Brooke Wells found CrossFit at just the right time.
The former Southside track standout is on the fast track nationally after winning the women’s division of the Central Regional last month. The 19-year-old University of Missouri student will compete with 39 of the nations most gifted CrossFit athletes next month in Carson, Calif.
A chance meeting with Daniel and Emily Lunney — who founded CrossFit 413 in 2011 — piqued Brooke’s interest.
It wasn’t long until she was hooked.
“My dad suggested it, just to help out my track career,” says Wells, a 2013 Southside grad.
“I had actually heard about it when I was a sophomore,” Wells continued. “I was working and didn’t have time. My sister (Sydney) actually started before me.”
Two years later, Brooke Wells didn’t just compete in a Central Regional CrossFit event, she won it.
“I was totally surprised,” she said. “The competition I did, you had to qualify for it. There are 20 girls from each region. There are 20 girls out of 10,000 athletes. It doesn’t matter your age, just the top 20 get to go.”
There were eight regional tournaments, with the top five from each punching their ticket to the Reebok CrossFit games July 21-26 event in California.
Wells won the women’s division by placing in the top four in five events, including one event win.
“It was my first year, and me being 19 years old, all these girls had been doing CrossFt for several years,” Wells said. “I went to take in the experience. After the first day I was sitting in first place and I was like, “I want to win this.’
“Mostly, I was there to have fun, but then it turned into wanting to win.”
Athletes Rising
Wells was an all-around track standout at Southside, specializing in the 100 and 300 intermediate hurdles. She also competed on the 4X400 and 4X100 meter relay teams.
Though she insists she’s not a morning person, Wells has the perfect CrossFit schedule — early classes, midday lunch, then plenty of time to work out in the afternoon.
“The getting up part doesn’t bother me,” Wells said. “But I’m not an early morning workout person.”
Fortunately, Wells was able to customize her personal schedule with morning classes.
“I schedule all my classes in the morning, from 8 a.m. to noon. I go home for lunch, then go to gym from typically from 1 to 4:30. Then I do homework and get ready for the next day.”
Wells and twin sister Sydney, a business major, no longer compete against one another.
But that doesn’t keep either from being each other’s biggest fan.
“We’re super competitive,” Well said. “Sydney stayed in track, so now we don’t compete against each other any more. But I know she’s my biggest supporter.”
A Brief History
What is CrossFit? It was founded 20 years ago by former gymnast Greg Glassman. The first CrossFit affiliated gym opened in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 1995.
CrossFit is designed to enhance cardiovascular endurance, power flexibility, speed, agility, and balance through a myriad of exercises more commonly found with weightlifting, sprinting and gymnastics.
The popularity of CrossFit grew from about 18 affiliated gyms in 2005 to nearly 1,700 in 2010.
A former Southside quarterback, Lunney founded CrossFit 413 in the winter of 2011. At the time, it was believed to be the third CrossFit gym in Arkansas.
There are now three CrossFit gyms in Fort Smith.
Courtesy of: Times Record