GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids is going to the Games.
Finishing fourth at the CrossFit semifinals this month, a team from 8th Day Gym in Grand Rapids qualified for the sport's highest level of competition: The 2024 CrossFit Games, held this year in Fort Worth, Texas from August 8-11.
Certainly, the four-person team of Rachel Clousing, Danielle Dunlap, Dylan Hamming and captain Michael Paas display super feats of strength, speed and stamina, but they're not a superteam, they say. They're homegrown.
"It is not a far reach to say we organically made this team happen," said Clousing, referencing how teams at the CrossFit Games are sometimes made up of athletes from around the country who "don't really know each other."
"To be back home and represent West Michigan is very special," Dunlap said.
A resident of North Carolina, Dunlap is a newcomer to the team, subbing in for Paas' expecting wife. Born and raised in West Michigan, though, she's no stranger to 8th Day Gym: "This gym is the reason I got the bug to compete."
On Friday, the team's workout consisted of reps on the rowing machine, near-upside-down sit ups, thrusters, a dumbell bench press, multiple rope climbs, and much, much, much more. They train for four hours a day, six days a week, spending half of the time together, sharing the suffering.
"You build friendships, relationships. It's not just going to the gym, putting on your headphones, working out and leaving," Hamming said. "It's a whole different thing."
"On a team, it's a bit easier to hurt," added Paas, who takes a "tactical" approach to distract himself from pain. "Because people are waiting on you, they're doing the same stuff as you."
In CrossFit, hundreds of thousands of people enter as individuals or teams into the CrossFit Open, an online qualifier. The top 25 percent then advance to the quarterfinals, and an estimated 1 percent move on to the semifinals.
During this year's semifinal round held in Knoxville, Tennessee, Team 8th Day scored 400 points across five events. They, along with eight others from the North America East region, advanced to the 2024 CrossFit Games, where a total of thirty teams will compete to be crowned world champions.
"Everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to do the best we possibly can," Hamming said. "It's a great experience to finally go... and hopefully kick butt."
If you'd like to support Team 8th Day, they plan to host a cornhole tournament next month. Click here for more information.
