MACC Women’s Preview
The landscape for individual competition at Sanctioned events is different now that the CrossFit Open has happened. The Mid-Atlantic CrossFit® Challenge is the first opportunity to see how individuals approach these competitions with the knowledge about which athletes in the field have already unofficially qualified for the CrossFit Games via the Open.
Who has already qualified?
It must be noted that per CrossFit HQ, no individual athletes will be officially notified of their Games qualification until May 1. This is the time period HQ has given themselves to have a thorough video review process.
At the moment, MACC women Dani Speegle and Kristine Best, are sitting in qualifying positions on the worldwide Open leaderboard. Additionally, Katie Trombetta, will likely earn a backfill spot once Tasia Percevecz (and possibly Chantelle Loehner or Alexis Johnson) decline their individual qualifications to participate on a team.
What does it mean?
Given that these athletes won’t know for sure about their Games qualification until May 1, we should expect them to show up in Washington D.C. with every intention of competing to win.
Speegle is the favorite to win or, at least podium at the MACC, but because of her current Open placement, the rest of the women’s field will feel that there is a lot worth fighting for as well.
Remember, if the Games qualification spots are upheld, a backfill process will be enacted if one of them were to win. And, if any of the women with an Open qualification spot place high enough, the Games Invitation could potentially fall all the way to the 4th place finisher at the MACC.
So, while tuning in to watch or follow along, do your best to keep all of that in mind. And remember, it’s not necessarily just the race for the top overall spot that could have major implications for the rest of the season.
Women to Watch
Speegle has been a rising sensation throughout the year. She’s done incredibly well in all the qualifiers she’s entered, including winning the online qualifier for the MACC. If you haven’t had a chance to watch her in action yet, you won’t want to miss it in D.C.
This is an exciting season for Kristine Best. She has been to Regionals every year since 2014, but hasn’t managed to get to the Games. In 2017 Best was the bubble athlete (the 6th place finisher) in the East Regional. The changes to the season have been kind to Best, who typically does really well in the Open. With a potential trip to the Games already in hand, it’s time to test herself against some of the best and see just where she stacks up in a format that’s more similar to what they’ll see at the Games.
Assuming Trombetta gets a backfill spot, two former individual Games athletes who will be very intent to ultimately earn the invitation from the MACC are Meg Reardon and Paige Semenza.
Reardon’s only Games appearance was in 2016, and though she’s been in the top 10 at Regionals the past two seasons, she hasn’t been able to crack the top 5 and get back to the biggest stage. She was second place in the online qualifier, but just 102nd currently on the Open leaderboard due to a strict HSPU weakness being exposed in 19.3. Despite that bump in the road, will know that her chances are good to earn the invite in D.C.
Semenza will be coming in with a similar mindset. Having originally been at the Games on a team in 2017, last year she went for it as an individual and qualified in the final position out of the Atlantic Regional. She didn’t do as well as Reardon in either the MACC online qualifier or this year’s Open, but she won’t care about those things. It’s a clean slate once the women show up in D.C., and Semenza might see this as her best opportunity to make a return appearance to the Games this season with a higher level of programming at the MACC.
Predictions:
Dani Speegle
Meg Reardon*
Katie Trombetta
Kristine Best
Paige Semenza
Kolson Lamb Casey
Samantha Pugh
Amanda Hardeman
Paige Henry
Sarah Scholl
*Would receive the Games invitation based on current Open placements if these were the results.