By Michael Aronson

Competitive rock climber Charlie Andrews ’13 took first at the USA Climbing Divisional Championship in San Diego Saturday in the 18-19 year-old junior Division.

Andrews won the sport climbing and speed climbing events in the invitational competition that is part of the Youth Climbing Series. To qualify for the event, Andrews had to perform well on the regional level, and his win in San Diego qualifies him for the national competition.

“Winning Divisionals is a first for me since the field is very competitive, coming from all across the Southwestern United States and even Colorado which is a climbing hot spot,” Andrews said. “I was excited to sweep my category, taking both the Sport and Speed gold medals.”

Andrews will fly to Atlanta June 18 to prepare for the national event at an intensive training camp. The National Championships will be held in July at the same climbing gym that Andrews will be training at in Atlanta. With a quality performance at the event, Andrews will join the National climbing team to compete in the Singapore World Championships in August.

“My goal is still to make National Team which takes a top 4 placement at Nationals,” Andrews said. “It looks like I’m on track, but I have a lot of training left to do.”