for the non-TLDRers
This year he was just outside the top 20 in the Socal Open but got in due to declined invites. His invitation makes the statement that there is more than just one way to be high level competitor in your region. He has been to SoCal regionals many years just missed the super regionals last year due to 15.1a score.
His affiliate was the second affiliate in LA. He loves and respects the Crossfit training method. He always been avant garde in Crossfit. After all these years his views on fitness over time (i.e. health) have evolved.
He enriches his training with a lot of movement/balance skills, not unlike Connor does with Ido Portal . e.g. he went to some circus training in Europe last summer. Unlike many other competitors he does not obsess about traditional Oly/strenght biased Crossfit training. He may post one or two Oly lift instagrams per year where most athletes post multiples monthly.
If you would have seen him in-person this weekend, you'd immediately see how much less muscular he is than the other 39 dudes. He knew that he would be last in the snatch ladder either way. So why waste energy. No different than most women did on the 2015 Games peg board event.
He was/is not trying to make a statement but his actions and result seem to make a statement about balanced training and respecting each of the foundational skills equally.
Other than having elite level coordination and balance skills, my guess is that he is mentally in a better frame of mind than many other regional athletes (at one point in previous years he was more like them but has learned and evolved)
He's worn the shorts for years during major events. There is a background story to why they are his lucky shorts (which i won't go into now)