2nd. Rather, it has simply been about competing with old (and new!) friends from the box, enjoying the workouts and getting to taste team competition for the first time. Indeed, the Team Series has provided a nice segway from the bittersweet end of the CrossFit Games and the start of the 2015 Open in February. Whereas in times past we would have to find our own ways to enjoy ourselves between those long months without official CrossFit events in our lives, we now get to have a nice buffer to keep our CrossFitting spirits high—not to mention the upcoming excitement of the CrossFit Invitational on November 9th!
In short, there’s no better way to summarize what so many have felt about the Team Series than to read the words of Michael Dalton, coach at CrossFit Tough as Nails in Florida.
“It’s just been this incredible moment watching the community grow because of something that was intended to be just a competition, but ended up becoming something so much more than that for our community.”
Watch Scott Panchik, Ben Smith, Emily Bridgers and Stacie Tovar of Team Reebok East during Event 11:
For time
100 double-unders each, as a relay
100 front squats total, 115 / 75 lb.
100 push presses total, 115 / 75 lb.
75 double-unders each, as a relay
75 front squats total, 115 / 75 lb.
75 push presses total, 115 / 75 lb.
50 double-unders each, as a relay
50 front squats total, 115 / 75 lb.
50 push presses total, 115 / 75 lb.
Team Reebok East – Team Series Event 11 from Jared Davis on Vimeo.
