Team News

Liberty University’s rock climbing team brought five men’s and five women’s climbers to a second USA Climbing Mid-Atlantic Division bouldering competition of the fall semester Saturday at the Crimper’s Climbing Gym in Christiansburg, Va., where Lady Flames senior Gwen Mars finished third and sophomore Arabella King fifth out of 17 climbers in the women’s competition.

On the men’s side, Flames freshman Dylan Reese placed 11th and senior Kyler Gilbert 14th out of 33 collegiate climbers. Complete results are available online.

“Including a citizen’s competition where local climbers can also compete, there were at least 100 climbers there, from Virginia Tech, Virginia, and (Johns) Hopkins, again, (in the collegiate event) and I was happy with how the team did,” Liberty Head Coach Tyler Campbell said. “This competition was much more competitive than the last so I am proud of how everyone on the team performed. We seem to have a good core group of younger climbers who will be able to be leaders in the seasons to come as the team continues on.”

After Christmas Break, the Flames and Lady Flames are next scheduled to compete in another event on Feb. 26 at The Gravity Vault in Voorhees, N.J., before preparing for their Mid-Atlantic Division Championships on March 26-27 at a location to be determined. That will be a qualifier for the April 22-24 USA Climbing Collegiate National Championships.