| Member News
May 18, 2007
Team USA to Compete in Pan Am Championships Next Week
 Twenty-one athletes will compete in the Pan American Judo Championships in Montreal, Canada from May 24-26.
The Pan Am Championships are the second qualifying event for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the final qualifier for the 2007 Pan American Games, July 19-22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Athletes must finish in the top seven (excluding host country Brazil) in the overall point standings combining this event and the 2006 Pan American Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Qualifying for the Pan Am Games is of further importance as the results of the event is worth approximately 33% of the total qualifying system for the Olympic Games.
Competition schedule is as follows:
May 24: Men’s 81kg, 90kg, 100kg, +100kg and Women’s 63kg, 70kg, 78kg, +78kg
May 25: Men’s 55kg, 60kg, 66kg, 73kg, Open and Women’s 44kg, 48kg, 52kg, 57kg, Open
May 26: Kata (Forms) Competition and Team Competition
The team includes six returning Pan Am medalists as well as a crew of up-and-coming athletes who will be competing in their first Senior Pan Ams.
Athens Olympian Ronda Rousey (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) won the 2004 and 2005 Pan Am Championships and finished second at the 2006 event in the 63kg division. Rousey moved up to the 70kg division in February, winning her first international event – the Vienna World Cup. Although Rousey’s wins included a defeat of 2006 Pan Am Champion Yalennis Castillo (CUB), Castillo is not expected to compete in the division. Instead, Rousey will likely face Onix Cortes (CUB) who threw Rousey for ippon (instant win) in the semifinals of the 2006 Junior World Championships. Rousey enters the division with a #3 ranking in the point standings after last year’s U.S. 70kg player Katie Mocco (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) won a bronze medal in the division.
Valerie Gotay (Harlingen, Texas / USA Judo National Training Site at Harlingen) finished third in the 57kg division last year with her only loss coming against former World Champion Yurisleidis Lupetey (CUB) who is expected to be out with an injury for this event. Gotay had a strong European season, winning both the British Open in January as well as the Belgian Ladies Open where she defeated Lupetey in the final. Most recently, Gotay placed third at the Golden Judoguis Championships, a USA Judo B-Level event three weeks ago in Havanna, Cuba. A four-time Pan Am medalist, Gotay won this event in 2005 and earned silver medals in 1988 (45kg) and 1990 (48kg). A top star as a teenager, Gotay retired after the 1992 Olympics, but returned to the sport as a 31-year-old mother of two in 2004 and has remained a world-ranked player since 2005.
Considered to be one of the top U.S. male players, Ryan Reser (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center) won the 73kg division in 2005 and medaling at two World Cups put him as the #8 athlete in the world coming into this event last year. Unfortunately, Reser struggled and failed to place, putting him in a tie with several players for seventh in the Pan Am standings. Reser needs a good showing here to secure his position for the Pan Am Games and, ultimately, the opportunity for the U.S. to send a player in the division to the 2008 Olympic Games. Reser has done well this season, though, winning a silver medal at the Swiss Open and bronze at the Jose Ramon Rodriguez tournament in Cuba, both USA Judo B-Levels Tournaments.
Aaron Cohen (Buffalo Grove, Ill. / NYAC / Cohen’s Judo) won a bronze medal in the 81kg division in 2006 – his third at the Pan Am Championships, combined with a silver medal in 2003. One of the most consistent U.S. placers at this event, Cohen also won a silver medal in April at the Swiss Open and finished third at the Brazil World Cup on May 7 in a division that included several of the players that will be seen in Montreal.
Justin Flores (Glenville, N. Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center / San Shi / 66kg) won a bronze medal during his last appearance at the Pan Ams in 2004. Since then, Flores has fought in the medal rounds of World Cup tournaments three-times, including a fifth-place finish in March at the Warsaw World Cup. The United States is currently tied for fifth in the PJU standings in this division as Taylor Takata (Harlingen, Texas / USA Judo National Training Site at Harlingen) finished fifth in 2006.
Kirk Hoffmann (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center / +100kg) was a bronze medalist in 2005, but, like Reser, did not place in 2006 and needs a top-five finish to help secure his slot for the Pan Am Games.
Among the rookie team members, a pair of juniors stand out as also having potential to advance to the medal rounds.
Sixteen-year-old Jeanette Rodriguez (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami / 48kg) will be competing in her first Senior Pan Ams, but the reigning British and U.S. Open Champion has defeated several top European players and beat last year’s bronze medalist Sayaka Matsumoto (El Cerrito, Calif. / NYAC / East Bay Judo Institute) twice in April during the Trials to qualify for the Pan Am Games and World Teams.
Rodriguez’s North Miami teammate Franchesca Durand (Coral Springs, Fla. / 52kg) is one of the team’s youngest members at 15-years-old. Durand is still new to major senior international events, but she defeated 2005 Champion Carrie Chandler (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) and has shown some of the greatest recent improvement of any of the U.S. juniors. Durand also will need a solid showing in Montreal to qualify the division for the Pan Am Games as Chandler did not advance to the medal rounds in 2006 and the U.S. is presently tied for seventh in the division.
A complete roster of athletes is as follows:
Women
44kg: Alexa Liddie (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center)*
48kg: Jeanette Rodriguez (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami)
52kg: Franchesca Durand (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami)
57kg: Valerie Gotay (Harlingen, Texas / USA Judo National Training Site at Harlingen)
63kg: Kristen Allan (Springfield, Va. / Sport Judo)
70kg: Ronda Rousey (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)
78kg: Marina Lambert (Chesapeake, Va. / Washington Judo)
+78kg: Brittni Bradford (Live Oak, Texas / Universal Judo)
Open: Heidi Moore (Englewood, Colo. / Denver Judo)*
Men
55kg: Kyle Taketa (Torrance, Calif. / Gardena Judo)*
60kg: Nick Kossor (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center)
66kg: Justin Flores (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center / San Shi)
73kg: Ryan Reser (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center)
81kg: Aaron Cohen (Buffalo Grove, Ill. / NYAC / Cohen’s Judo)
90kg: Garry St. Leger (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Starrett Judo)
100kg: Adler Volmar (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami)
+100kg: Kirk Hoffmann (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center)
Open: Adler Volmar (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami)*
*Indicates non-Olympic or Pan American Games weight divisions.
Jason Morris (Glenville, N.Y.) and Israel Hernandez (Harlingen, Texas) will be the coaches for the event. Humberto Lopez (Miami, Fla.) will be the team manager.
Four athletes will compete in the kata (forms) divisions. Karen Whilden (Vienna, Va. / Baltimore Judo) and Diane Jackson (Silver Spring, Md. / Hui-O Beltsville Judo) will be competing in the women’s division. Jeff Giunta (Webster, N.Y. / Bushido Kai Judo Club) and Heiko Rommelmann (Webster, N.Y. / Bushido Kai Judo Club) will be competing in the men’s division.
Athletes competing in the shiai team event will be announced later in the week.
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