Exclamation Points!

The Human Hopper Deck

What a weekend!  Thanks to everyone that came out to support the athletes and congratulations to those that survived the competition!  Paradiso CrossFit burst onto the stage with a vengeance!

A HUGE congratulations to Ben Hopkins for finishing 2nd overall out of 177 competitors, with a 7th, 3rd and 3rd placing respectively in the workouts!  After joining us 4 months ago, we have had the pleasure of watching his hard work and dedication develop into amazing results.  He is a testament to what we do here.  Thanks for everything Ben!  Now back to work!  His journey will continue in Irvine at the Regional qualifiers on May 8th-9th.

Zeb Pascual stayed steady and true as he finished in 71st place overall.  He never cracked under the pressure as he awed the crowed with his technical prowess and perfect POSE running form.  His moment came in the second event as he won his heat in an epic rowing showdown that I shall not soon forget!  He placed 100th, 45th and 124th respectively in the three events.

Matty Aporta showed the younguns a thing or two about style and grace this weekend.  He finished in the top third on the final event, setting the bar high on the first portion of the event with a crushing 3rd place row.  He placed 98th overall, with 78th, 118th and 48th respective finishes on the workouts.

Jessica Suver impressed with her Thrusters and Cleans on the first day’s events.  She finished strong on the final max effort event with a 3rd place row, 7th place Deadlift and 16th place run.  She finished 25th overall out of 57 women, just missing the top 20 qualifying spots, placing 24th, 28th and 17th respectively for the WODs, whole-heartedly earning herself a big box of nerds!

Sondra Jovel is fired up after her performance this weekend, already talking about next year!  She crushed the second workout by breezing through the cleans and chest to bar pull ups that most of the other women struggled to complete, finishing second in her heat.  She placed 30th overall, with a 51st, 27th, and 42nd place finish on her events.

Finally, a special shout out to the fans!  Through the wind, heat and cold, you dedicated your entire weekend to supporting the gym and the competitors.  I had gym owners and members alike expressing interest in our gym and what we are doing different over here!  I know the athletes appreciated your hard work, running around barricades, up and down the stadium stairs, motivating everyone simultaneously.  I was so proud every time a roar would materialize from the crowd for our athletes.  If you had a good time, we’ll be doing it again in six weeks for Regionals!

Since I was judging this weekend and our camera died after only one event, I really need some help getting more photos up on our flickr account, so send ’em if you got em!  Check out the Sweet Assassin’s photo album here.  Special thanks to Garrett and Martina for capturing video footage of all the athletes that we will hopefully be able to present within the week!