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Cameron crowned CrossFit champ
Nevada Middle School product Emree "M&M" Cameron displayed her endurance skills at the Fifth Annual Showdown of the Young, Old, and New — CrossFit competition, held March 7 at CrossFit Believe (gym) in Warrensburg — taking first-place at the event.
CrossFit, according to Wikipedia, is "promoted as both a physical exercise philosophy and a competitive fitness sport, incorporating elements from high-intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting, plyometrics, powerlifting, gymnastics, girevoy sport, calisthenics, strongman, and other exercises."
Competing in the 12-14 year-old female division, Cameron was entered in the competition as an independent, un-affiliated with any gym, but conducts her training regiment at Elite Athletic Performance Institute in Nevada.
The competition was comprised of four, vigorous workout routines, over a six-hour period. Each workout was scored (either) by the time it took to complete, or the number of repetitions the athlete completed during the particular workout.
Cameron's first workout began at 9:40 a.m., as she competed against Columbia's Izzy Arnett and Warrensburg's Lillian Joyner. The first routine, dubbed the "21-15-9" is a signature CrossFit workout. For the workout, competitors are to perform 21 reps of each movement, then descending to 15, and nine. The routine was comprised of dumbbell weight-presses, and box step-overs.
Cameron concluded with a solid time of six minutes and 30 seconds, 45 seconds faster than her training times — but not good enough to win the event, placing second to Joyner.
“Emree was a little slow on her box step-overs, which hurt her for this workout," said Cameron's father and trainer, Eric. “We didn’t know what to think about the rest of the day at this point. It was her first time competing, and we knew beating Joyner was not going to be an easy task. Joyner definitely had home-field advantage," as that's her home workout facility.
The second workout turned out to be Cameron's strongest of the entire event. The routine consisted of five rounds of jump-roping — 50 per-set, 10 bench-press reps of 35 pounds, and a 12-foot rope-climb — with the first to complete each, declared the winner.
"This was the event, that if there were heads to turn, they turned. Emree cleaned up this workout," Eric noted, as Cameron completed the workout in six minutes flat, giving her a first-place finish over Joyner by nearly four minutes.
Cameron's dominant showing, left her and Joyner tied for first, as they entered workout No. 3.
Said Eric: “Emree is good at all three exercises, but her upper body strength allowed her to crush through the bench presses in no time at all."
After an hour break, the trio returned for the third leg of the competition, which is considered the most difficult of the four routines.
It's a grueling 13-minute, as many reps as possible (AMRAP) workout.
For the first three minutes, Cameron was to complete a 12-calorie row, meaning she had to burn a dozen calories, according to the facility's monitor — as well as complete 20 wall-balls.
The wall-ball routine entails the use of a six-pound medicine ball, which competitors first squat, and then thrust the ball high into the air, attempting to hit a target on the wall, and then catch the ball as it comes back down. The remainder of the routine was dedicated to completing as many power cleans as possible — with the 13 minutes being split into three shorter intervals, allowing the competitors a short breather in-between.
"What makes this workout so hard, is that you have to have great cardiovascular endurance to complete it,” Eric explained.
After a strong showing by the three — it was Cameron, edging out Joyner, by a total of 151 reps to 146.
"When Emree dropped the barbell on her last repetition, she went straight to the ground in pure exhaustion," Eric recounted. "There was so much tension in the final minutes of the workout, because it was close all the way to the end.
"Emree was able to gather herself after a few minutes, and had to start preparing for the final workout, which was to start in an hour. We had to get liquids in her, and carbohydrates. She was holding onto a one event lead."
The final workout was similar to the previous one, but done in a ascending style. Each time the competitor completed a round, the number of repetitions then went up for the following round — with the competitor making it the furthest, declared the winner.
With the clock set for 10-minute intervals, Cameron first completed 10, 20-pound kettle bell (KB) swings, followed by a 25-foot lunge — with the kettle bell in tow, and then 10 (KB) goblet squats. This was followed in succession by another 25-foot lunge, 10 sit-ups, a 25-foot bear crawl, 10 ring rows, and another bear crawl.
The competitors then repeated everything, but this time around, performing 15 repetitions. Once completed, it's upped to 20 reps, and then finally — 25.
"This event was close between Emree and Lillian, until the second round started," Eric said. "This is when Emree started pulling away. Emree had to win the final event to avoid a tie, and she did so," handing Cameron her first career CrossFit victory.
Eric continued: "We knew going in, it wasn’t going to be easy. The workouts are tough, especially if you push yourself harder than you train. This is what Emree did. She has a unique ability to push herself to the max, and go for the win.
"I told her before the competition started, 'it’s not about going out there and winning today. You have already won, you trained hard for the past four weeks, and it is that training that is going to make you a better athlete, and a better golfer."'
Eric also credited Emree's Elite Athletic workout partners for making her triumph possible.
"She couldn’t have done it without her training partners, that pushed her workout-after-workout, "Eric said. "Those other young (local) athletes, who get up early — and get it done."