Mayhem Madness Team Profile: CrossFit Krypton
The Mayhem Madness online qualifier recently wrapped up, and now that the leaderboard has settled it’s time to zero in on the teams that will be making the trek to Cookeville, TN to join the nine teams that already earned their spot through Sanctionals before the rest of the season went the way of the dodo bird due to COVID-19. Three teams are guaranteed entry into the competition that starts a month from now, and over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting those three teams, none of which have yet to hit the competition floor together in person and will be tasked with trying to take down reigning Affiliate Cup Champions Mayhem Freedom.
Up first is Krypton, the team that not only earned the first at-large bid but also won the online qualifier outright, earning them the first pick in the workout draft to dictate some of the programming for all the teams during the weekend. Their roster is made up of four individual Games athletes, all of whom have high-level experience on a team as well.
- Alessandra Pichelli: Before she managed to build one of the longer-tenured individual Games careers — including seven consecutive appearances, in five of which she finished 14th or better — Pichelli got her introduction to CrossFit Games competition in the team division with Diablo CrossFit. Pichelli and the Diablo squad finished 3rd in 2012 before she eventually finished 4th as an individual a year later. A collegiate rower, PIchelli’s power and strength are a huge asset to the team, and her consistency over the majority of the past decade means she’s got a diverse skill set to adapt to any task.
- Alec Smith: CrossFit’s closest thing to Batman, Smith’s gymnastic skills and relative strength with a barbell jump off the page. Over the past 4 years, Smith has emerged from being “Ben Smith’s brother” to being a verifiable CrossFit star in his own right — notching back to back individual Games appearances in 2017 and 2018 before switching to the team division and impressively finishing 2nd behind Mayhem Freedom in 2019 with CrossFit Krypton. His immediate success in the team competition lends itself well here as he’s one of the few athletes that knows what it takes to podium at the highest level.
- Streat Hoerner: Low-key one of the athletes that could be a huge difference-maker based on his skill set, Hoerner finished 14th at the Games when he was just 22 years-old in 2017. He narrowly missed qualifying in 2018, and last year disaster struck out of the gates as he was cut after the first event. He may not have the Games team experience, but Hoerner was a part of the Team GOWOD squad at Wodapalooza that nearly upset Mayhem Freedom and fell short by just two points — with a photo finish in the final event being the difference. He’s gone toe-to-toe with Froning & Co. and with that comes confidence. In talking with Hoerner after the event, he expressed excitement over the possibility of continuing to compete in the team competition, and he’s a great addition to the Krypton team.
- Carolyn Prevost: A 12th place finish in her rookie campaign at the Games solidified Prevost’s place as a legit Games athlete on the women’s side after two strong finishes worldwide in the Open. If it weren’t for a stumble in day one of the Games (33rd, 38th) she would have easily finished top-10 overall. Prevost’s greatest asset is her intangible athleticism stemming from her time as a professional hockey player, and accomplishments in other sports as well — she’s won 11 national championships in four different sports across her career. Prevost recently joined The Athlete Program (who is also qualified) and with them finished 2nd at the Norwegian CrossFit Championships. There will be some programming curveballs outside of the typical classic “inside the affiliate,” CrossFit, and Prevost is the kind of person that can adapt quickly.
Outlook: The flat-out raw capacity of this team is undeniable — evidenced by finishing every single workout of the qualifier in 4th place or better. Their ability to mesh quickly and iron out the finer nuances of the team competition with regards to communication and skillsets will likely be the determining factor for the team.
- The Mayhem Qualifier was a collection of individual efforts and featured primarily workouts that were more accessible in an Open style format given the restrictions of the coronavirus pandemic.
- Workouts with the worm will be the ultimate test for them as they will not have the luxury of time spent working together on the implement that some of the other teams have had despite each athlete having used it in competition before.
- Workouts to watch: Given the wireframe provided by Rich for the programming of the weekend, the individual relays should be exciting for a team heavy on individual talent that clearly excelled in the Qualifier workouts that were essentially individual relays themselves. If a high power output workout shows up with some moderate barbell cycling, Prevost and Pichelli could do some damage as a same-gender pair.
A podium finish is certainly within the scope of this team, and the 2019 Krypton team’s ability to do so last year in a format that also featured a smaller, more select field of super teams that was slowly whittled down should provide a blueprint for the team to potentially repeat again in August.
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