Salvi wins in Trench Throwdown

Salvi Villanueva’s month long training paid off as he won the Men’s RX division in the 5th Marianas Trench Throwdown held over the weekend at the Chamorri CrossFit Gym in Tamuning, Guam.

Villanueva, who settled for second place in the same competition last year, collected 843 points built around eight No. 1 finishes in the workouts of the day (WOD) for a six-point victory over CrossFit Latte Stone’s Michael James, who collected 837. Unified CrossFit’s Gabriel Martinez had 821 for third place.

Representing Tribe Marianas, Villanueva claimed the top spot in WOD 4—a three-set workout composed of pull-ups, lunges, and thruster. He also ranked first in WOD 5 where one needs to complete six muscle ups, six leg squats, and six shoulder presses at 10lbs.

He also had two first place finishes out of three exercises in the WOD 3, highlighted by a deadlift of 450lbs against United CrossFit’s F.J. Chargualaf’s 425lbs and tied James for the top ranking in the clean and jerk with 280lbs. He won the burpees event performing 53 in two minutes. Aside from lifting, organizers added running and swimming events in the WODs with the contestant with the fastest time winning.

Villanueva said James pushed him to perform better with the CFLS bet just breathing down his neck.

“It was close all throughout the competition between me and James, who is also one of my good friends,” Villanueva said.

“We had very similar performances but I managed to edge him out in a couple of things and come out on top overall. He definitely pushed the pace for me,” he added.

Their scores were so close that the result of WOD 6 determined who would win the fifth edition of the Trench Throwdown. Villanueva took a breather and prayed to God to grant him the speed and agility to complete the final WOD.

He set the best time in WOD 6 at 2:09 with James finishing at 2:19. Saipan native and CrossFit Hita’s Harold Aranda, another friend of Villanueva, came in at third with a time of 2:36.

“It was an amazing experience and it solidified my belief that we can produce capable athletes that are able to win these international events,” said Villanueva.

WOD 1 was a biathlon composed of a 1-kilometer run, 250-meter swim, and another 2k run; WOD 2 had 30 wallballs, 20 toes to bar, and clean and jerk; WOD 3 was most number of burpees in two minutes, max calorie row in six minutes, and maximum deadliest.

WOD 4 was a 200m run, seven snatches at 105lbs, overhead squats—in the order of seven, five, three, and one—and another 200m run with the contestant with the fastest time winning. WOD 5 was completion of six muscle ups, six one leg squats, and six shoulder press at 105lbs. at 5-4-3-2.