By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Last year Del Rio native Jorge Fernandez was anxious just to compete in his first CrossFit Games.
This year, he and his team found a place on the podium.
The 27-year-old, who now resides in California, finished third alongside his CrossFit Invictus teammates in the team division at this year’s NOBULL CrossFit Games in Madison, Wis.
The team finished with 951 points. CrossFit Mayhem Freedom once again took the team title with 1,052 points while CrossFit Oslo Navy Blue was second with 987 points.
Invictus was comprised of Fernandez, Josh Al-chamaa, former Invictus Teen Games athlete Devyn Kim and Invictus coach Brittany Weiss.
Fernandez is a 2013 graduate of Del Rio High School. A standout in football and baseball in high school, Fernandez went on to play baseball only for San Jacinto and San Diego State before retiring from the game. He began CrossFit about eight months after leaving baseball.
The team was in fifth place after the first event, Biker Bob, in which competitors needed to complete a team BOB push, which is essentially a weighted sleigh, a one-mile bike ride outside the stadium, and 30 synchronized toes-to-bar and then a switch to the next two teammates on the team. They had 40 minutes to complete the obstacle, but Invictus finished in 25:09.67.
Event two was all about strength as teams did jerks and front squats. Invictus shined in the event, lifting a total of 1,135 pounds and finishing in second place, just 10 pounds out of first.
The third event focused on speed as the teams took part in a 1,600-meter run. They had to run as a four-person team, and then as two two-person teams. Invictus was fifth in 18:46.94.
The fourth event was named Pegs and P-Bars and tested a lot of upper body strength. Burpees, bar dips and ascents tested team members as they talked at least four different intervals of each discipline. Invictus didn’t finish in the top five in that event, but was still in contention due to their performance in the first three events.
Next came the Muscle Pig. The name of the game was synchronized muscle ups and 10 Pig flips. The pig was a monster of a device that weighed 350 pounds for women and 510 pounds for men. A timed event, Invictus came in fifth place in 14:55.80.
The sixth event was Handstand Machine. Not only did competitors have to travel 500 meters via handstands, with a teammate holding their legs to help guide them, but they also needed to do handstand pushups and burn calories on the Echo Bike. Invictus finished out of the top five in that event.
Event seven was Rinse ‘N’ Repeat and included a 50-yard swim and an 8-calorie Ski Erg. The top teams were based on how many calories were burned, but Invictus again finished out of the top five.
Event eight was the Dumbell Highball. Teams needed to complete walking lunges, clean and jerks, and wall-ball shots. Invictus took fourth in 23:45.11.
The ninth event was Payload. There were double unders, which included jump ropes, tumbler pulls, Jerry can carries, Husafell bag carries and Big Bob pushes. For women, the weights ranged from 450 pounds for the tumbler, 70 pounds for Jerry cans, and 150 pounds for the Husafell bags. For men, it was a 600-pound tumbler, 100-pound Jerry cans, and 200-pounds Husafell bags. Invictus was second in 8:18.46.
Event 10 was Team 2, 2, 2, 2 and included legless rope climbs, rope climbs, shuttle sprints and max-rep synchro overhead squats. Invictus took second in 11:20.90.
Event 11, the final event, was the Echo Worm and included the Echo bike and worm squats, clean and jerks, and thrusters as well as 20 synchro bar muscle-ups. Invictus was not in the top five, but they still finished third overall.
The games last several days and only a select number of teams could compete on Sunday, the final day of competition.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
