| USA Athletes strike
gold in Mexico Nationals
Seven United States athletes won
eight medals last weekend in the Torneo Nacional
de Judo - the National Judo Championships of Mexico,
held in Monterrey, Mexico.
Working with Humberto Lopez, the
Junior Committee secured an invitation for United
States Athletes (Jr and Sr) to compete in the
2005 Torneo Nacional de Judo in Monterrey Mexico.
(Announced Feb 9, 2005 in What's NEW section of
USJI web site)
Daniel McCormick won the under
20 year old Men's heavyweight division on Saturday
and then put the finishing touches on a great
weekend by winning the Senior Men's Gold on Sunday.
Daniel, at 6 ' 3" and 305 lbs is a good sized
heavyweight, but in the Senior Men's final he
found himself looking up to fight a 6'8"
inch, 380 lb. opponent. Undaunted, he carried
the day and came home with two Gold medals for
the USA. Daniel is the # 2-ranked heavyweight
amoung all athletes in the USA and is also the
USA Judo #1 Junior (under 20 years old) heavyweight
and will be competing next weekend at the 2005
Junior Pan American Championships in Valencia,
Venezuela.
Haley Shadden and her sister Kadee
Shadden doubled up with Gold medals - Haley won
the under 15 yr 48kg division and her sister Kadee
won in the 64kg+ division.
Ruben Martin took a Gold in his
42kg division while his sister Samantha recovered
from an early loss to charge back to a Bronze
medal.
Brandon Chandler finished up his
day with a Silver medal in the under 17yr 60kg
division.
Landry Ambouroue finished off
the Junior end of the competition with a Gold
medal performance in the under 20 yr 90kg division.
Thanks to Coach Ruben Martin for
this report and for his hard work with our fighters
in Mexico.
Jim Hrbek
Chairman - Junior Development
USJI |
