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2009 Senior National Judo Championships
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Pedro’s Judo Center wins 9 National Medals including 6 Gold
San Diego, California Ten Pedro’s Judo Center athletes travelled to San Diego for the US Senior National Championships over the weekend bringing home an unprecedented 9 medals including 6 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze and 1 5th place finish. Team Force earned more than triple the amount of National titles than any other program in the United States.
Additionally, Team Force earned an unheard of 7 World Team spots which is more than all the other National Training Center’s combined. These 7 World team berths for Team Force set a US Judo record for the most athletes from one program representing the United States at a World Championships. The World Championships will be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands in August.
Leading the way for the PJC athletes was 2008 Olympian and Team Force Captain Travis Stevens (22). Stevens, 81kgs, made his way through the toughest draw of the event by defeating fellow 2008 Olympians Ryan Reser and Taraje Williams-Murray. Despite the fact that Stevens was competing with two popped ribs suffered a few weeks ago while winning the Pan American Championships in Argentina, he still managed to win all but one of his bouts by ippon (full point). With Stevens not competing at 100%, his goal for the day was to just get the job done and he was thus rewarded with his second trip to the World Championships.
Next up for the Wakefield crew was US #1 Aaron Kunihiro. 19 year old Kunihiro turned in a career best performance going 4-0 to win his first National title and Senior World Team berth. Kunihiro came into the Nationals with a 0-3 record in 2009 against defending National Champ Nick Kossor (NY). A very well prepared Kunihiro stuck to his game plan in the gold medal match, attacking vigorously. Kunihiro’s attacks went unanswered and the defending champ received 4 stalling penalties in 3 minutes which ended the match and earned Kunihiro the gold.
2008 Junior World Champion Kayla Harrison proved untouchable in the United States as she earned not one but two World Team slots in the 78kg and OPEN divisions. Kayla was unthreatened in her normal 78kg division easily going 3-0 to win gold. She continued her winning ways the following day and she again went 3-0 in the OPEN division to win her second National title over the weekend.
2008 Olympic 9th place finisher Dan McCormick also earned two World Team slots in the +100kg and OPEN divisions. McCormick went 3-0 in the +100kg division to earn his first trip to the Worlds and first National title. McCormick then opted to compete in the OPEN division where he won a silver medal. Dan easily made his way to the gold medal match which included a semi-final victory over US #1 Kyle Vashkulat. Dan fell short of winning his second National title as he was thrown for ippon in the final by a tough Japanese opponent. Dan was then in a best 2 out of 3 fight off with Vashkulat for the World team spot. Dan struggled initially losing the first match after being arm barred but came back strong to defeat Kyle twice in a row by ippon.
Newcomer Janine Nakao (63kg) came into the Nationals with the #2 seed, despite being the defending Champion. Janine appeared nervous as she struggled throughout the early rounds but still managed to make the final. In the gold medal match Janine defeated US #1 Christal Ransom (CO). Janine threw Ransom late in the match for a yuko and then pinned her for ippon. This put Janine in a 2 out of 3 fight off for a World Team berth. Janine continued to show her nervousness as she dropped the first fight off match by ippon. PJC coach Jim Pedro Sr. then had an emergency regrouping session with Janine as he calmed the young Nakao’s nerves. Janine’s teammates and coaches had their hearts in their throats and made themselves hoarse cheering encouragement from the stands. A relaxed Nakao then won two must win matches including a beautiful side body drop for full point to clinch the 7th and final World Team berth for Pedro’s Judo Center. Janine’s teammates were elated with her victory and couldn’t contain themselves as they rushed onto the mat swarming Janine with a group hug.
20 year old Nick Delpopolo has only lost 4 times since becoming a Team Force member last November. Delpopolo had a great start to 2009 and although he was seeded #2 in 73kgs he expected himself to win his first National title and World team berth. Delpopolo had to settle for silver as he continues to struggle with keeping his cool mentally. Recently Delpopolo made a huge mistake at the NY Open where he was winning the final and took an unnecessary stalling penalty with 7 seconds remaining which cost him the gold. Nick found himself in the same situation at the Nationals as he was fighting with US #1 Michael Eldred. Eldred and Delpopolo fought an action packed match where there was no score until Delpopolo took the lead with 12 seconds remaining in the fight. Nick quickly received a false attack penalty with 4 seconds remaining and not wanting to repeat his NY Open error he made a huge mistake by coming in for a weak attack with 2 seconds left in the match where he was promptly countered for wazari costing him yet another gold medal. This costly error is a tough pill to swallow and is something that only Nick can fix if he wants to redeem himself in 2009.
Hana Carmichael rounded out the medal count by winning a bronze medal in the 57kg division. The International Judo Federation has recently created a gi-measuring device and passed a rule stating players who do not comply with the device will be immediately disqualified if their Judo gi does not meet the standard. Hana’s coaches tested all of their athletes with the device the morning of the tournament but did not think to check the gi pants as many of their athletes were wearing sweat pants during their warm up. This proved to be a costly error as Carmichael was called onto the mat by the referees for her first match and they called her gi pants into question. Her pants were measured and deemed to be too short and she was quickly disqualified from her match. This devastated Carmichael as she knew it meant her shot at winning the gold and making the World team were now gone. Hana didn’t leave San Diego empty handed as she was allowed to fight through the losers pool for a shot at the bronze. With a heavy heart Carmichael won the bronze medal by defeating US #1 Angelica Delgado by two penalties.
15 year old Jessica Irons fell just short of landing on the podium but turned in her best performance to date going 2-2 to finish in 5th place. Irons made her way to the quarter final where she lost to 2007 World team member Jeanette Rodriguez (FL). Jessica dropped down to the losers pool where she won her match sending her to the bronze medal match with former US #1 Tracy Nagai (27). Irons had defeated Nagai in their previous match up last year but couldn’t repeat her performance as she was thrown for ippon at the half way mark leaving her with 5th place.
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