The 2013 SCS National Championships is over and the results are in. Hopefully you all watched the comp on live feed or, if you were in Boulder, in person. The event looked exciting, with 11 women and 9 men in finals (they needed 8 American non-National or Continental Champions in finals, so they took extra until they fulfilled that that need). The routes looked hard, but not short and bouldery like last year’s. Instead, the announcers said that the routes are supposed to be true sport style, with each move progressively a bit harder than the last.

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Men’s Finals

For the men, Daniel Woods qualified in 7th and put on a fantastic performance, looking controlled and powerful throughout. It looked like he might send the route but then he fell on the top headwall. With six men left to go it was probably nerve wracking for him to wait and see how he’d end up. In the end, he dominated the field and walked away with his first SCS National Championship.

Carlo Traversi was one of the top 4 climbers in qualifiers (4 men flashed everything) and Carlo looked very strong on the finals route. He has won SCS Nationals twice (2009 and 2011) and has spent most of the last year traveling and bouldering outside. He looked good moving through the pinch, then fell trying to establish on the headwall. The performance put him just behind Daniel for 2nd place.

Noah Ridge is clearly the up-and-comer to watch, as he did well at both ABS Nationals and SCS Nationals this year. He looked like he had power to spare climbing up the route, got through the pinch, then hit the headwall and flamed out for a proud 3rd place.

Jon Cardwell and Vasya Voritnikov both looked strong through the bottom, then fell suddenly trying to stick what looked like a slopey fat-lip gaston pinch just below the lip of the headwall. Interestingly, Jon and Vasya tied for 4th in the final and had to do a superfinal (to determine who was in 4th, since 4th place makes the National Team and 5th doesn’t), and the superfinal was another lap on the final route. Vasya looked a bit tired but climbed well.

He took a kneebar rest in the middle of the route, then climbed on to the pinch he’d fallen off before. He stuck it, matched it, looked strong, then suddenly a foot slipped and he was off. Jon was next and climbed quickly and confidently through the bottom of the route.

He stuck the pinch where he’d fallen before, matched, and moved onto the headwall.

For a moment it looked like he’d finish the route, but then he fell below Daniel’s highpoint. It was still a fantastic show and impressive that both Vasya and Jon could best their previous efforts on this low-end 5.14 route with a very short rest.

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Women’s Finals

In my opinion, Delaney Miller looked the strongest on the women’s final, climbing solidly through the entire route until she fell two moves from the top in a cruxy section involving a pocket that you had to hit and then rock into and cross off. Delaney hit the pocket well but got lost trying to move out of it and fell. Unlike the other competitors, Delaney didn’t even try to cop a rest on the headwall and instead just kept plugging along until she was suddenly off. A very impressive performance.

Chelsea Rude qualified in 2nd and came out looking strong. Movement is her home gym, and she certainly looked in control through the bottom section of the route. In the headwall she took a rest with both hands on two small holds on the bottom volume of the two on the headwall. The rest looked ok and Chelsea looked fairly relaxed. She went to move up to the next holds on the bottom of the next volume, flubbed it, came back down, and tried to rest again, but she looked more tired. She managed to get up to the next volume holds her next try, but then fell trying to get into the pocket.

French champion Charlotte Durif was here to win the women’s category, and win she did, as the only woman to send the women’s final. She found some kneebars in the top headwall, then after resting a bit executed a perfect dropknee and did a French blow (blowing chalk off her fingers with the relaxed detachment of an old man casually sending your project in Font on his after-work circuit) while moving to the pocket that Delaney had fallen from. From there she matched on the outside of the pocket, threw a heel-hook, crossed to the second to last hold, and easily jumped to the finish. Awesome.

In all fairness, it did sorta kinda look like she might fall here. Maybe. But she didn’t.

So Charlotte won the comp, but she’s not American, so Delaney Miller is our new National Champion! Great job Delaney. As a competitor, it seems like she’s come a long way in the last couple of years and is capable of representing the USA well on the World Circuit. Good luck to her in any international comps she attends this season!

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Final Results

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Speed

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If you want to see more, LT11 should have highlights coming and may have live broadcast replays as well. Their video page is here – LT11