Liberty climbers (from left) Cody Akrershoek, Brian Taylor, Dylan Reese, and Arabella King, national qualifiers last season, all placed in their advanced divisions Saturday in Richmond.
Climbers land on podium at season-opening competition in Richmond
11/9/2023 1:12:00 PM | Rock Climbing
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All four of Liberty's returning national qualifiers placed in the top six of their respective categories to lead the Flames and Lady Flames to a first-place team finish.
Liberty University's rock climbing team made a successful season debut at this past Saturday's Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Qualifying Events, a bouldering competition hosted by Peak Experiences in Richmond.
The Flames and Lady Flames finished in first place as a team and junior Dylan Reese was the overall winner in the men's advanced category with sophomore Cody Akershoek taking third and graduate Brian Taylor finishing sixth. Senior Arabella King was the women's advanced winner while freshman Katelyn Kerns and junior Mary Dulaney finished 1-2 in the women's intermediate category.Â
Reese, Akershoek, Taylor, and King were all USA Climbing Collegiate National qualifiers for Liberty last spring.
"Overall, I would say they all performed well and I was happy with their performance," Liberty second-year Head Coach Tyler Campbell said. "The first competition of every season is always plagued with more nerves than usual. People are trying to determine who is a top competitor and who isn't."
Sweet Briar College was the only other complete team in the field, though it only offers a women's program.Â
"There were many other competitors there for another competition, but the competitive pools were separate," Campbell said. "This competition did feel like a bit of an anomaly as there wasn't much competition in our (collegiate) division."Â
The Flames and Lady Flames were scheduled to travel to Manassas, Va., this Saturday, but that competition has been canceled. They will have one more Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Qualification event in the fall semester, at Sportrock Performance Institute in Alexandria, Va., where Campbell expects a much larger collegiate turnout with many more competitive athletes in the field.
Flames sophomore Cody Akershoek competes in a lead climbing event at last spring's USA Climbing Collegiate National Championships
