By Caleb Williams
April 4, 2018
As the climbing season wraps up with the last interscholastic competition at Onsight Rock Gym, members of the the Central Climbing Team reflect on their performance as a team and how the season went.
Grace Knight, one of the two senior girls on the team, is the only girl to climb at this competition. Moving up to the advanced category, Grace’s season ended with a cumulative score of 4867.5; the top female score and an 11th place spot overall.
When asked how she felt about the season, Grace said for a small team, she felt Central competed pretty well with all of its active team members placing in the advanced category. Although a senior, Grace wants to continue climbing and improving her skills, saying she wants to learn to lead climb and hopefully continue to climb grades similar to the challenging 5.12a she sent earlier in the season.
Another member of Central’s four person climbing team, Wesley Johnson, reflects on how his season went and what he could do to improve his scores next year. Getting 6th overall in the advanced category, he is one of the team’s best climbers with a cumulative score of 7000. Although his scores are high, he hopes next year he can do better and intends to stay climbing at least two times a week and continue training over the summer to improve his results. Long term goals include climbing a v10 boulder problem by the time he is a senior and learning to lead climb.
Every team needs a coach, and for the Central Climbing Team this coach and founder is Central High School teacher Mrs.Turner. She comes to all of the competitions and helps to belay climbers and provide support when it’s needed.
On the topic of this year’s season, Ms. Turner said that she enjoyed it more than last year and had fun watching the team climb and get better as the season progressed. She hopes to recruit more members to the team, but is proud of how well we placed considering how small the team is, describing us as “small but mighty”.
Overall for the Central Climbing Team, this climbing season was a success and I think everyone is already looking forward to next year. If you or someone you know doesn’t have a sport that they’re doing, I encourage trying climbing, it’s a great way to build your strength and is an easy sport to get into no matter how long you have been doing it.
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