Volume 82, Issue 12 Web Edition
clarion.brevard.edu
SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935
Look for a movie
review on page 7!
November 30, 2016
Members of the Climbing Team pose in front of the “Welcome to Tennessee” sign as they head to one of their competitions.
BC presents new
Climbing Team
By Florian Peyssonneaux
By
staff Writer
For the first time in Brevard College history a
climbing team will compete as a collegiate sport
after recent approval from the Board of Trustees.
The team was already competing in the Appa
lachian Division, but now raise to a higher level
of acclaim by becoming the newest officially
recognized NCAA team on campus.
The climbing team will compete in the NCAA
like many of the athletic sides at BC, and will
following the normal athletics calendar. For the
time being, nearly a dozen students are part of
the team, and are looking forward to competitive
competition.
The Tornados climbing team will compete
against other schools under three different
categories such as sport, speed-climbing, and
bouldering. In sport climbing the anchors are
permanently on the rock, while bouldering
is a more simple form of climbing without a
rope, that requires short and strong moves. In
the speed category, the climber has to scale a “This magnificent group of students are true
10-meter wall.
Brevard College Vice President for Strategic
Planning and Athletics Juan Mascaro com
mented on the new addition to the athletics
department, saying “Rock climbing will be an
exciting addition to our athletic program here
at Brevard.”
The climbing team follows the route that Bre
vard’s cycling team took few years ago when the
team made the switch from a successful club to
an officially recognized team. Similar to cycling,
BC climbing team has the geographical advan
tage over other schools. Indeed, Brevard has an
ideal location for rock climbing with spots like
Looking Glass Rock located in Pisgah National
Forest, or Brevard Rock Gym if the climbers
want to practice inside.
Travis Gray who is an alumni of Brevard Col
lege, and sponsor of the team, as of Monday,
Nov. 21 assumes the role of head coach of the
climbing team.
champions on this campus, and the potential
for each of them is endless. There is truly no
height that each of them cannot reach on and
off the wall. I am truly honored to help mentor
them to many more accomplishments as their
coach” said Gray.
BC student Audrey Ashbumer who is also
the president of the climbing club contributed
to make this transition from club to competi
tive team.
“I have been working towards turning the
climbing club into a competitive sports team for
the past two years of my college career, and it
has been the most rewarding experience of my
life,” she said.
Ashburner also added, “I am so proud of
what the club has accomplished, and overjoyed
with all of the support I received from Brevard
College and the Brevard community in order to
make this possible.”