Winchester Middle Schoolers Compete at Climbing Nationals

Josh Ku and Eva Pontrelli, both eighth graders at McCall MiddleSchool, competed at the SCS (Sport Climbing Series) 2011 YouthNational Championship earloer this month in Atlanta.

Ku placed 19th out of the 31 boys in the 12-13-year-old sportdivision, while Pontrelli was 12th in the speed division and 26th inthe sport division. 

Both climbers train with Team Waimea at the Boston Rock Gym in Woburn.

Pontrelli was going to nationals for the second time, but it was thefirst trip for Ku, who became interested in rock climbing after tryingit at a friend's birthday party. Ku took extra classes to prepare,training twice a week for almost five hours, and went to a rockclimbing camp the week before the competition.

"I was nervous about competing at nationals," Ku wrote in an e-mail."Being at the nationals was exciting for me. Once I started climbing Iwas able to focus on the climbing and the nervousness went away. Myparents and brothers, Nick and Ben, were there to support me so thathelped as well."

Although only 18 competitors advanced to the semifinals, meaning Ku missed advancing by one spot, his mother Pam Woo said the experience was still a positive.

"He was bummed about it but for me, I thought it was a greatexperience because he was able to see the USA Climbing Team," Woosaid. "It's not only about competing but also it's about being a partof a team."

Ku has been training for just two years with coach Aleksey Shuruyev.
In the short term he wants to improve his lead climbing, keeppracticing and hopefully make it nationals again next year. But Ku andPontrelli are already back at it, as they head to a climbingsummer camp in Plymouth, N.H.

"I'd like to keep climbing as a part of my life and maybe teach mylittle brother Ben how to climb," Ku said. "One day I'd like to takeclimbing trips with my friends and my brothers to the mountains.