A thletics
Jack Urness was MAC's first Divisional champion in Bouldering. Urness and nine teammates travel to Nationals in Wisconsin this month.
Climbing
Tournament’s Success a Team Effort Parents, volunteers, staff and departments around the club came together to host one of the country's biggest bouldering tournaments in January
W
hen climbers from across the Northwest came to MAC for Divisional Championships in January, it was an impressive stage for the burgeoning climbing team to show off its talents and facilities. But behind the scenes, the tournament brought out the best in more than just MAC’s young climbers, according to Head Coach Drew White, who sat down to chat shortly after the competition. Last year, USA Climbing asked us if we wanted to host the Regional Bouldering tournament. With the 125th anniversary coming up, we asked if we could hold it in 2016. Five months later, USAC came to us and two other gyms asking if we were interested in holding a Divisional Championship, a step up from regionals. Management was supportive, so we told USAC we could host and were selected. You have to have the ability to shut down your facility for a week. There must be a certain amount of wall for the competition and a certain amount of wall space for isolation, (the warmup area for athletes before they enter the competition). The Climbing Gym had the wall space for competition but not for
58 | The Wınged M |
february 2016
Ten Headed to Nationals Ten MAC climbers will head to USAC Bouldering National Championships in February after cracking the top six in their respective age groups: Aidan Schenk, Sloane Warmkessel, Sutton Warmkessel, Jack Urness, Gabe Laurent; Tori Siegel, Celia Diffely andZak Surma, Look for more about the team, and their results at Nationals, in the March Winged M.
isolation. We would have to create that. At that point, we knew this would have to be a collaborative effort between a number of departments and members. We went to different departments within the club and said, ‘Hey, let’s put on a great event for our members and for the climbing community, and everyone got on board to make this a special weekend. Without Dan Baggett and Courts Van Dekoning in Court Sports we would not have been able to pull off the event. They let us use the West Gym for isolation. In a championshiplevel event, every route is new to each competitor, so essentially, isolation is a warm-up space for athletes and coaches. Parents are not allowed in, and friends are not allowed in, only certified USAC coaches and athletes who have qualified are allowed in.