Photo Gallery and Results: USA Climbing 2018 Sport Nationals

Published March 19, 2018 05:10AM

16 Photos From 2018 Sport Nationals

Claire Buhrfeind mantles to the finish hold to win her first USAC Sport Nationals title. Buhrfeind won the USAC Youth Sport Nationals title as a Junior in 2017.

Drew Ruana measures the distance between the box volume and the large black sloper. Roughly one-third of the way up the men’s Finals climb, this traverse produced some of the most creative—and entertaining—climbing of the round.

The women line up backstage to be introduced before Finals. Eight women and eight men advanced to compete on Saturday night.

Nathaniel Coleman and Sean Bailey collaborate on beta while Noah Ridge works on a sequence of his own in the preview of the men’s Finals route. Competitors got a 5-minute sneak peak at their routes and then returned to isolation until their turn to climb.

Despite a winter storm, the house was packed at the new Mesa Rim gym in Reno, Nevada, for 2018 USAC Open Sport Nationals. Here Noah Ridge starts off the Finals round for the men.

Nathaniel Coleman considers his next move in the bottom third of the men’s Finals route. Both reigning USAC Bouldering National Champions, Coleman and Alex Puccio, advanced to Sport Finals this year.

Solomon Barth works some physical moves on the crowd-pleasing volume traverse. Barth entered Finals in first but finished in third. Fans of Barth on Instagram will recognize the #SunsOutTonguesOut expression.

Solomon Barth, like several other competitors, fell on the move to the crimp on the first triangle volume.

Sean Bailey reaches for what would be the high point of the men’s route. Bailey grabbed the purple hold before losing his footing and falling. Drew Ruana made a similar reach but couldn’t latch the hold.

Brooke Raboutou grabs the volume and considers the bump to the mushroom-cap pink sloper, a sequence that stumped several competitors. Raboutou made a dynamic leap to the sloper and topped the route.

Claire Buhrfeind tackles the hex box volumes under a small roof about one-third of the way up the women’s Finals route.

Delaney Miller considers her next move near the middle of the women’s Finals route.

Alex Puccio matched heel to left hand on the black volume before making this long reach to the edge at the start of the final third of the route. Reigning Bouldering National Champion, Puccio finished third at USAC Sport National Championships.

Michaela Kiersch succeeds on her third attempt for the final hold. The mantle to the top proved a challenge for several competitors.

Claire Buhrfeind waves to the crowd after topping the Finals route after securing her first USAC Sport National Championship.

Sean Bailey reclaimed his title and Claire Buhrfeind earned her first win at the 2018 USA Climbing (USAC) Sport National Championships held at the new Mesa Rim gym in Reno, Nevada. Both defending champions, Ashima Shiraishi and Kai Lightner, were sidelined with injuries, opening the doors in the stacked fields. Drew Ruana and Noah Ridge had finished on the podium at past Nationals, and Solomon Barth and Josh Levin podiumed at Collegiate Nationals events last season. On the women’s side, former champions Delaney Miller and Margo Hayes made Finals, as did Brooke Raboutou and Michaela Kiersch, both of whom had finished on the podium at past Sport Nationals. In addition, Alex Puccio and Nathaniel Coleman, reigning USAC Bouldering Champions, both made Finals in Sport this year.

USAC Sport Nationals is composed of three rounds, with twenty climbers advancing to Semifinals and eight advancing to Finals. Competitors climb two routes in Qualifiers and one route in each Semifinals and Finals. Finals is an onsight format with 5-minute route previews. Climbers get a single attempt, and points are awarded for each hold reached. Ties are settled by Semifinals performance, a rule which came into play in the women’s division this year.

Entering Finals in sixth place, Brooke Raboutou topped the women’s Finals route first. High on the wall, the most challenging sequence involved a big move to a cylindrical sloper followed by a thuggy mantle to the finish hold. In the end, five women topped the route, with Buhrfeind’s lead in Semifinals giving her the win.

A traverse through sparse crimps two-thirds of the way up the route separated the men, with nobody topping the route. Sean Bailey and Drew Ruana fell on the same move, a drop knee to a big reach above the traverse, but Bailey briefly held the hold that lay just beyond Ruana’s reach. Lower down, a series of volumes prompted athletic moves and entertaining sequences from the men, several of whom capitalized on the opportunity to entertain the crowd.