{"id":14404,"date":"2010-10-19T16:25:32","date_gmt":"2010-10-19T23:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=14404"},"modified":"2013-03-12T14:50:59","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T21:50:59","slug":"nau-freshman-climbs-to-world-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/nau-freshman-climbs-to-world-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU freshman climbs to world competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Suzu<\/a>
World-class sport climber and NAU freshman Suzu Jeffery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NAU freshman\u00a0Suzu Jeffery<\/strong>\u00a0had planned to celebrate her 18th birthday in Flagstaff, but instead found herself enjoying Scottish pudding cake 5,000 miles away.<\/p>\n

Yet her birthday was only one reason this spunky Californian celebrated. She also had clinched a spot in the semifinals on her route to becoming one of the world\u2019s best indoor climbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a great birthday present to be out climbing and competing for your country,\u201d Jeffery said about competing at the International Federation of Sport Climbing\u2019s World Youth Championship Sept. 9-12 in Edinburgh, Scotland.<\/p>\n

The strong, agile Jeffery strategically raced her way up the crimps, jugs and slopers to 14th place in junior female speed climbers. She is modest about her rank and scaling rock walls up to 70 feet above the ground and using holds that can be no more than a 1\/8 inch wide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s satisfactory to complete a climb,\u201d she said with a big smile. \u201cYou have a real feel of accomplishment when you\u2019re at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Suzu<\/a>
Suzu Jeffery climbing her way to the top at the World Youth Championship in Scotland.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After ascending to the peak of climbing, Jeffery leaves behind the competitive sport to focus on higher education. Back in Flagstaff, she is settling into the residence halls, an exercise science major and the college lifestyle.<\/p>\n

However, she still has a climbing itch and NAU\u2019s reputable climbing community is an attractive addition to its academic opportunities, small campus and mountain-town charm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m entering a new type of climbing, climbing outdoors, and its going to be a lot more fun,\u201d she said. \u201cClimbing here is very different. The community is so wide and big. Anyone you talk to goes climbing or at least knows what it is. And I\u2019ve already been able to go climbing in between classes. It\u2019s great to have access to close climbing and go whenever.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her preparations for Scotland she met with professors and\u00a0Art Farmer,\u00a0<\/strong>associate dean of Student Life. She was surprised by their support and enthusiasm about her trip. \u201cI found out that Art climbs, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeffery\u2019s ascent to the top was a long adventure. Inspired by her mother, Jordan Jeffery, to take her first climb at 5, she learned technical skills as well as confidence and trust in her ability throughout a competitive climbing career begun at age 11.<\/p>\n

With expertise in both speed and difficulty sport climbing, Jeffery took ninth in difficulty at the United States national competition and fifth in speed, which propelled her on to the world competition. (The top five climbers from each county are invited to world.)<\/p>\n

Jeffery thanks her family, friends and hometown community of Manhattan Beach, Calif., for their support in her every climbing endeavor and for raising money to give her the best birthday present \u2013 a climbing trip to Scotland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAU freshman\u00a0Suzu Jeffery\u00a0had planned to celebrate her 18th birthday in Flagstaff, but instead found herself enjoying Scottish pudding cake 5,000 miles away. Yet her birthday was only one reason this spunky Californian celebrated. She also had clinched a spot in the semifinals on her route to becoming one of the world\u2019s best indoor climbers. \u201cWhat…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}