Reps Ahead Pro 5 provided blood, sweat, and possibly some tears.
The setup at the Stockyards Event Center in Denver, CO, was ideal for the head-to-head fitness fights. The athletes put on an epic show, and we’re breaking it all down below.
Reps Ahead Pro 5 Results
The Semifinals (Saturday, November 23)
- Cole Greashaber (2) defeated Tudor Magda (3) at 2:00 in Round 4.
- James Sprague (1) defeated Malachi Bennett (4) at 1:35 in Round 3.
- Trista Smith (2) defeated Zoe Warren (3) by nine reps after the full four rounds.
- Arielle Loewen (1) defeated Rachel Noel (4) at 1:13 in Round 3.
The Finals (Sunday, November 24)
- Rachel Noel (4) defeated Kelly Stone (3) at 55 seconds in Round 2. (Stone filled in for Zoe Warren due to illness)
- Tudor Magda (3) defeated Malachi Bennett (4) at 2:29 in Round 1.
- James Sprague (1) defeated Cole Greashaber (2) at 1:47 in Round 2.
- Arielle Loewen defeated 2) Trista Smith at 2:17 in Round 2.
Here’s how it all went down.
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The Semifinals Matches
As described in our preview, the athletes took on the workout sequence “Lindsey” in the Semifinal round:
“Lindsey” – 2:30/1:00 Interval for four rounds total (if needed)
10 Reps Ahead
- 7 bar muscle-ups
- 6 burpee box jump-overs, 30/24 inches
- 5 clean and jerks, 165/115 pounds
Match 1
This was quite possibly the most entertaining match in Reps Ahead’s short history.
Magda gained a two-rep lead by the end of the first round and built it to five after the second. But his wheels started to wobble in round three. Greashaber kept a steady pace – not fast, but consistent – while Magda hit a brick wall.
- The intensity Magda brought to the first rounds started to take its toll.
In round four, the wheels rolled off Magda’s bus, and the bus rolled over the guardrail and into the ravine.
- It was the closest thing we’ve seen to an actual knockout in the Reps Ahead Pro series, as Magda had clearly gone to a very dark place and staggered like a punch-drunk fighter.
Greashaber took the win over Magda, who had lost most of his motor function but continued to fight.
Match 2
Trista Smith built a three-rep lead in round one, which she held until round three when the local crowd willed Zoe Warren to come back and tie things up going into the final round.
The comeback cost Warren too much energy.
Smith hung on until the bitter end with a nine-rep victory, and this was the only match of the weekend to go the distance.
Match 3
The 2024 CrossFit Games champ held off a valiant effort from the most experienced Reps Ahead competitor, Malachi Bennett.
The two men are separated in age by 10 years, and Sprague eventually wore Bennett down to take the win in round three.
Match 4
Arielle Loewen told us that her plan was to come out at a controlled pace and make her move in the later rounds.
She executed that plan to perfection, repping out touch-and-go clean-and-jerks in the third round when she saw an opening, then hustling to the muscle-up bar to deliver the knockout blow to Noel.
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Reps Ahead Pro 5 Finals Matches
The sequence for the final match was a repeat from Reps Ahead Pro 1, “Candice”:
“Candice” – 2:30/1:00 Interval for four rounds total (if needed)
14 Reps Ahead
- 12 box jump-overs (step down only)
- 6 hang squat cleans, 155/105 pounds
- 12 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Consolation Match, Women
Zoe Warren had to withdraw due to an illness, and Kelly Stone accepted the alternate invite at the last minute.
- Stone is a local athlete and was onsite competing on the winning team in the MBS Turkey Challenge CrossFit competition, which Josh Bridges programmed.
She gave a valiant effort, considering she was far from fresh, having finished the final event in her competition just a few hours before. She looked to the sidelines after her first squat snatch as if to say, “Uh oh, that felt worse than expected.”
She hung on until round two, but the fatigue of the weekend caught up to her. Noel quickly took advantage and nabbed the $1,000 prize.
Consolation Match, Men
One more second and Malachi Bennett would have been saved by the bell.
Magda hit a wall in Saturday’s match, and he was determined to come out strong on Sunday.
- Magda said the elevation was a major factor in his first performance, as he had not prepared for the effects the altitude would have.
But he was fully recovered and Sunday’s sequence aligned with his strengths.
Using a blistering yet controlled pace out of the gate, he was able to put the match away with the only first-round knockout of the weekend.
Championship Match, Men
Sprague leaned on his experience in the finals. This sequence was a repeat from his first appearance way back in Pro 1, but 30 extra seconds were added to each round.
- Sprague was the aggressor and set the pace early. When Greashaber broke on the chest-to-bar pull-ups, Sprague knew he had him. That burst of energy carried him to victory.
Coming into this match, Sprague had alternated between wins and losses for five events in a row, with a record of 3-2. He broke that pattern with back-to-back wins this weekend to improve his record to 4-2.
He succinctly described the lactic acid buildup in his lower body after the bout: “My legs were fricked.”
- “I didn’t perform like I knew I could at Rogue, after being sick. And that was not fun. It felt good to come out here and perform well,” Sprague told Morning Chalk Up after the win.
Championship Match, Women
The final match of the weekend was between Arielle Loewen and Trista Smith.
Round one ended in a tie, with neither woman being able to build a lead. It appeared to be a match that could go the full four rounds.
- The two elite women were evenly matched, going back and forth thanks to their shared gymnastics backgrounds.
The door swung wide open when Smith failed a squat snatch during her second time through the sequence in the second round.
A miss or a no-rep on the squat snatch was the most costly of the three in the sequence. There was no time to recover as Loewen sped through 12 chest-to-bars and ended it on the box jump-overs at 2:17 in round two.
Both women commented after the event that they did not want to push themselves too hard early on but were trying to keep pace with each other.
- “I hate sprints, and I hate coming out hot. And she forced me to,” Loewen said in her post-match interview with Brian Friend and Andrew Hiller. “If that went three rounds, I would’ve pulled a Tudor.”
Worth Noting
Although the two sequences used the same equipment, the time spent in each match varied drastically.
- The average working time per match on Saturday was 8:04.5, with a total of 32:18 between the four.
On Sunday, the average working time per match was 3:44, with a total of 14:58, less than half the time of Saturday’s bouts.
The Bottom Line on Reps Ahead Pro 5
The Reps Ahead Pro 5 prize purse totaled $20,000, with $7,000 going to first, $2,000 to second, and $1,000 to third.
- Beyond the money, the event provided athletes a chance to showcase their fitness in a unique, intense format.
The tournament style facilitated the development of storylines throughout the weekend and gave the athletes a chance to earn redemption.
There are big plans in store for Reps Ahead in 2025, and we can expect the momentum to keep building.
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Featured image: Chad Mueller
