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Boys Make Rare Tie in First Top-Rope Meet
On Tuesday, the Maroon climbers tied in and competed in their first top-rope meet of the season, facing a strong Sandy Springs squad at a new venue for the team—Earthtreks in Rockville, Md. Belaying each other, each climber pair worked together to get up the most difficult pair of routes possible in the 90-minute meet.
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The team climbed valiantly, fighting through tired arms and some tough, fun routes. In the end, the varsity boys pulled off the rare tie, 115-115. Varsity girls lost by one point, 77-78.
Individually, team captain Sam Lipschutz '22 tied for first place for the boys and first place overall with 30 points on 5.12a climbs. Eloise Chapman '23 once again won out the girls' side of the meet, tying her teammate and captain Arianna Otoo '21 with 17 points. Chapman scored 5.10a and 5.10d routes while Arianna climbed 5.10b, 5.10c. Sam and Eloise have won both meets so far, so we hope they can keep that streak alive in the new year.
For the remaining girls, Cindy Wang '21 scored 16 for the varsity with dual 5.10b's. Zoe Smith '22 scored 15 (5.10b, 5.10a), and Bridget McAree '22 rounded out the varsity five with 12 (5.9, 5.10a). Vika Vingireviciute '21 had a great day for the JV with a pair of 5.10a routes, scoring what would have been enough to solidify the win had the coaches named her to varsity this meet. Forbes Dudley '21 and Connie Lu '23 scored 12 with 5.10a and 5.9. Becca Losey '23 earned her first varsity start and scored dual 5.8 routes for 6 points. As the sixth varsity score, hers counts for the JV. The remainder of the team - Grace Morris '23, Lucie Morton '22, Abby Nason '23, Patricia Okwueze '23, Olivia Taiwo '22 - also scored at least one 5.8 route in addition to a second climb, with no one putting up a zero for the squad. The girls' JV won with depth at a score of 50 - 36.
The boys had a great day. Aside from Sam's strong performance, Josh Lipschutz '23 fought through what turned out to be food poisoning to come in fourth place overall with 26 points on a pair of 5.11c's. What a fight! Yoyo Wang '22 scored 21 on 5.10d and 5.11a. Charles Zheng '22 scored 5.10c and 5.10d for 19 points, tying his teammate Flynn Donnelly '21 who had his first varsity start. Captain Bobby Zahorsky '22 was the step down score to JV with 18 points on 5.10b, 5.10d. Stuart Knops '23 and Amir Ludena '22 each scored 15 (5.10a, 5.10b). Finn Walker '21 climbed 5.9 and 5.10b for 13 points. James Paek '23 had a very strong 5.10c and fought hard for a great second route, but had to settle for a last minute 5.7 to grab 11 points. Demetri Kearns '22 unfortunately tweaked his forearm pulling hard on a route and had to sit out the meet. Luckily, it isn't a bad injury and he'll be back in 2020 ready to go.
