Only the Fittest: CrossFit Milford Places Second at Regionals to Advance to CrossFit Games

It’s the quest to find the "Fittest on Earth." The 2015 CrossFit Regionals are underway across the globe during the month of May, and this weekend, the Eastern regional competition at the XL Center in Hartford has come to a close.

Competitors vied for a spot at the worldwide CrossFit Games this summer in Carson, California. Connecticut had six individuals and two teams in the mix. CrossFit Milford placed in second, qualifying them for the CrossFit Games.

The event was formerly held at Reebok world headquarters outside Boston. This is the first time the East Regional has been held in Hartford.

"It’s a big plus, having the community support and having my fans up there I get to point at and they cheer me on, I feel the energy on the floor so it’s been great," Zachary Moran, of Columbia, said.

CrossFit Games Director Dave Castro, also a former Navy Seal, does all the workout programming for CrossFit HQ and said the XL Center was the perfect venue for the growing sport.

"The reason we made the move was we wanted all of our venues to be indoors," he said. "In the past we've had regionals held outdoors and those are very demanding on individuals in terms of heat, in terms of tears, in terms of exposure

The CrossFit Games are a three-stage journey, beginning with the Open, a five-week competition held in early spring in CrossFit gyms around the world. Anyone can enter, and this year, more than 270,000 athletes put themselves to the test.

Although the increasingly popular sport of CrossFit attracts people of all fitness abilities, the road to the worldwide CrossFit Games is only for the elite. Less than one percent – only 660 people – qualified to advance from the Opens to the next step: Regionals.

Hartford hosted the Eastern regional, where 40 individual men, 40 individual women and 30 teams from the Northeastern United States and East Canada competed over three days. Only the top five individual men and women advanced to the Crossfit Games. Three teams advanced to the CrossFit Games Affiliate Cup.

"It's been been great from what I've seen and from what I've heard from the fans is they're really enjoying it," Castro said.

Connecticut’s Contenders
Connecticut’s entries to the Eastern regional include six individual athletes – three men, three women – and two teams.

NBC Connecticut’s Heidi Voight was covering the CrossFit Regionals all weekend. Follow Heidi on Twitter or Facebook to see all of her updates.

CONNECTICUT INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES – FEMALE:
Megin Oczkowski, Shoreline CrossFit
Kaleena Ladeairous, CrossFit Milford
Sarah Scholl, CrossFit Stamford

CONNECTICUT INDIVIDUAL ATHLETES – MALE:
Craig Kenney, Branford CrossFit
Kurt Garceau, North Haven CrossFit
Zachary Moran, Columbia CrossFit

CONNECTICUT TEAMS:
CrossFit Brickyard, South Windsor
CrossFit Milford, Milford
 

DAY THREE RESULTS

Connecticut Individual Men:

Branford's Craig Kenney came in 6th on the overall leaderboard. He finished 5th in event 6, the second to last event, which includes 25 calorie rows, 16 chest to bar pull-ups, 9 strict deficit handstand push-ups with a 16 minute cap.

Zachary Moran, of Columbia, finished 17th in his first regional CrossFit competition. Forty of the fittest men from the Northeast U.S. and Canada competed. Moran came in as a rookie people were unfamiliar with and caught attention by smashing two word event records.

But he will also be remembered for one of the East Regionals' most heartbreaking-turned-inspiring moments. The last athlete still on the course for the final event, Moran tried but failed multiple times to complete the final 265 pound squat clean. With his family in the stands and his competitors by his side cheering him on, Moran refused to quit. He took a moment, composed himself, made the sign of the cross on his chest... and walked forward to nail the lift as the entire XL Center roared.

Connecticut Individual Women:

Milford's Kaleena Ladeairous finished in seventh overall. She competed in the worldwide CrossFit Games back in 2013.
 
CrossFit Milford finished second overall in the Team Division and advances to the worldwide CrossFit Games that will be held this summer in Carson, California.

Here are the results from earlier in the weekend.

DAY TWO RESULTS

Connecticut Individual Men:

Columbia's Zachary Moran emerged from obscurity as a first-timer to smash world records in two events, flirting with the top five ahead of seasoned veterans.

"It’s nice to be in the same league as those guys, and have those big names next to you," Moran said.

Connecituct Individual Women:

In a stunning victory, CrossFit Milford's Kaleena Ladeairous became the fifth woman in the world to finish event three, the "Chipper."

In CrossFit lingo, a Chipper is a grueling, long-format event, which included two different Olympic lifts, a mile run, double unders, GHD situps and box jumpovers.

Ladeairous finished 28 seconds before the 26 minute cap, bringing the crowd at the XL Center to its feet.

"It was good. I like that workout. I wanted to finish it," she said.

Team highlights:

CrossFit Milford was in third place on Saturday after events four and five, which included the snatch, an Olympic lift and handstand walks.

"So to do well in an event like this that’s so skill-oriented that we’ve been working on all year is a big accomplishment," Elizabeth Warren, of CrossFit Milford said Saturday. "It’s still only one event, we have to stay consistent the whole weekend, we’re trying to move up."

Six CT athletes and two team will be competing in the North East CrossFit Regionals.

DAY ONE RESULTS

Here's how the Connecticut competitors stacked up after two events on day one Friday.

Connecticut Individual Women:

  • Kaleena Ladeairous, 3rd
  • Megin Oczkowski, 24th
  • Sarah Scholl, 32nd

Connecticut Individual Men:

  • Zachary Moran, 5th
  • Craig Kenney, 7th
  • Kurt Garceau, 32nd

Athletes from South Windsor's CrossFit Brickyard and CrossFit Milford continued on in the teams division too.

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