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Eagle gym hosts first bouldering event of USA Climbing season

Spectators watch as 17-year-old Allison Oviatt, right, and 15-year-old Carson Abshear take on a selection of the bouldering problems available for competitors Saturday at a USA Climbing competition in Eagle.
John LaConte | jlaconte@vaildaily.com

EAGLE – USA Climbing’s bouldering season got underway in the Mountain West region Saturday with an event at Eagle Climbing + Fitness.

Eighty-six bouldering competitors 17 and younger traveled from all over the state to take part in the event, which qualified athletes for the regional level of USA Climbing competition.

While Eagle Climbing + Fitness has been open less than a year, climbing coach Larry Moore, who runs the gym, has been hosting bouldering competitions for years. He said the new gym has made hosting events easier.



“This is year 16 for me hosting these competitions but only the second year in this gym,” Moore said. “More space makes it easier.”

About 20 local volunteers pitched in to make the event come together.

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Level 1 route setters

The route setters at Saturday’s competition were all level 1-certified route setters, thanks to a competition route setting clinic that took place here in Eagle County in May in advance of the annual World Cup bouldering competition at the GoPro Mountain Games.

Capitalizing on the opportunity a nearby World Cup competition creates, Moore was able to have some of the world’s best route setters come to town a bit early to host the clinic. The benefit of that clinic is now being seen at events like Saturday’s USA Climbing competition.

“Five of our six route setters at this comp were level 1 competition certified,” Moore said on Saturday. “That’s kind of rare. It gives us a lot of credibility.”

Wyatt Graves, 13, of Steamboat Springs, competes in a USA Climbing bouldering event at Eagle Climbing + Fitness on Saturday. Bouldering competitors like Graves traveled from all over Colorado to take part in the Eagle competition, which was the first event of the USA Climbing bouldering season in the Mountain West region.
John LaConte | jlaconte@vaildaily.com

Coach Cody Abshear from Team Grand Valley Climbing in Grand Junction said the Eagle Climbing + Fitness event was world-class.

“We brought like 17 kids here to compete,” he said. “About half of them came with their parents.”

Moore said the spacious gym makes things much more comfortable for spectators.

“We have a nice atmosphere with a few different areas, so if a kid isn’t doing well in one room they can go check out another,” he said. “And then there’s different viewing areas to watch from.”

Ethan Pitcher, a local climber who is a member of the Canadian youth national team, said he enjoyed Saturday’s event for the competition atmosphere.

“It’s nice to have a bouldering event here in town like this,” he said.

Complete results below:

Female Junior
1 Shae Kelly
2 Tess Wallace
3 Mara Wallace
4 Maeve Flaherty
5 Sydney Mueller
6 Rebekah Hadley
7 Abrielle Hawkins

Male Junior
1 Alexander Mayer
2 Samuel Hummel
3 Samuel Hall
4 Michael Anirudhan

Female Youth A
1 Gabriella Fraizer
2 Talia Lasko
3 Caralena Mannarelli
4 Kylie Lethen

Male Youth A
1 Tommy Fiedler
2 Joshua Wanner
3 Jason Lucas
4 Samuel Wanner
5 Ansel Pierson
6 Nicolas Meece-Potowski
7 Ben Jennings
8 Cort Lieffers
9 Oliver Rund
10 Alex Mooney
11 Corben Babcock
12 Josiah Barlow
13 Rami Hage
14 Tyler Lethen
15 Lucas Jablonski
16 Timon Sweere

Female Youth B
1 Evangelina Briggs
2 Sydney Williams
3 Madison Ruth
4 Ainsley Hadden
5 Leanne Anirudhan
6 Faith Hubbard
7 Flannery Pierson
8 Lilly Sautbine
9 Avery Wright
10 Abby Denslow
11 Sofia Provenzano

Male Youth B
1 Owen Bales
2 Joseph Flynn
3 Declan Tulley
4 Evan Homan
5 Charles Coriell
6 Anthony Fortuna
7 Gabriel Scheiber
8 Samuel Meece-Potowski
9 Nolan Frame
10 Lucca Kohl
11 Frederick Ribolzi
12 Sam Larson
13 Noah Davenport
14 Aidan Brown
15 Blake Sloan
16 Kael Miller
17 Brett Brasher
18 William Grathwohl
19 Charles Schwab
20 Nicholas Bearby

Female Youth C
1 Evie Garland
2 Erica Urheim
3 Lucy Hoffman
4 Kayleigh Borek
5 Bonnie Weaver
6 Isabelle Sweet
7 Graciela Briggs
8 Nalani Day
9 Claire Benesh
10 Avery Bergin
11 Taegan Gadberry
12 Megan Denslow
13 Sadie Choi

Male Youth C
1 Maddox Blunt
2 William Eaton
3 Conrad Gehlhausen
4 Cole Homan
5 Jasper Zhu
6 Max Leman
7 Lorenzo Burgio
8 Bret Trowbridge
9 Joseph Neuman
10 Aden Guerrero
11 Jude Moosbrugger
12 Cash Metz
13 Lincoln Kauffman

Female Youth D
1 Erin Miller
2 Celia Brasher
3 Sierra Farnham
4 Addyson Gadberry

Male Youth D
1 Logan Krajnik
2 Noah Wanner
3 Aiden Krajnik
4 Gus Rund
5 Spencer Choi
6 Theodore Neuman
7 Callum Weber


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