8th Day Gym Upset the Competition to Punch Their Ticket to the Games
This weekend’s competition at the Granite Games was fierce. With the fourth through sixth place teams going into the final event only separated by eleven points, fans sat on the edge of their seats to see who would take the fifth and final qualifying spot for the CrossFit Games. But as crowd favorites, like Omnia and MoveFastLiftHeavy took the floor for the final event, there was one team no one predicted would sit in a potential qualifying spot, competing alongside the top teams.
One big thing: 8th Day Gym came into the weekend as underdogs. They entered The Granite Games this weekend as the fourteenth seed after a 46th place finish in the North American Quarterfinals.
- However, their first place finish in the final event of day one, upsetting the competition and foreshadowing the team punching their ticket to the CrossFit Games.
Not a fluke: After their event win on day one, 8th Day Gym went on to take two more top five finishes on day two, pushing them into a qualifying position.
- While day three brought some challenges for the team, as an eighth place finish on the first event of the day dropped them to sixth place going into the final workout, the separation of just eleven points with the fourth place team gave them a fighting chance.
- As the final event rolled around, they called their shot and sent it with an electric first place finish just three seconds ahead of I1UVIT.
- The event win would be enough to pull them into fourth place overall, just six points away from the podium, sending them to the 2021 CrossFit Games.
Rookies on the road to the Games: This will be the team’s first trip to the Games as a gym and as individuals.
- While several of them have experience on the Regionals competition floor, as 8th Day CrossFit was a staple of the Central Regionals for many years, finally breaking through to the CrossFit Games was certainly an exciting moment for all.
- The roster of athletes going to the Games this year consists of:
- Michael Paas
- Ryan Schafer
- Heather Paas
- Zoe Jones