Gonzaga student claims national collegiate indoor sport climbing championship
CLIMBING -- A Gonzaga University student won the women's sport climbing division of the USA Climbing Collegiate National Championships at Mesa Rim Climbing & Fitness last week in San Diego.
Hannah Tolson, a junior in math from Scottsdale, Arizona, took the gold after two days of competition by out-pointing Kerry Scott of North Carolina.
The irony of a Zag beating a Tarheel in a national championship wasn't lost on the Gonzaga University News Service, which announced Tolson's victory in a release that began, "Less than a month after the Gonzaga (men's) basketball team’s historic season ended within a hairsbreadth of capturing the national championship in a loss to North Carolina...."
“I have actually been competing against (Scott) for many years, so I know what a talented climber she is,” Tolson told the GU News Service. “Going into nationals, I knew that she would be pretty stiff competition, so I couldn’t help but hope for a Gonzaga/Tarheels rematch to go in our favor this time.”
Tolson has competed in climbing for seven years and is on a on a scholastic track toward medical school. She recently formed a competitive club at Gonzaga to pursue and share her passion and qualify for national competition, GU says, adding, "As rock climbing is not an NCAA sport, the competition was hosted by USA Climbing, the national governing body for the sport of competition climbing."
The championships, which included men's and women's divisions in bouldering, sport and speed climbing, involved about 470 collegiate athletes. Tolson was the only athlete representing Gonzaga, where climbing is a club sport.
“Comically, the day before I left for this competition, I went and bought my ‘jersey’ at the Zag Shop,” she said in the GU post, noting that she paid her own expenses to nationals. “I was proud to be able to represent Gonzaga on a national stage. Go Zags!”
She said some of the other colleges were represented by two or three dozen athletes as the sport of climbing aims for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
“Of course, that is on my radar,” she said in the GU post. “In the short term, though, I am perfectly content to share, grow, and celebrate a sport that I love so dearly. Plus, I usually have my hands full with schoolwork.”
