Controversies and Comebacks at the NorCal Classic

June 10th, 2025

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Good morning and welcome to the Morning Chalk Up.

In today’s edition:

  • NorCal Classic: Four Games tickets punched amid standout performances and controversy.

  • Can’t nail double unders? You’re not broken — just missing the right cues.

  • Beloved CrossFit coach and gym owner Patrick Heringer was killed defending his family in a tragic home invasion.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
❝

I want to make the CrossFit Games. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Bill Leahy on his 2025 goals, earlier this season. He accomplished it at the NorCal Classic.
CROSSFIT GAMES

Comebacks, Chaos, and Controversy at the NorCal Classic: Here’s What You Missed

Credit: @marc_costaa / Instagram

The NorCal Classic introduced four new names to the 2025 CrossFit Games roster: Alex Gazan and Hattie Kanyo on the women’s side, and Bill Leahy and Jorge Fernandez for the men, both of whom will be Games rookies.

The event was punctuated by confusion and controversy at times (more on that below); yet, the athletes still delivered standout performances under the California sun.

Here are a few key takeaways, in case you missed the action over the weekend.  

Alex Gazan’s Season Going to Plan

Gazan played it smart, skipping CrossFit’s online Semifinals to focus on the World Fitness Project Tour Event I. It paid off with a win, 500 WFP points, and a check for $30,000. 

Gazan took first place at the NorCal Classic, punched her ticket, and banked another $30,000. 

Both she and coach Justin Cotler bet on her ability to perform under pressure, and so far in 2025, they are two for two.

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SPEED READS

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🏋️💪 Rob O. Strong: Rob Orlando, the “Strongman of CrossFit” and four-time Games athlete, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in January 2025, just a day after hitting a 1,525-pound powerlifting total PR. He’s since undergone major surgery and intensive treatment. Learn more here, and purchase a “Rob O Strong” fundraising shirt with proceeds supporting his recovery and medical costs here.

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ICYMI: How CrossFit helped Dan Nides handle reality TV drama.

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

How to Become a Double Under Wonder 

Credit: @b.a.w_media / Instagram

You have marks on your legs to prove that you have given those double unders your all. 

Yet, time and time again, you get whipped by the rope, trip over your feet, and end your session by throwing down your rope and stomping away in sheer frustration.

You might believe that you are simply uncoordinated and that this skill isn’t meant for you. You might feel as though you've exhausted every trick in the book, and nothing seems to work.

  • But… I am here to tell you, don’t give up!  In fact, I was you! 

Double unders were the bane of my existence in 2011. I couldn’t understand, as a collegiate gymnast, how I was so uncoordinated that I was completely and utterly unable to perform this skill. 

TRIVIA

In her four Semifinals appearances, what is Tia-Clair Toomey’s lowest finish in a single event?

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COMMUNITY

10-Year Gym Owner Patrick Heringer Killed During Home Invasion

Credit: @the_somatic_lifecoach / Instagram

In the early hours of June 4, Patrick Heringer, the longtime owner of Findlay Movement and CrossFit Level 3 coach, was fatally stabbed while trying to protect his wife from an intruder in their home in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, OH.

  • Cincinnati police have since charged Mordecia Black with murder and aggravated burglary. Black was released from prison in January and remained on probation after serving a nine-year sentence for felonious assault and aggravated rioting, according to this MSN report originally from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

From a hotel room, Heringer’s grieving wife, Sarah, spoke on camera, sharing her anger toward the police.

  • “He was stabbed to death while protecting his family from a violent, deranged criminal, who had no business roaming free in the streets of this city…After he died, after I watched him bleed out in our house, I was handcuffed like a criminal,” Sarah, who was also a long-time coach and co-owner of Findlay Movement, said.

She went on to call for more officers, better coverage, and proactive patrolling.

  • “Patrick died a hero. He died protecting his family in a city that did not protect him,” she said.

HIGHLIGHTS

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