Rock climbers ascend to program-best sixth place in overall team standings at Collegiate Nationals in Utah

Friday, May 2

Salt Lake City, UT

TBD

Liberty University Club Sports

National Championship

Climbing team at USA Collegiate Nationals

Liberty fourth-year Head Coach Tyler Campbell (back right) sent his largest group of qualifiers to the May 2-5 USA Climbing Collegiate National Championships in Salt Lake City.

Rock climbers ascend to program-best sixth place in overall team standings at Collegiate Nationals in Utah

5/13/2025 2:20:00 PM | Rock Climbing

Liberty sent a record number of climbers and posted its best overall finish in the program’s nine years of existence, finishing third in bouldering and sixth in lead/top rope at the USA Climbing Training Center in Salt Lake City.

Liberty climbers in women's intermediate bouldering — Liberty freshman Paloma Laumann (left) and junior Sierra Landel placed third and 15th, respectively, in women's intermediate bouldering.

Liberty University's climbing team brought twice as many competitors as in years past and placed sixth overall out of more than 100 programs represented at the May 2-5 USA Climbing Collegiate National Championships at the USA Climbing Training Center in Salt Lake City.

"It's the best showing and best placement we've had at nationals to date as a team," said Flames and Lady Flames fourth-year Head Coach Tyler Campbell, who previously served for five seasons as the team's assistant coach. "Five of my eight athletes qualified for finals rounds, including four in both disciplines, bouldering, and lead/top rope."

The Flames and Lady Flames placed behind only University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City, the University of Colorado-Boulder, the University of Texas at Austin, Rose-Hulman (Ind.) Institute of Technology, and the University of Michigan.

"I'm super proud of the team," Campbell said. "The performance that I got from the athletes this year set a new level of expectations for what we can be achieving and what we should be achieving each year at the national competition."

Seven of Liberty's eight qualifiers competed in the Intermediate division with graduate Brian Taylor, a third-time national qualifier, the Flames' only representative in the Advanced division, who did not reach finals in either discipline.

"This is definitely the biggest representation we've ever had at nationals, which ultimately is how we were able to secure a higher placement as far as team scores go because everybody also did relatively or really well, depending on the discipline they were in," Campbell said. "It did go better than expected. I was very impressed with my athletes and I'm super proud of what they accomplished, and I'm really excited to have them get in a couple of months and we keep working toward a better future with the program."

Last year, in Chandler, Ariz., Liberty finished 19th overall out of 40 universities represented. At Salt Lake City, the Flames and Lady Flames placed third overall in bouldering and sixth combined in lead/top rope climbing.

Freshman Paloma Laumann had the best individual performance, placing third overall for women's individual bouldering, earning a bronze medal, the second medal in program history after Tori Perkins' silver medal finish in 2018.

Sophomore captain Katelyn Kerns also placed 10th in women's intermediate bouldering, followed by junior Sierra Landel in 15th while junior Nathan Bruckner placed ninth in men's intermediate bouldering.

Addison Messer lead-top rope route — Junior Addison Messer (top right) placed fourth in men's intermediate lead/top rope.

Junior Addison Messer placed fourth in men's intermediate lead/top rope, narrowly missing a podium finish.

"He actually got the same score in the finals round as the three people ahead of him, but due to tie-breaker material, ended up in fourth place," Campbell said.

Landel placed 18th and Kerns 20th out of 20 finalists in the women's lead/top rope division and Bruckner placed 18th in the men's lead/top rope finals.

"It was a lot of fun and all of the athletes had really positive attitudes and were very confident in their abilities during the competitions," Campbell said. "Sometimes, a lot of athletes have nerves and they kind of fight through the pressure, but this year, that didn't seem to be as much of an issue. People knew what they were capable of, and they just went out and really did their best in each round of qualification and finals."

Complete results are available online.

Liberty didn't have any competitors in the speed climbing division, which could have boosted the team to a top-five overall finish.

"We are hoping to change that in the future," Campbell said. "In the coming seasons, I do hope to implement a portion of people on the team that are training for speed climbing. How we're going to accomplish that is still in the works. The closest facility with an actual speed wall, which is 15 meters high, is up in Alexandria, Va."

Campbell said opportunities for witnessing didn't present themselves the way he had anticipated, but the Flames and Lady Flames did reflect the light of Christ throughout the competition.

"We always want to have a spiritual focus as opportunities arise (because) the climbing culture is definitely from what the standard of Christianity is," Campbell said. "Some of the judges and people working the event went out of their way to come up and tell me and my athletes they were so thankful for how kind and loving in our interactions the Liberty athletes were compared to the other schools. The students definitely made an impact in the way that they conducted themselves and the way they interacted with people while we were there."

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer