Grid League 2026 – Venom vs Sharks: Venom Win Three Races in Their First Playoff Match

Tyler Anderson needed 7.27 seconds to carry a 200-pound sandbag the length of the Grid, and when he finished he threw it over the fence. Fans had voted for an 80-foot sandbag carry in the fan-voted ringer point, a one-on-one duel inside the match, and the Las Vegas Venom had thrown their bonus flag on it. A bonus flag is a bet a team makes before a race starts: the winner of that race takes an extra point. Anderson beat the SWFL Sharks‘ Zaien Zafra by more than a second, and the Venom took three points.

The Venom won the Sprint Relay that followed for three more. The Sharks won the Western Conference semifinal 21-14 on October 3 in Lakeland, Florida, and the Venom finished their first playoff match by winning two of the last three races.

A first playoff match

The playoffs were new ground for the Venom. Owner and coach Paul Behar could not be in Lakeland and coached by phone, and Whitney Koetter and Dakota Shackleton shared the captain’s duties on the Grid.

The Venom won the opening race. The Partner Forward was cleans at 165 pounds for the men and 115 for the women, and Koetter and rookie Zach Lucas, playing his first match for the Venom, tagged out first and led into the third quadrant. Robbie Rodriguez and Tori Hite finished it in 2:20.59, 1.76 seconds ahead.

The Venom also led early in the Mirror, a front squat race at 255 and 170 pounds, before the Sharks won it by 2.75 seconds to tie the match 3-3. Lucas was sent into the first ringer point as well, 16 double dumbbell hang clusters, and finished within 20 percent of the Sharks’ time to keep a point.

Strength in the middle

The Echo is the same race run twice, 45 seconds apart. The Sharks won both, and Koetter talked to the broadcast after the second one.

“We’re coming out to win this match. We’re not done yet. We’re not giving up.”

Whitney Koetter, Las Vegas Venom

The Ladder is the strength race, with players alternating down the Grid and lifting a sandbag over a yoke that rises in each quadrant, 200 pounds for the men and 150 for the women. Jayson DiMizio was the first player on either side to clear all four heights, and Camron Colbert cleared the third. The Venom scored 71 to the Sharks’ 75, inside the ten-point window that earns the second team a point.

The Sharks took the next four races, including both triads, and led 19-8 with two races left.

Anderson and the relay

The Sprint Relay followed Anderson’s win, with one player on the Grid at a time across eight elements and three points to the winner. Shackleton, DiMizio, Michelle Young, Lucas, Alec Smith and Hite all took elements, and Colbert finished the three clusters at 250 pounds. The Venom won it in 3:50.44, 40 seconds ahead.

Hite came into the playoffs with the top impact score in the league and the most reps completed of any player, according to the broadcast. She spoke after the sandbag carry about what it took to get the Venom this far.

“This is my third season with Venom,” Hite said. “It’s taken a lot for us to get here.”

The Venom’s 2026 season ends in the semifinal, and it ends with three race wins in the playoffs, including the first race and the last one.

Race-by-race results