Member News

June 2, 2006

Rodriguez and Ramos Finish Fifth at Tre-Torri International

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Although Jeanette Rodriguez (Margate, Fla./48kg) and Rafael Ramos (North Lauderdale, Fla./60kg) were the youngest members of Team USA to compete in the first day of the Tre-Torri International Friday, that didn’t stop either athlete from posting the day’s best results. 

Rodriguez and Ramos are two of four athletes competing at Tre-Torri from the North Miami USA Judo National Training Site. 

In preliminary competition, 15-year-old Rodriguez defeated Italian Nationals bronze medalist Nicoletta Vinci and Canadian National Champion Bianca Ockedahl, losing only in the second round to Julie Kriesten (GER), a two-time World Cup medalist.

Rodriguez fought Severine Pesch (GER), this year’s Belgian Ladies Open Champion, in the bronze medal match, getting pinned for ippon to finish fifth

Sixteen-year-old Ramos, known as “Tito,” went 3-1 in prelims, posting wins a first-round win over Trbvoc Matjaz (SLO) before losing a close match to Italian Nationals bronze medalist Marco Grassi. 

In the repechage, Ramos won matches against Nicola Ottolini (ITA) and Swiss National Champion Michael Iten to advance to the bronze medal match against Frazer Will (CAN) who won last week’s Pan American Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the final, Will threw Ramos first with a tai otoshi (body drop) for yuko (quarter-point) and then won the match by ippon (instant win, similar to a knock-out in boxing), throwing the American with a tai guruma (corner body wheel) pick-up.

“For Tito and Jeanette to make the medal rounds and do as well as they did today is great since they’re just 15 and 16 and this is their first trip to an event like this,” said two-time Olympic medalist Jimmy Pedro (Methuen, Mass.), Head Coach for the tournament. “Tomorrow we’ve got 11 more athletes up.  For the younger athletes this will show that they really can make it that far and I really think it’ll light a fire under the seniors.”

Pedro is the head of the USA Judo Elite U-23 program, a pipeline for up-and-coming athletes ranging in age from 14-122.

Both Rodriguez and Ramos are U-23 Team members with eight more members of the squad on deck to compete Saturday.

A total of 11 U.S. athletes wil0 compete in Saturday ’s divisions, including:

Women

52kg:     Franchesca Durand (Coral Springs, Fla./North Miami USA Judo National Training Site)

57kg:     Marti Malloy (San Jose, Calif./San Jose State University/57kg)

70kg:     Kayla Harrison (Middletown, Ohio/Renshuden)

Men

73kg:     Bobby Lee (Lauderhill, Fla./North Miami USA Judo National Training Site)

            Radu Brestyan (Medway, Mass./Pedro’s Judo Center)

81kg:     Harry St. Leger (Brooklyn, N.Y./Starrett Judo)

            Yuko Sin (Scotia, N.Y./Jason Morris Judo Center)

            Travis Stevens (San Jose, Calif./San Jose State University).

            Rick Hawn (Woburn, Mass./Pedro’s Judo Center)

90kg:    Garry St. Leger (Brooklyn, N.Y./Starrett Judo)