2013 SCS Open Nationals!

This last weekend I competed in my second ever Open SCS nationals! When I competed last year I finished 8th place in sport climbing, and 3rd place in speed! Going into the comp this year I wanted to do better than last year, but the female category had some really tight competition.

I went into the comp feeling really good. Right now, I'd say I'm in better bouldering shape than rope climbing, having just made the transition from bouldering season into rope season. Luckily, rope climbing at movement involves a lot of power, and not as much endurance!

Qualifiers went pretty well, and I was in 8th place and also happened to be the youngest competitor to qualify for finals. Before finals a bunch of the youth competitors at the comp all hung out and ate lunch at this great place in Boulder called Sherpa's. There were way more youth competitors there than last year, which was really cool to see, and made the comp super fun!


Photo: Wade David
http://www.wadedavid.com/#

Josh, Noah, and I all went into isolation as soon as it opened at 5:30 Saturday night. All the other competitors were already warming up, and it was definitely different/inspiring to be warming up with people like Sasha and Charlotte. Warming up, I felt really good and extremely psyched to see the route!  

Photos: Wade David
This was such a sick climb, the route setters did an amazing job this comp!

 

Once all the competitors were called out, preview started. Delaney, Cicada, and I all read the route together, and the beta seemed fairly straightforward. After seeing the route, I was way less nervous and just excited to climb with the energy of the huge crowd behind me!

Photo: Wade David
Sticking the second crux of the climb!

I was really happy with how I climbed, I felt like if I had a little more endurance I would have been able to do better. But with the amount of time I’ve had to train ropes, I think climbed about as best as I could.

Photo: Wade David
I was definitely starting to get pumped here!

Speed climbing is a little different... I didn't really know what to expect. I'm consistently pretty good at speed, but I hadn't done any sort of training before this comp. I don't have the IFSC route or holds to practice on, and I think this might have actually helped me. The speed route at movement was pretty off compared to the real route, and I didn't have the intense muscle memory for the route that other competitors had. I was really happy with how the results came out, with Josh also taking first place and Kayla Lieuw taking second! My training partner, Noah, also crushed by taking 3^rd in sport climbing.

Photo: Kim Puccio
Kayla Lieuw: 2nd, Marissa Romero: 3rd  

Competing at this definitely made me really psyched to train even harder for Youth Nationals, and also really excited to see everyone again! It's hard to believe I was competing against some of the best female climbers in the world! Watching Charlotte finish the finals climb was incredibly motivating.

I can’t wait for my coming competitions and to get going on some climbing trips once it warms up around here!