2013 ABS 14 DIVISIONALS.

As a defending National Champion, Sidney gets a bye directly to Nationals so we decided to skip Regionals and have her compete at Divisionals which was at Clubsport this past January 12^th & 13^th.  For those paying attention, we just had SCS Divisionals there so it’s sort of becoming a home gym for us.  However, there hasn’t been a major bouldering comp at Clubsport since the ABS 9 Regional so only a handful of climbers can say they competed in both events.  I will always remember that Regional because it was Sidney’s first onsight comp and she looked like a deer in the headlights when she came out of ISO and walked to the chair for her first route.  Priceless!

This year, Sidney and the gang, (Melina Costanza, Cierra Graham, Makenna Graham, Lia Messinger and Olivia Durant) all moved up in category to FYB but as you’ll soon read about, things haven’t changed much from last year.  Along with that group, there were a few strong climbers from NorCal (Kara Herson, Hanna Grossman and Jenna Wang) and a relative newcomer named Annie O’Brien.  There is a lot of climbing talent in Division 1 and with only 8 invites (including Sidney’s bye) to ABS Nationals for the FYB category, a few really good climbers would not be advancing to Colorado Springs.

Saturday was Qualifiers and there were 4 problems per category.  The format was onsight with a 4 minute climb time and 1 cycle rest after each route.  With no transition between routes, it meant that there would be less rest time after each problem. 

Qualifier #1 was a fairly tricky route, especially considering it was the 1^st problem.   You had to stem the first part of the route and then move off of a long flake onto a big sloper.  From there, you moved to a big pinch and on to the finish.  Usually, the 1^st route is a gimme and everyone flashes it but that was not the case this time.  In fact, Lia fell on her 1^st attempt of this route and not every climber topped it.  Here is Sidney’s flash of Q1, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFG2pUc1Myo&list=UUvFEo19_3FQnGo0AZ8w0Oqw&index=7

Qualifier #2 was more straightforward but not any less difficult.  It was a series of big holds that were either pinches or slopers with a dynamic move to the finish.  Without rushing at all, Sidney walked up the route in 17 seconds.  It was much harder than she made it look as only 14 of the 26 climbers in her category topped this route.  Watch here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R47pfP0JGkk&list=UUvFEo19_3FQnGo0AZ8w0Oqw&index=6

Qualifier #3 upped the difficulty level as only 10 of the 26 climbers in her group topped this route.  It started with a tricky sequence to get up and around a corner where it then traversed to the left onto a long, narrow pinch.  From there, you either went up dynamically with your left hand to a nice pinch or you got your right foot up onto a hold and then mantled up into the slab.  Of the 10 climbers who made the route, it was pretty much 50/50 on which beta was used.  After getting on the slab, it was just a matter of getting your feet up to get to the finish.  See for yourself, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mHirnevjIs&list=UUvFEo19_3FQnGo0AZ8w0Oqw&index=5

A cool shot of Sidney showing off the back muscles on Qualifier #3.  (Photo coutesey of Alex Fritz)

As usual, Qualifier #4 really separated all the contenders as only 2 climbers, Melina and Sidney, made this route and they both flashed it.  It started on the right and then traversed on an overhung wall to a big, fin shaped hold that was very hard to pinch.  From there, you had to pull straight up to a weird bulbous-like hold that was obviously a very hard move as only 4 of the 26 climbers were able to get past this point and they were Sidney, Melina, Lia and Kara.  The last half of the route went all burly with a 6 hold sequence of dynamic moves and crossovers on pinches and crimps, culminating in a big leap to the finish hold that was a sloper.  In retrospect, I would rate this as a harder climb overall than even their Final #3.  Watch it now, then compare to the video of Final #3 and you be the judge, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEItpAhYygE&list=UUvFEo19_3FQnGo0AZ8w0Oqw&index=4

With Qualifiers over, there was the usual nervous tension as we waited to see who made Finals.  They finally posted the results and here is who made Finals in the order they would climb the next day; 11^th-Hanna, 10^th-Emma Folkerts, 9^th-Jenna, 8^th-Olivia, 7^th-Talia Bowles, 6^th-Annie, 5^th-Cierra, 4^th-Kara, 3^rd-Lia, 1^st-Sidney and 1^st-Melina.  Makenna just missed Finals by a couple of spots but she had climbed very well.  My dad and sister came to town to watch Sidney climb so we all went out for a nice, relaxing dinner and then went back to the hotel to rest up for the next day’s climbing.

For Finals on Sunday, the format was the same except there were only 3 routes per category instead of 4 like the day before.  With only 3 problems and Sidney climbing 2^nd to last in the order, it made it easier to watch all the climbers and get a sense of where everyone may place. 

Final #1 was tricky in that it tested your technical climbing skills as you needed to finesse the route instead of overpowering it.  Only 6 of the 11 finalists topped the route with Sidney, Melina, Lia and Cierra being the only climbers to flash it.  Watch Sidney’s attempt here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXSrHCYA5t4&list=UUvFEo19_3FQnGo0AZ8w0Oqw&index=3

Final #2 was a fairly short route that started on the right and quickly traversed to the left onto a big sloper with a wide pinch.  The normal beta was to pull up to a small hold that had a small ridge on top of it that you could hang on if you were precise.  A couple of delicate moves to the right brought you to the finish.  The same 6 climbers who made Final #1 topped this problem.  Also like the 1^st problem, 4 girls flashed the route except that Sidney was not one of them.  For some reason, she did not want to pull for the small ridge after the sloper with the wide pinch.  She looked at it but changed her beta in the middle of her climb and went with a big move out to the right.  She snagged it momentarily and then fell.  Surprisingly, she didn’t seem too bummed but that is probably because she knew that Final #3 was still to come and she could still win.  Sidney regrouped, used the same beta as her first attempt and made the route with ease.  Of course now she was behind Melina, Lia and Cierra by 1 fall and had to hope that Final #3 was really difficult so that she could make up ground on them.  Here is Sidney’s 2^nd attempt, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTZI8u9RuJ4&list=UUvFEo19_3FQnGo0AZ8w0Oqw&index=2

Final #3 was a long route that scored to 13 holds but there were only 8 hand holds on the entire problem.  This meant that pretty much every move was big and dynamic.  Oh, and the whole route was on varying degrees of overhang with the finish move being on the most overhung section.  The route started on the left with a big extension up and to the right to a pinch, then straight up with the left hand to a very small hold that left you prone to barndooring off the route.  You then had to go out to the right to a big, bulbous hold that almost put you in an Iron Cross, keep the tension to be able to get your foot back on and then match.  Continuing to the right, you had to get 1 foot up to the left to get totally horizontal to be able to lever out to a small hold with a ridge on top, match that hold and then snag the top of a big hold that looked like someone wearing a gas mask.  After matching the “gas mask,” you then moved left through the most overhung section to a small hold that you were supposed to match but was really only good for 1 hand.  Finally, you had to commit up, out and to the left for the finish that you could grab but was definitely not a jug.  On second thought, maybe this climb WAS harder than Qualifier #4.  

Of the 11 climbers in Finals, 6 could not get to the big, bulbous hold and scored 4 or less.  Kara was able to control that hold but did not have enough length to lever out to the next hold and scored 6 holds.  Cierra got to the finish move on her 2^nd try and held on for a tantalizing second before swinging off as the crowd went from a raucous “Aaaaaaaaaah” to “Ooooooooooh” in a split second.  You can watch her awesome attempt here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjykkSGFDoM

A great shot of Cierra showing the angle of the wall on Final #3.  (Photo courtesy of Alex Fritz)

Lia got to the finish move on her 1^st attempt and was able to slap the finish hold but that was as far as she would be able to get.  Her length may have hindered her ability to really explode for the finish.  Here is her attempt, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_0v5X62zoQ

Sidney was precise, strong and fearless as she flashed the route to the roar of the crowd to take the lead with only Melina left to climb.  Watch, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RttkiB4PSs&list=UUvFEo19_3FQnGo0AZ8w0Oqw&index=1

Melina was as strong and precise as Sidney in getting to the finish move on her 1^st attempt but just did not have that extra explosion needed to get to the finish hold.  Her 2^nd attempt was about the same as her first so that kept Sidney in 1^st place.  Exciting!

The final placings and National invites were as follows; 11^th-Talia, 10^th-Emma, 9^th-Jenna, 8^th-Olivia-Invite, 7^th-Annie-Invite, 6^th-Hanna-Invite, 5^th-Kara-Invite, 4^th-Cierra-Invite, 3^rd-Lia-Invite, 2^nd-Melina-Invite and 1^st-Sidney-Invite.  To illustrate how close the scoring was, Melina, Lia and Cierra all had 2 Tops and 39 points.  Cierra was behind Lia by 1 fall and Lia was behind Melina by countbacks to Qualifiers.  Also, because of Sidney’s mistake on Final #2, any of them could have won if they had flashed the last route.  For those that actually follow this blog, you will see that this is a common pattern as these girls are always so close in every one of these big comps.  Another item to note is that Final #3 was used for all 3 older categories (FYB, FYA & FJR) and only Sidney and Shannon Russell (FJR) made this route (both flashed) so kudos to both of them!

Shannon snagging the finish on Final #3.  (Photo courtesy of the Bras family)

It was quite an exciting comp to watch with a lot of great climbing!  Looking forward to ABS 14 Nationals in 2 weeks!