Mikhael Douglass
CU Climbing Team at Longmont Climbing Collective's CNQEs Day 1 and 2
This weekend, TWO Collegiate Nationals Qualifier Events (CNQE) for the Rocky Mountain Division took place at Longmont Climbing Collective to determine who would qualify for Nationals in Alta, AZ. The CU Climbing Team performed exceptionally, sending fourteen athletes to Nationals through the qualification process!
DAY ONE OVERVIEW:
The day began with the Advanced category with Men in Bouldering and Women in Lead. Four women from CU Boulder competed in Lead and eight men competed in Bouldering. The results are below.
Women's Lead Day 1:
(1) Tate Jennings
(2) Anika Shoemaker
(3) Tessa Raines
(12) Caroline Jusko
HIGHLIGHT: Tate Jennings and Anika Shoemaker danced up the wall in a race for first. Tate Jennings was the only one able to finish their first lead route. On the second route, however, Anika Shoemaker made positive movement off the same hold Tate fell off, putting these amazing women only 0.17 points away from each other. Great job ladies!
Men's Bouldering Day 1:
(1) Jacob Kelleghan
(2) Matthew Sherman
(14) Elyja Steinhauser
(19) Chris Cardella
(20) Eren User
(23) Sam Thorsett
(25) Connor Hruby
(30) Sean Youn
HIGHLIGHT: Competition became intense for Jacob Kelleghan and Matthew Sherman as they battled for first place. Jacob flashed 5/6 boulders, completing the competition with 6 tops and 7 attempts. Matthew trailed close behind flashing 4/6 boulders, taking only one extra attempt on Boulder 1, putting him in second. Great job to both of them, we are excited to watch them continue to push themselves to a possible perfect (6 tops 6 attempts) round.
Athletes then switched their disciplines, with men going to lead and women going into bouldering. CU Boulder had eight women compete in Bouldering and three men compete in Lead.
Women's Bouldering Day 1:
(1) Tate Jennings
(2) Anika Shoemaker
(3) Dinah Marcuson
(7) Tessa Raines
(8) Emily Koontz
(13) Mariana De Falco
(16) Anna Clausi
(16) Caroline Jusko
HIGHLIGHT: Dinah Marcuson fought hard for a well-deserved third place, one of three women (all from CU Boulder) who finished more than one boulder during their round. A spectacular finish!
Men's Lead Day 1:
(1) Jacob Kelleghan
(3) Matthew Sherman
(14) Connor Hruby
HIGHLIGHT: Another tight race for the podium as the University of Utah's Nathan Monte was the only man to finish the second lead route. Jacob Kelleghan and Matthew Sherman were the only two who finished their first route but found their respective places as Jacob scored second, and Matt in third for their second route. Their point placements were only 0.39 apart from each other. Congratulations to everyone who fought hard up the lead wall!
DAY TWO OVERVIEW
Day two of CNQEs for the CU Boulder Climbing Team got off to quite the start. After a slight schedule delay due to belayer shortage, all athletes were itching to get on the wall. Several tweaks were made to the previous day's bouldering round, with some Day 1 athletes even suggesting the boulders were even harder than day one. Since these two competitions were separate from each other they had to be consistent between the field of competitors on each respective day - all Day 2 athletes had the same routes, as did all of Day 1 athletes.
The men and women switched which discipline they began on from Day 1, so Men started on Lead and Women on Bouldering for Day 2. CU Boulder sent seven women to Bouldering and eight men to Lead.
Women's Bouldering Day 2:
(4) Kate Allen
(5) Nora Bruxvoort
(6) Klara Meymaris
(8) Alexis Jaggi
(9) Uma Gerwick
(11) Sierra Zeller
(12) Clara Denham
HIGHLIGHT: A close race to that qualification spot of fifth for athletes Kate Allen, Nora Bruxvoort, and Klara Meymaris. Nora was ultimately able to pull one more zone on her last attempt and the last 30 seconds of the competition to bump herself from sixth to fifth. This would not be the end of this race though, see Women's Lead Day 2!
Men's Lead Day 2:
(1) William Moss
(5) Grayson Richard
(6) Andrew Barthel
(7) Brayden Batcheller
(8) Cole Nam
(9) Aloken Chaudhari
(10) Henry Stubin
(16) Nils Edfors
HIGHLIGHT: William Moss clinched his way into a three-way tie for first, finishing his first route and getting to the same hold as two other U of Utah athletes. We were also extremely psyched to see Grayson Richard make his way into qualifying for Nationals after recovering from a gnarly shoulder injury right before Nationals last year. Great job boys!
The day continued with each gendered category switching disciplines. This would be the final round of CNQEs at Longmont Climbing Collective.
Women's Lead Day 2:
(1) Klara Meymaris
(5) Nora Bruxvoort
(6) Kate Allen
(7) Clara Denham
(8) Uma Gerwick
HIGHLIGHT: Klara Meymaris fought like no other, also ending up in a three-way tie for first with two U of Utah athletes. This spot ultimately qualified her for Nationals! We are so happy for Klara as this is her first Collegiate Nationals as a Freshman at CU.
Men's Bouldering Day 2:
(2) Rajan Patel
(4) Aloken Chaudhari
(5) Andrew Barthel
(7) William Moss
(8) Mikhael Douglass
(9) Aiden Gloyd
(10) Grayson Richard
(11) Jake Lowry
(12) Nils Edfors
(13) Henry Stubin
(16) Cole Nam
(18) Jeremy Sirof
(21) Brayden Batcheller
(22) Hayden Simmons
(23) Eli Wall
(25) Connor Desrosiers
HIGHLIGHT: Over sixteen athletes from our team competed in Day 2 Men's Bouldering at LCC. That means over 60% of the competition in the Men's field was from our own team. Given these circumstances, we are beyond proud of everyone who competed and those who qualified! Congratulations and see you soon to Rajan Patel, Aloken Chaudhari, and Andrew Barthel!
OVERVIEW:
Five athletes from each day, each discipline, and each gender were automatically qualified for Collegiate Nationals in Alta, AZ. The invitation to nationals allows each athlete to compete in both disciplines, even if only qualifying in one. The list below were all of our qualified athletes and the respective disciplines they qualified in:
Tate Jennings (S/B)
Anika Shoemaker (S/B)
Nora Bruxvoort (S/B)
Dinah Marcuson (B)
Kate Allen (B)
Klara Meymaris (S)
Tessa Raines (S)
Jacob Kelleghan (S/B)
Matthew Sherman (S/B)
Rajan Patel (B)
Aloken Chaudhari (B)
Andrew Barthel (B)
William Moss (S)
Grayson Richard (S)
Special congratulations to all of our first-timers: athletes who qualified for Nationals for their first time as a Buff!
Kate Allen
Nora Bruxvoort
Klara Meymaris
Dinah Marcuson
Tessa Raines
Andrew Barthel
Aloken Chaudhari
William Moss
Rajan Patel
Congratulations and good luck at Nationals!
Tate Jennings and Anika Shoemaker brush their holds for maximum friction.
Anna Clausi, Tessa Raines, and Chris Cardella chatting it up while Caroline Jusko gets started on her route.
Elyja Steinhauser lurching for the zone hold in Men's Bouldering.