Ruana, Buhrfeind, Shiraishi, Fulkerson Among Winners at Youth Nationals 2017

The 2017 U.S.A. Climbing Sport and Speed Youth National Championships took place last weekend at Stone Summit Climbing and Fitness Center in Kennesaw, Georgia. The strongest young climbers in the country took part and tried their hardest to see how they rank on a the national scene and to potentially earn themselves a place on Team U.S.A. Many competitors tried their hand in both the sport and speed events.

“The comp was fantastic” Drew Ruana, the Junior Male category winner, tells Rock and Ice. “Every year the routesetters seem to outdo the previous
year in quality and aesthetics of the routes. This year was hard though—the [Junior] category is so strong that there’s not really room for mistakes.

“I feel honored to have won, after a disappointing and heartbreaking slip last year, it feels good to be on top this year. I trained all year for this and all the hard work payed off. That being said, it was an amazing experience and I’m stoked to see how the U.S. team does in Innsbruck [during the IFSC Youth World Championships].”

Wow. What an incredible weekend. After a difficult final round, I’m super stoked to have placed first for sport climbing. Another highlight was on Saturday, when I got a PR of 7.45 seconds, landing me in 6th place for speed. After a disappointing and heartbreaking slip last year, I worked really hard and trained to the breaking point to achieve these results. I’m proud and excited to be the national champion for this year. Huge thanks to the Routesetters this weekend for making some of the most interesting and fun comp routes I’ve climbed on. Also thanks to the volunteers and everyone who helped make this event a success. Time to train for Innsbruck! @tysonschoene @alexmfritz @verticalworldclimbing @verticalworldclimbingteam @trangoclimbing @tenayaclimbing

A post shared by Drew Ruana (@drewruana) on
Jul 17, 2017 at 7:41am PDT

RESULTS – Top five in each age category.

Asterisk denotes those selected for Team U.S.A.

LEAD

Female Junior (born in 1998-1999)

1. Claire Buhrfeind* (Team Texas)

2. Tori Perkins* (Stone Summit)

3. Melina Costanza* (Vertical World)

4. Grace McKeehan* (Lone Star Climbing)

5. Audrey Miller (Stone Summit)

Male Junior (born in 1998-1999)

1. Drew Ruana* (Vertical World)

2. Kai Lightner* (Triangle Rock Club)

3. Benjamin Hanna* (Santa Fe Climbing Center)

4. Bobby Taft-Pittman* (Team Aiguille)

5. Brett Walker* (Multnomah Athletic Club)

Female Youth A (born in 2000-2001)

1. Ashima Shiraishi*

2. Jenny Jiang* (Sierra Climbing Team)

3. Isabel Barrientos*

4. Natalia Grossman* (Team ABC)

5. Arabella Jariel*

Male Youth A (born in 2000-2001)

1. Ross Fulkerson* (Planet Granite)

2. Zach Galla* (Stone Summit)

3. Stefan Fellner* (Team Flash)

4. Clay Gordon* (AZR Ascenders)

5. Joe Goodacre (Team ABC)

Female Youth B (born in 2002-2003)

1. Sami Singleton* (Team Momentum)

2. Dinah Marcuson*

3. Allie Nishi* (Planet Rock)

4. Jessica Fecanin* (Team Texas)

5. Nekaia Sanders (The Circuit Breakers)

Male Youth B (born in 2002-2003)

1. Colin Duffy* (Team ABC)

2. Connor Herson*

3. Zander Waller* (Stone Summit)

4. Charlie Osborne* (Triangle Rock Club)

5. Anthony Lesik (Planet Granite)

Female Youth C (born in 2004-2005)

1. Norah Chi* (Team Rock)

2. Olivia Ma* (Team Rock)

3. Shyanne Williams* (Team Momentum)

4. Genevieve (Matti) Dennis* (Team Texas)

5. Ella Tillery (Stone Summit)

Male Youth C (born in 2004-2005)

1. Lucas Oddi* (Team Rock)

2. Oscar Baudrand (Team Momentum)

3. Isaac Leff* (Team Rock)

4. Joshua Gerhardt* (Progression Climbing)

5. Leo Costanza*

Female Youth D (born in 2006 or later)

1. Maggie Carter* (Team Escalade)

2. Alina Albert* (Team Mesa Rim)

3. Julia de la Paz* (Upper Limits)

4. Lahna Song* (Earth Treks)

5. Sienna Perez (Team Rock)

Male Youth D (born in 2006 or later)

1. Lucas Tillery* (Stone Summit)

2. Calvin Cha* (Planet Granite)

3. Hugo Hoyer* (High Point Climbing Team)

4. Augustine Chi* (Team Rock)

5. Michael Cullen (Hangar 18)

SPEED (best time in seconds)

Female Junior (born in 1998-1999)

1. Amanda Wooten* (Stone Summit) 8.67

2. Piper Kelly* (Hoosier Heights) 9.13

3. Grace Mckeehan* (Team Texas) 9.36

4. Claire Buhrfeind* (Team Texas) 9.51

5. Bimini Horstmann (Team CRG-Watertown)

Male Junior (born in 1998-1999)

1. Max Hammer* (Planet Rock) 6.37

2. Michael Finn-Henry* (Team CRG-Watertown) 6.88

3. Luke Muehring* (Stone Summit) 7.00

4. Michael Retoff* (Team Texas) 7.14

5. Austin Hansel* (Team Momentum) 7.42

Female Youth A (born in 2000-2001)

1. Arabella Jariel* 9.58

2. Ariana Mathews* (Team CRG-Watertown) 10.22

3. Amanda Brownstein* (Stone Summit) 10.62

4. Lauren Bair* (Team Texas) 10.66

5. Alexandra Kiefus (AZR Ascenders) 11.12

Male Youth A (born in 2000-2001)

1. Noah Bratschi 7.38

2. Luke Rodley* (Team Mesa Rim) 7.80

3. Griffin Barros-King* (Planet Rock) 7.83

4. Joe Goodacre* (Team ABC) 8.09

5. Zach Galla (Stone Summit) 8.17

Female Youth B (born in 2002-2003)

1. Mia Bawendi* (Team CRG-Watertown) 10.55

2. Kiara Pellicane-Hart* (Team Texas) 10.56

3. Sienna Kopf* 10.81

4. Emma Wetsel* (Multnomah Athletic Club) 11.44

5. Quinn Mason (Vertical World) 11.53

Male Youth B (born in 2002-2003)

1. Jordan Fishman* (Team ABC) 7.58

2. Joshua Muehring* (Stone Summit) 8.19

3. Darren Skolnik* (Team Rock) 8.25

4. Chad Test* (Team Texas) 8.37

5. Vincent Lee (First Ascent) 8.73

Female Youth C (born in 2004-2005)

1. Nicole (Coco) Mar* (Vertical World) 5.58

2. Oceana Carter* (Team Texas) 5.93

3. Genevieve (Matti) Dennis* (Team Texas) 6.07

4. Madison Bair* (Team Texas) 6.26

5. Kylie Cullen (Hangar 18) 6.40

Male Youth C (born in 2004-2005)

1. Oliver Kuang* (Team Mojo) 5.36

2. Quinn O’Francia* (Vertical World) 5.42

3. Oscar Baudrand (Team Momentum) 5.98

4. Ardch Intrachupongse (Stone Gardens Climbing Team) 6.03

5. Leo Costanza * 6.03

Female Youth D (born in 2006 or later)

1. Maggie Carter* (Team Escalade) 7.89

2. Julia de la Paz* (Upper Limits) 8.38

3. Alina Albert* (Team Mesa Rim) 9.14

4. Carly Alba* (Team Momentum) 9.25

5. Lilly Czerwinski (Focus Climbing Team) 9.42

Male Youth D (born in 2006 or later)

1. Dillon Countryman* (Team Texas) 6.13

2. Emmanuel Derima* (Team Rock) 6.24

3. Vail Everett* (Vertical World) 6.42

4. Lucas Tillery* (Stone Summit) 6.89

5. Zachary Hammer (Planet Rock) 7.22

For complete results, including team rankings, visit usaclimbing.org.