Emily Rolfe, Liz Wishart Join NorCal Classic Semifinal Field

Emily Rolfe and Liz Wishart gave the NorCal Classic an immediate competitive jolt, and they did it by claiming two of the final elite individual spots in a field that is still being tightened for Sacramento. The event had asked athletes who placed inside the top 200 in Quarterfinals to DM the organizers for one of the remaining invitations, and both Rolfe and Wishart answered. That matters because NorCal is not padding its roster, it is assembling a 50-athlete elite division built to send only two men and two women to the 2026 CrossFit Games.

The NorCal Classic is scheduled for May 29-31 at Discovery Park, 1600 Garden Highway, in Sacramento, California, and CrossFit lists it as one of the in-person Semifinals on the path to the Games. CrossFit also calls the Semifinals the final qualifying stage for the 2026 season, which means every added name changes the race to the limited qualifying spots. On the women’s side, Rolfe and Wishart now join a lineup that already includes 2025 NorCal winner Alex Gazan, while Bill Leahy is part of the men’s side that is chasing the same two-ticket finish.

The practical effect is clear: the women’s bracket just got harder to read and harder to win. Rolfe’s arrival adds another proven threat to the podium picture, while Wishart brings a profile that fits the event’s late-invite strategy. CrossFit lists Liz Wishart, under the name Elizabeth Wishart, as 85th worldwide in the 2026 Quarterfinals and 100th worldwide in the 2026 Open, which placed her squarely inside the athlete pool NorCal was targeting for those at-large openings. With only two women advancing to the Games, a single heat mistake could now decide whether a top name survives the cut.

NorCal’s roster structure also signals that more movement could still come. The event’s elite field is being built from 35 athletes earned through the NCC Online Qualifier, which ran January 9-25, plus 15 at-large spots reserved for athletes who won select competitions and finished inside the top 2,000 of Quarterfinals. That mix, along with a $165,000 prize purse and $20,000 for each elite individual winner, tells fans to expect a deep, high-stakes field rather than a last-minute fill-in list. The final elite lineup is still taking shape, and every acceptance now sharpens the fight for the two Games berths in Sacramento.