Climbers gear up for first competition Saturday near Philadelphia

Saturday, November 15

Bridgeport, PA

Liberty University Club Sports

Collegiate Qualifying Event

Sophomore climber Asher Talbot hangs from a boulder feature at the LaHaye Rock Wall. (Photos by Austin Lanphear)

Climbers gear up for first competition Saturday near Philadelphia

11/11/2025 2:45:00 PM | Rock Climbing

After sending eight to Salt Lake City last spring, the Flames and Lady Flames will look to qualify as many team members as possible for the 2025-26 USA Climbing Collegiate National Championships.

Paloma Laumann climbs — Lady Flames sophomore Jasmine Liu worked at climbing gyms in China over the summer, improving her bouldering and top rope skills.

Liberty University's climbing team features 15 members (nine men and six women) this fall, including five of the program-record eight climbers that led the Flames and Lady Flames to a best-ever sixth-place team showing at last season's USA Climbing Collegiate National Championships in Salt Lake City.

"Last year, a ton of new people came in and completely rebuilt the culture," Head Coach Tyler Campell said. "It was great. We finished sixth overall in the nation and sixth for rope climbing, specifically, and for bouldering we finished third. Even more new people have come in this year and are just building on top of that. We have a great base to build on."

Paloma Laumann, now a sophomore, became the second climber in program history to reach the podium, placing third in women's intermediate bouldering. In 2018, Tori Perkins ('19) earned silver in the advanced women's sport climbing division in her first year with the team, its second season as a Club Sports program.

Senior Nathan Bruckner is the Flames' team captain this season while junior Katelyn Kerns serves in that role for the Lady Flames. Other returning national qualifiers besides Laumann include seniors Sierra Landel and Judah Skipper.

"I have a good core group, and some of the newer people that have come in this year are looking very promising," Campbell said. "There's a good competitive spirit between everybody wanting to get better. Everybody has something that they can add to the next person's skill set."

He said Bruckner and sophomore Jasmine Liu have shown the most improvement in the offseason.

"Jasmine has gotten a lot stronger," Campbell said. "She went back to China over the summer and was working in climbing gyms. Nathan climbed a lot and trained, and I've seen a lot of growth in him. He competed in intermediate last year, and he's definitely in the advanced category now."

Kerns also serves as the Lady Flames' Disciple Maker while junior Alex Dausch — sidelined by a shoulder injury and offseason surgery — leads the Flames in that role.

"The team culture is really strong this year, and the captains and (Disciple Makers) have done a great job," Campbell said, noting Liu is also a spiritual leader as the team's designated prayer warrior. "They've been leading Bible studies (often at Campbell's house) … and helping the team focus on glorifying God in everything we're doing, here in the gym and in the classroom and outside of it."

He said the team has shown tremendous discipline and motivation to participate in daily practices on the LaHaye Rock Wall from 6-8 a.m.

"We have been instilling in them that when you show up to do something, you need to show up ready to serve the Lord, even if it's 6 in the morning," Campbell said. "The work that they're doing here is also Kingdom work. They're building up those around them, setting an example to their teammates, whether it's bad or good. Showing up with a good attitude and working hard is important. That bleeds into how we compete, the attitude we have when we fail, when we may not be having our best day on the wall, those are opportunities where we can shine light into some of the darkness in the climbing community, which is historically not a Jesus-loving environment. We want to make sure we're providing the opportunity to plant seeds for the Gospel to grow in peoples' hearts — even if we're not specifically sharing the Gospel through preaching or evangelizing — by just living it out in our lives."

Noah Kranz Tyler Campbell — Noah Kranz (left) is in his fourth year serving as assistant coach to Tyler Campbell.

Campbell has been with the program since founding Head Coach Eliot Gaunt selected him as his assistant coach in the inaugural season in Fall 2016. Since taking the reins as head coach, he has been supported by fourth-year Assistant Coach Noah Kranz, a former team member. In late October, Kranz took a group of 10 team members to Moore's Wall, an outdoor climbing spot in Walnut Cove, N.C., to strengthen bonds between the climbers.

The Flames and Lady Flames will make their fall semester debut at a Mid-Atlantic Division USA Climbing Collegiate National Qualifier bouldering event on Saturday at Reach Climbing & Fitness in Bridgeport, Pa., near Philadelphia.

"That is probably one of the bigger gyms on the East Coast," Campbell said, noting in his first season as head coach in 2021 it hosted USA Climbing's Collegiate Nationals. "The gym itself is less than 10 years old, but the way they utilize their space and the quality of their setters is just top-tier. The bouldering wall that they have has some of the most aggressive angles that I've seen. It will be a really good test for some of them on how they're doing with certain styles of climbing."

In addition to host University of Pennsylvania, Campbell expects Rutgers, JMU, Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, and Mary Washington University to be on hand, along with a few schools from other regions. (The Mid-Atlantic Conference includes collegiate programs from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.)

Due to the scheduling conflict, Liberty's climbers won't be available to enter the Campus Recreation Fall Bouldering Competition, set for Friday from 2-8 p.m. at the LaHaye Rock Wall, as they normally would.

The Flames and Lady Flames typically travel to competitions with six men and six women climbers. However, it may not be able to bring that many to Saturday's first event. Besides Dausch, sophomore Cohen Chappell is sidelined by a torn labrum in his shoulder after falling off the wall and having surgery in late October.

"We have a lot of injuries this year," Campbell said, noting sickness has also affected the team. "We have less than 12 people that are healthy, so we'll take whoever is available. I kind of just trust in the Lord that He's going to work that out and heal people up by the time they need to be healthy."

In the fall and winter months, collegiate competitions are traditionally bouldering-only.

"Most of our training is done for the bouldering discipline because we are best equipped to train for it (at the LaHaye Recreation & Fitness Rock Wall)," Campbell said.

Paloma Laumann Jasmine Liu — Paloma Laumann (front), who medaled in intermediate bouldering at nationals as a freshman last year, practices alongside Liu.

In the spring, which is considered lead rope season following the trends of the outdoor climbing community, the Flames and Lady Flames will start integrating more and more rope climbing into practices.

At qualifiers such as this weekend, the top five finishers in each gender and discipline in the intermediate division advance to nationals. In the advanced category, the top eight earn bids.

On Jan. 31, Liberty will travel to a bouldering-only competition at the Sportrock Performance Institute in Alexandria, Va., which also features a speed wall, before going to Rise Up Climbing Gym in Downtown Lynchburg for a rope-only competition on Feb. 15.

"Those are our two main competitions for the spring and then we will also have at least one (more) collegiate national qualifier," said Campbell, who is working out a practice agreement for the team to travel once or twice a month to Rock Revolution Climbing in Charlottesville, Va., to practice a variety of different climbs.

Since the closest gym with a speed wall is located more than two hours away in Raleigh/Durham, N.C., Campbell has purchased some holds to add to the LaHaye Rock Wall to start training for speed climbing, which requires a 15-meter setup with an auto-belay system. He hopes to have at least one climber registered for that discipline at the USA Climbing Collegiate Nationals.

"Speed climbers are very explosive with a lot of muscle memory because it involves climbing the exact same (route) over and over again," Campbell said. "Ultimately, to compete on all levels, you need to be competing in all disciplines. Points in the speed climbing discipline last year would have helped us finish higher overall."

Campbell anticipates Collegiate Nationals will be held at the same facility as last year in Salt Lake City, where the Olympic Training Center will be built in time for Team USA to train for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Climbing will be an official sport for the third consecutive Olympics.

"USA Climbing cannot handle the amount of people that are joining the sport," Campbell said. "The major increase in participation is at the youth level, so probably after the 2028 Olympics is when you'll start seeing that growth trickle into colleges. It's only going to make collegiate climbing that much more competitive across the board."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer