We are just over six weeks away from the 2018 Granite Games, September 7-9 in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and already the excitement is percolating with the release of the entry list from last month’s online qualifier.

Several top pros will be announced at a later date upon accepting their invitations, but we’ve combed through the current qualifier list and jotted down our three initial observations.

1. 2017 pro champ Brittany Chestnut will compete in coed team competition.

After crushing the women’s pro field last year at the Granite Games by 48 points, 26-year-old Brittany Chestnut has opted to join her gym-mates from Strive SC in the Co-Ed team competition for 2018. She’ll be the star of her team, entitled “Half Retired,” which perhaps gives an indication of their limited expectations in September. Chestnut was the only one of her teammates to finish in the top-100 in qualifying.

Chestnut competing in the 2017 Granite Games:

Chestnut has twice placed in the top-10 at the CrossFit Games regionals, and she should be a boon to her team’s chances after winning both the Strongman Muscle Up and Rope Climb and Box Jump workouts in 2017.

2. Four-time CrossFit Games qualifier Travis Mayer is coming to Granite Games 2018.

2017’s 12th-place CrossFit Games finisher and four-time qualifier Travis Mayer came so excruciatingly close to another trip to Madison for the Games, as he was sixth in June’s Atlantic Regional, just 10 points shy of qualification. However, Mayer’s loss at regionals is the Granite Games’ gain, as the 27-year-old has accepted an invite to compete at this year’s championship in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Mayer has succeeded so long in fitness because he has both incredible strength endurance and cardio ability. At last year’s CrossFit Games, he was second in the “Assault Banger” workout — a combination of riding the assault bike and whacking the Banger with a sledgehammer — and then he took fourth the next day in the “Heavy 17.5,” a mix of nine thrusters and 35 double-under over a grueling 10 rounds. Mayer completed that last one in a ridiculous eight minutes and 49 seconds.

With other top pro invites still pending, Mayer’s the favorite in the 2018 Granite Games clubhouse.

3. We found the best team names in the Male AsRx Team of 3 category…

One of the best parts about fitness team competitions are the names, and already we’ve uncovered a couple doozies in the men’s AsRx field. Shane Moser, Corey Gindorff, and Brandt Weldon will combine forces to become team “Zero Fucks,” which is about as intense as they come in the team naming game. These guys may not care one bit about what you think of their title.

If you’re more of a laid back kind of person, we have the trio known as “Somewhat Sober.” There’s a good chance Kaylem Cottrill, Jason Cottrill, and Justin Coakley will be tossing back a few cold ones over the three-day competition, and just maybe they’ll be cool enough about it to make those “Zero Fucks” guys chill out a bit.