3/3/12 - 2012 AZ NAHA Battle In The Desert WriteupThe morning started off very chilly as I arrived to the field around 530am to begin setup. After about an hour and half of moving tires, kegs, weights, stones and various other odd objects. Athletes began showing up around 830a and the morning was off to a great start.
First off was log press. 190lbs for Masters & LWs, 240lbs for MWs and HWs. The women used a 105lb axle instead. Jacob Nicol pressed an impressive 7 reps before we moved onto the Masters. Dave DesRosier and Bob Wentlejewski both tied with 5 reps, followed by a 2nd place tie with 2 reps between Tim Sparkes and Brian Webb. Onto the MWs, Easton Taylor smoked 6 easy reps with the 240lb log followed by a 2nd place tie between Brandon Cox and Adam Brezina with 2 reps and Mike Larson with 1 rep for 3rd place. Brandon Hall was good for 5 reps in the HWs before moving to the next event. The women closed it off with Denise Ryan getting 2 reps and Gretchen Hall with 1 rep. 
Next up: Heavy Weight For Distance. Some impressive throws today from everyone. Starting things off with were the LWs and Masters with the 42# weight for distance. Jacob Nicol took the first with a solid 39'11" throw and a very close second by Jon Cox with 37'9". Masters up next with Tod Stewart dropping a sweet 34'6" throw, followed by Tim Sparks with 32'7" and Dave DesRosier with 32'1". MWs and HWs following with the 56# wfd, Adam Brezina taking the win with a 34'4" throw. 2nd place was Karl Gherke with a post injury PR of 32'1" and 3rd place went to Brandon Cox in his debut games with a 28'6" throw. Brandon Hall in the HWs hit a PR of 33'11" with much more in the tank. Finishing off HWFD was the women. Denise Ryan thew a 30'5" toss, followed closely by Gretchen Hall with 24'2". 
Rounding off the events before lunch was the Keg Carry. I was completely aware this was going to be the heaviest event of the day and was very excited for this. Kegs weighed 250lbs, 200lbs and 150lbs for HW/MWs, LW/Masters & Women, respectively. Beginning in the LWs was Ryan Brault with a score of 131ft taking 3rd behind Jon Cox with 159ft and Jacob nailing 1st with 180ft. Next up were the Masters carrying the 200lb keg. Tod Stewart pulled out the win with 194ft, followed closely by Dave DesRosier and Brian Webb, both tieing for 2nd. 3rd place went to Tim Sparkes managing 138ft. Next up was the MWs with a 250# keg and 3rd place went to Mike Larson with 162ft. 2nd went to Brandon Cox with 201ft and the win went to Easton Taylor with a shocking and very impressive 300ft. Brandon Hall represented the HWs with a solid 176ft carry before letting up. The women man-handled the 150lb keg like a boss. Denise Ryan took first with 180ft followed by Gretchen Hall with 98ft. Next up, everyone's favorite event of the day: lunch. 
After lunch we headed over for some open stone action. 16# stone for men and 11# stone for women. Jacob Nicol led the LWs with a 43'6" throw, followed by Jon Cox in 2nd with a 35'8" throw and Ryan Brault in 3rd with a 27'3" throw. Tim Sparkes stepped up his game and dropped the stone out there at 35'6" taking the win in this event. Followed closely by Tod Stewart at 32'10 and Dave DesRosier in 3rd with a 30'9" toss. Karl Gherke represented NAU T&F with a strong 46'9" toss to take the win in the MWs. Adam Brezina a very close 2nd with 45'6" followed by Mike Larson with 36'8". For the HWs, Brandon Hall dropped a bomb out at 42'2" and Denise took 1st with a 27'11" throw.
Next up was the medley. For the LW/Masters group it was a 330lb yoke, 185lb farmers walk and 550lb tire. 60ft and had to run back to get the next impelement. 90 second time limit. This was a real gasser. For the MW/HWs it was a 530lb yoke, 185lb farmers and 550lb tire, for the women it was a 105lb yoke, 105lb farmers and 400lb tire. Jacob Nicol once again pulled out the 1st place in the LWs with a time of 1:17 followed very closely by Ryan Brault at 1:22. Tim Sparkes showed his conditioning well for the Masters with a time of 1:24, followedly by Tod Stweart with 1:29. The battle heated up when the MWs took the course. Easton Taylor set the standard at 1:06, flying through the course like it was his job. Much to everyone's surprise, Brandon Cox took off with the yoke and never stopped, nailing 1st place with a time of 1:01. 3rd went to Mike larson with a time of 1:13. Denise Ryan scored an impressive time of 1:09. 
Finishing off the day was my personal favorite event: Weight Over Bar. We utilized Neis rules, meaning 3 total misses and you're out, instead of 3 misses at each height. This was a "last man standing" type event and everyone was going at once. For the LWs, Jacob Nicol again took the 1st with a big toss at 15' and just barely missing 16' out in front. Jon Cox took 2nd with a 14' toss and Ryan Brault just couldn't get it over the bar at 14'. Dave DesRosier showed what he was made of and went all the way up to 17' before taking his last miss. In 2nd was Tod Stewart who went out at 15' followed by Tim Sparkes who went out at 14'. Karl Gherke took 1st in the MWs with a 15' toss but just couldn't get it over the 16' bar. Next up was Adam Brezina who also cleared 15' but not 16', yet had a miss at 15' so took 2nd based on countbacks and Jason Barba taking 3rd place with a 12' toss and just barely missing 13'. Denise Ryan took the win for the women with a 13' toss. After tallying up the scores we had a tie for 1st place among the MWs. We agreed at the beginning of the event that if 1st place tied we would hold a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker for the MWs was a 405lb axle bar deadlift for max reps in 60 seconds. Adam Brezina and Brandon Cox were both tied for 1st with 26 points. Nobody had a coin so we flipped a 45lb plate to decide who would go first. Brandon chose heads and won the toss, electing to have Adam go first. Time began and Adam squeezed out an easy 10 reps in 30 seconds. Afterwards he started to slow down, finishing with the 15th rep at the buzzer before collapsing from exhaustion. Brandon took the stand and the time started. Brandon managed to nail 15 easy reps before looking straight at Adam with a smile on his face and hitting an effortless 16th rep. For the kicker, he did this in only 30 seconds. Afterwards he helped Adam up and they congratulated each other. Truly an awesome tiebreaker.
Here are the totals for each class:
LW
1st - Jacob Nicol - 18pts
2nd - Jon Cox - 11pts
3rd - Ryan Brault - 8pts
MW
1st - Brandon Cox - 26pts
2nd - Adam Brezina - 26pts
3rd - Karl Gherke - 24pts
4th - Easton Taylor - 21pts
5th - Mike Larson - 20pts
6th - Jason Barba - 15pts
HW
1st - Brandon Hall - 6pts
Masters
1st - Tod Stewart - 25pts
2nd - Tim Sparkes - 24pts
3rd - Dave DesRosier - 23pts
Women
1st - Denise Ryan - 12pts
2nd - Gretchen Hall - 6pts
I'd like to thank my family for all the great help with paperwork, marking, judging, shagging weights, getting lunch.. They all proved invaluable, thank you so much to you all.
I'd also like to thank AtLarge Nutrition (http://www.atlargenutrition.com/) for donating four $75 gift cards. We placed all the athletes names in a box and drew them at the end of lunch. These winners are going to get some real quality supplements and I'm very grateful for the donation from ALN.
Finally, a huge thanks go out to Tod Stewart and Bethany Torgerson of Stewart & Torgerson Injury Law, our sponsor for the event. Check out their website at http://www.1800ourlawyer.com/. I've worked with Tod and can vouge for his knowledge, professionalism, integrity and empathy with regards to automotive misfortune and how it can affect you both financially and emotionally. Again, thank you Tod and Bethany for all your help in making this event as badass as it was.I've uploaded pictures to the facebook AZ NAHA group page, check them out here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/116442465116435/
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