Estes Park high school senior Paige Claassen finished 2nd in a tiebreaker at the National Climbing Championships

Paige Claassen takes 2nd in a tie-breaker at the USA National Championships

From news reports

Estes Park high school student Paige Claassen, finished a close 2nd in the U.S. National Championships in adult lead climbing after a tie-breaker final with Boulder, Colorado local Emily Harrington.  The finals of the US Nationals were held on January 27th, 2008 near Salt Lake City as part of the winter Outdoor Retailer Exposition.

Both Claassen and Harrington "flashed" the finals route and as the only competitors to do so, and with both tied for first from the preliminary rounds, an extra tie-breaker climb was held with Harrington finishing only a few moves higher than Claassen to clinch the 1st place title.  The first three men and women finishers become the 2008 members of the U.S. National Climbing team which sponsors their travel to world competitions.  The women's third place finisher was Tiffany Hensley.

Chris Sharma, Jon Cardwell, and Dave Graham were the top three male competitors with Sharma taking the 1st place crown again as he has won numerous national titles over the years.

Harrington, age 22, is a North Face sponsored athlete who is currently ranked 20th in the world IFSC (international Federations of Sport Climbing).  She works as a professional climber who has also made 5.14 ascents on rock. 

Claassen is a Marmot sponsored athlete who competed in her first world cup climbing event in Aviles, Spain on September, 2007 where the 17 yr. old Estes Park High School senior surprised herself and many others by finishing 14th in the bouldering competition and 34th in the lead climbing to give her an overall world ranking of 39th in the women's adult category.

Paige Claassen in Spain at the World Cup Climbing Competition in Aviles

Paige is a member of the Estes Park X Team which has been one of the top five youth climbing teams in the country for the past 5 years under the excellent coaching of Michelle Hurni and Stephan Greenway.

Big congratulations to Paige and all of the members and coaches of the 2008 Estes Park Climbing Team X who are starting yet another exciting season of training and competitions.