Mira Costa Grad Places in World Youth Championships

Having recently returned from competing in the World Youth Climbing Championships in Scotland, 18-year-old Suzu Jeffery is familiar with performance anxiety.  "I wasn't too nervous until it was my time to go. I was one of the first people to go.  They announce your name and you get a rush.  I got huge butterflies.  When the buzzer goes off you just go so you don't have too much time to think."

Jeffery ranked 14th in the world for junior female speed climbing, competing against other 17-19 year olds.  "It was amazing," she said of her first time out of North America.  "I wish we had more time to explore Scotland, but I was there for a short amount of time so we spent most of the time competing.  We walked around Edinburgh a little bit."  Jeffery's only other trip out of the U.S. was in 2008, when she competed in the North American Continental Championships in Montreal.  There, she finished sixth. 

The day of the semifinals in Scotland coincided with Jeffery's 18th birthday.  "It was a really neat way to spend my birthday night.  I had to compete on my birthday, so it was nice because I made it to semifinals, then we went out to a traditional Scottish cutlery."  Jeffery and four friends from the U.S. climbing team even managed to find a birthday cake.  "We sat there and had a nice meal with a pound cake in the middle of some pudding.  That was my birthday cake.  It was a good way to celebrate my 18^th birthday." 

Last month Jeffery began her studies at Northern Arizona University, a spot that offers some of the most spectacular outdoor climbs in the country.  "I was ready to leave the day the competition ended because I was stressing out about how much (school) work I had to make up, but it's not that bad.  I have a couple of essays to do, but I feel a little more settled now that I'm here," Jeffery said after returning this past week. 

"A lot of my friends were curious about it, and they were really supportive and were bragging about me," she confided.  She has returned to classes as an exercise science major and looks forward to climbing again very soon.  "I don't see any time off in my future," she laughed. 

It looks like Jeffery will keep climbing as high as she can.