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June 12, 2008    

Women’s Middleweight Preview for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Judo, June 13-14 in Las Vegas

(Las Vegas, Nev.) – The women’s middleweight divisions will be held at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Judo on Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

A preview of the women’s middleweight divisions is as follows:

Women’s 63kg

Paola-Genao-Butler (blue) fights Paula Duarte earlier this year.

Less than three months ago, 19-year-old Paola Genao-Butler (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center) never would have expected to find herself as the #1 seed at the Trials. Always a talented junior player, Genao-Butler became a standout this spring when she advanced to her first Senior Nationals final, upsetting two former National medalists en route to winning a silver medal.

One of the players Genao-Butler defeated was Anastasia Krivosta (Smithtown, N.Y. / Smithtown YMCA) who is a five-time National medalist and is now seeded #3 in the division behind #2 Christal Ransom (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center). Both Krivosta and Ransom bring previous Trials experience to the table as Krivosta fought in the 63kg division in 2004 and Ransom competed at 57kg.

Although Genao-Butler has beaten Krivosta, she and Ransom randori regularly in practice, but Genao-Butler has yet to win a match between the OTC teammates in competition.

The United States has not qualified the 63kg division to compete in Beijing, but it will be contested on a contingency basis in Las Vegas.

Qualifiers at 63kg
1. Paola Genao-Butler (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center)
2. Christal Ransom (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center)
3. Anastasia Krivosta (Smithtown, N.Y. / Smithtown YMCA)
4. Corinne Geier (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University)
5. Paula Duarte (Baldwin Park, Calif. / Mojica Judo)
6. Ronni Aragona (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center)
7. Danielle Greenstein (Wellington, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami)
8. Shaniqua Brown (Atlanta, Ga. / Waka Mu Sha)

Women’s 70kg

Ronda Rousey (white) throws Gemma Gibbons at the 2007 U.S. Open.

Twenty-one-year-old Ronda Rousey (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE) has only fought on the senior level for five years, but in that short time has become one of the most successful U.S. players in the sport. Rousey was the youngest judo player from any country at the 2004 Olympic Games and has since gone on to become the first U.S woman since 1995 to win a World medal when she won a silver at the Worlds in October. Ranked as high as #3 in the world, Rousey has the potential to become the first U.S. player to win an Olympic title in Beijing and has never lost to an American in a major event.

On the other side of the bracket, Katie Mocco (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) also will be attempting to make history of her own as she and brother Steve Mocco are looking to qualify for the judo and wrestling teams respectively. This will be the second Trials for Mocco – a 2005 National Champion who moved up to 78kg last year. When the division didn’t qualify for the Games, Mocco chose to accept a #6 seed at 70kg.

Katie Sell (Harlingen, Texas / USA Judo National Training Site at Harlingen) and Tomoyo Yoshinaga (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University) were Senior Nationals runner-ups in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and could make a run at the finals as well.

A five-time Senior Nationals runner-up, Jaclyn Feuerschwenger (Linden, N.J. / Cranford Judo) beat Mocco at the 2004 Trials and, like Mocco, moved up to 78kg in 2007 and back down to 70kg this year. Feuerschwenger lost to Yoshinaga in the first round of the Nationals, but fought through the loser’s bracket to defeat Jennifer Tutass (El Cerrito, Calif. / Cunningham’s Judo) for bronze. Tutass and Feuerschwenger will fight again in the first round of the Trials where Tutass is seeded fifth.

Qualifiers at 70kg
1. Ronda Rousey (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)
2. Katie Sell (Harlingen, Texas / USA Judo National Training Site at Harlingen)
3. Tomoyo Yoshinaga (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University)
4. Jaclyn Feuerschwenger (Linden, N.J. / Cranford Judo)
5. Jennifer Tutass (El Cerrito, Calif. / Cunningham’s Judo)
6. Katie Mocco (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center)
7. Helen Delpopolo (Westfield, N.J. / Cranford Judo)
8. Natalie Laursen (Livermore, Calif. / Northern California Elite Team)