2007 Fall Classic Results

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September 1, 2007

Fall Classic National Championships Results

Nick Delpopolo, 73kg Champion.

Garry St. Leger (white) defeated Landry Ambouroue twice to win 90kg gold.

Aaron Cohen (blue) throws Harry St. Leger en route to winning the 81kg final.

Harry St. Leger and Eddie Liddie react to Josh O'Neil's win at 60kg.

48kg Champion Sayaka Matsumoto (white) in her first match against Natalie Lafon.

Kenny Hashimoto (blue) defeated Taylor Takata twice to win the 66kg division.

Anna Palmer (blue) defeated Nicki Schultheis twice to win 52kg gold.

Rene Capo (white) threw Shintaro Highashi to win 100kg in overtime.

(Coral Springs, Fla.) – The Fall Classic National Championships on Saturday served as a preview of things to come during the next year as new players staked their claim in divisions and others repeated their previous successes.

One of the day’s top stories was 46-year-old Rene Capo (Naperville, Ill. / Cohen’s Judo), a two-time Olympian (1988 and 1996), who upset both the #1-ranked player in the division and the current National Champion to win the 100kg title.

In a double elimination tournament that almost always translates into longer days and more matches for everyone, Capo had what may have been the longest, needing a total of nine matches and eight wins to earn gold.

“If I would’ve known it was going to be nine matches I probably wouldn’t have came,” Capo joked after the awards ceremony. “I haven’t really competed since last year’s U.S. Open, so I’m just getting back into it again, but I keep doing it because I still love competing.”

After early wins against Joseph Aceto (San Jose, Calif. / After-School All-Stars) and Damian O’Hara (Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J. / Cranford Judo), Capo was thrown for ippon (instant win) by 2007 Senior National Champion Shintaro Higashi (Scarsdale, N.Y. / NYAC / Kokushi Budo Institute of New York).

In the loser’s pool, Capo defeated Victor Jean-Baptiste (Brooklyn, N.Y.), 2007 Senior Nationals medalist Kyle Vashkulat (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) and World Team member Adler Volmar (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami) all to earn the right to move back up to fight Higashi twice more.

In the first match, Higashi threw Capo on the corner of the mat, but Capo countered for a score of his own before throwing Higashi for ippon with just over a minute left to win the match. Their third match went to Golden Score (overtime) at the conclusion of the regulation period before Capo threw Higashi.

The win keeps Capo securely as the third-ranked athlete on the USA Judo Senior Elite National Roster with just nine months remaining until the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Judo, June 13-14 in Las Vegas , Nev.

“Knowing I’m 46, a lot of people were going to be after me right off just because of age. I’m sure they were like ‘Ok, he’s 46.’ He can’t beat me. He’s like my grandpa!’” Capo laughed. “I’m kind of taking it day-by-day now. I’ve got a full-time job and custody of two kids, so I’m playing it by ear. If I make a third Olympic Team, that’s great, but now it’s just a day-to-day thing.”

Although Nick Delpopolo (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) had a seemingly shorter day with “only” six matches, all of them were pressure-packed and five went into overtime, including three matches against eventual silver medalist Michael Eldred (Fruitland, Idaho / Western Idaho Judo Institute), a silver medalist at the British Open earlier this year.

After early round wins over Alfred Raymond (Providence , R.I. / Mayo Quanchi Judo); former Senior Nationals medalist RJ Cohen (Buffalo Grove, Ill. / Cohen’s Judo) and 2006 U.S. Open Champion Bobby Lee (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami), Delpopolo kicked off a three-match series against Eldred.

With his matches against Cohen and Lee going into Golden Score, Delpopolo seemingly should have been tired, but rebounded well, defeating Eldred in their first match. Eldred then dropped down to beat Lee before fighting Delpopolo twice more. Delpopolo lost the next match when he came in for an uchimata (inner thigh throw) which Eldred escaped from and countered with a throw of his own for a yuko (quarter-point) score. Delpopolo came back, though, to throw Eldred for ippon with an o goshi (hip throw) / uchimata combination to win by ippon.

Josh O’Neil (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center) was another of the day’s standouts. A former 66kg Senior Nationals medalist, O’Neil spent the summer moving down to 60kg prior to the German Open where he defeated one of the top-five players at the 2005 World Championships to place fifth in one of Europe’s most difficult tournaments.

Although only the division’s fourth seed, O’Neil defeated the 2006 National Champion, Rafael Ramos (Union City, N.J. / Camal Judo), in his first match, before losing a close match to 2007 Pan Am Championships Team member Nick Kossor (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) who scored off a late yuko and sat on his lead to secure the match.

O’Neil dropped down to the loser’s pool to defeat #3 seed Miguel Ballesteros (Miami, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami) to move back up for two more fights against Kossor. In the first, O’Neil won after Kossor committed two penalties and O’Neil scored a yuko of his own.

In the final match, O’Neil was down to Kossor by two penalties with just over a minute remaining when someone yelled “C’mon Kossor! Just one more attack!”

And as it turned out, just one more attack was what O’Neil needed to throw Kossor with a body lock o uchi gari (leg throw) for ippon to win the division.

In O’Neil’s old 66kg division, the history of close contests continued as frequent rivals 2006 Senior National Champion Taylor Takata (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center) and Kenny Hashimoto (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University) faced off yet again in the finals.

In the fourth minute of their first match, Takata was given a penalty that would win the match for Hashimoto. In the loser’s pool, Takata faced Jeremy Liggett (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center), a 2006 Pan Am silver medalist as a 60kg player.

Liggett had lost earlier in the day to Hashimoto and moved to the loser’s pool where he nearly lost to 16-year-old Zachary Godbold (Houston, Texas / Diamondback Judo) who threw Liggett with a seoi nage (shoulder throw) for ippon 18 seconds into the match. The ippon was waived down to a waza-ari (half-point) which gave Liggett room to increase his attacks and later throw Godbold for ippon in the fourth minute.

After another win by ippon over Seiji Hashimoto (San Jose , Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University) , Liggett then fought Takata.

Both athletes received simultaneous stalling penalties midway through the match, but Takata secured a buzzer-beating throw for a koka (smallest points) score to advance to another fight against Kenny Hashimoto.

In their second fight, Hashimoto was up by a yuko and a koka when Takata committed a shido that gave another score to Hashimoto. After several more exchanges of points during the final minute, Hashimoto scored a yuko with 10 seconds remaining and won both the match and the gold medal.

In the women’s divisions, 2007 Senior Nationals silver medalist Nina Cutro-Kelly (San Antonio, Texas / Universal Judo) overcame a loss to Katie Mocco (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) to win their next two matches and the gold medal.

En route to defeating Mocco, a 2006 Pan Am medalist at 70kg, Cutro-Kelly also defeated 2005 National Champion and World Team member Molly O’Rourke (El Cerrito, Calif. / East Bay Judo Institute).

After splitting the series at one apiece, Cutro-Kelly was down by a yuko when she threw Mocco as the buzzer rang on the end of their third match.

In the women’s 63kg division, 17-year-old Kayla Harrison (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo Team FORCE) was one of the day’s most women’s players, winning fight straight matches to earn the 63kg title after placing second at the Nationals earlier this year and winning the 70kg title in 2006.

Complete results are as follows:

Women’s 44kg

1. Veronica Prado (Coral Springs , Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami )

2. Katelyn Bouyssou ( Hope , R.I. / Mayo Quanchi)

3. Alexa Liddie ( Colorado Springs , Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center )

Women’s 48kg

1. Sayaka Matsumoto ( El Cerrito , Calif. / NYAC / East Bay Judo Institute)

2. Ann Shiraishi ( El Cerrito , Calif. / East Bay Judo Institute)

3. Daimisy Porras ( Miami , Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami )

Women’s 52kg

1. Anna Palmer ( Colorado Springs , Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center

2. Nicki Schultheis ( Glenville , N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Center )

3. Kimberly Carpenter ( Glenville , N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Center )

Women’s 57kg

1. Hannah Martin ( Glenville , N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center )

2. Michelle Haggerty ( Colorado Springs , Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center )

3. Janine Nakao ( San Jose , Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University )

Women’s 63kg

1. Kayla Harrison ( Wakefield , Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)

2. Anastasia Krivosta ( Smithtown , N.Y. / Smithtown YMCA)

3. Christal Ransom ( Colorado Springs , Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center )

Women’s 70kg

1. Katie Sell ( Harlingen , Texas / USA Judo National Training Site at Harlingen )

2. Tomoyo Yoshinaga ( San Jose , Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University )

3. Helen Delpopolo ( Westfield , N.J. / Cranford Judo)

Women’s 78kg

1. Nina Cutro-Kelly ( San Antonio , Texas / Universal Judo)

2. Katie Mocco ( Glenville , N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center )

3. Molly O’Rourke ( El Cerrito , Calif. / East Bay Judo Institute)

Women’s +78kg

1. Heidi Moore ( Englewood , Colo. / Denver Judo)

2. Brittni Bradford (Live Oak, Texas / Universal Judo)

3. Melinda Swanson ( Honolulu , Hawaii / Hawaii Tenri)

Women’s Open

1. Heidi Moore ( Englewood , Colo. / Denver Judo)

2. Melinda Swanson ( Honolulu , Hawaii / Hawaii Tenri)

3. Natalie Laursen ( Livermore , Calif. / Amador Judo)

Men’s 55kg

1. Corwin Learned (El Grenada , Calif. / Cahill’s Judo)

2. Joshua Villani ( Bellevue , Wash. / Ippon Dojo)

3. Keith Beauvais ( Thornton , Colo. / Northglenn Judo)

Men’s 60kg

1. Josh O’Neil ( Colorado Springs , Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center )

2. Nick Kossor ( Glenville , N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center )

3. Miguel Ballesteros ( Miami , Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami )

Men’s 66kg

1. Kenny Hashimoto ( San Jose , Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University )

2. Taylor Takata ( Colorado Springs , Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center )

3. Jeremy Liggett ( Glenville , N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center )

Men’s 73kg

1. Nick Delpopolo ( Glenville , N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center )

2. Michael Eldred ( Fruitland , Idaho / Western Idaho Judo Institute)

3. Bobby Lee ( Coral Springs , Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami )

Men’s 81kg

1. Aaron Cohen ( Buffalo Grove , Ill. / NYAC / Cohen’s Judo)

2. Harry St. Leger ( Brooklyn , N.Y. / NYAC / Starrett Judo)

3. Ross MacBaisey ( Atlanta , Ga. / Emory Judo)

Men’s 90kg

1. Garry St. Leger ( Brooklyn , N.Y. / NYAC / Starrett Judo)

2. Landry Ambouroue ( Richland , Texas / Ruben Martin Judo)

3. Jake Larsen ( Santa Rosa , Calif. / Redwood Coast Judo)

Men’s 100kg

1. Rene Capo ( Naperville , Ill. / Cohen’s Judo)

2. Shintaro Higashi ( Scarsdale , N.Y. / NYAC / Kokushi Budo Institute of New York )

3. Adler Volmar ( Coral Springs , Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami )

Men’s +100kg

1. Daniel McCormick ( Wakefield , Mass. / USA Judo National Team FORCE)

2. Anthony Noli ( Arizona )

3. Timothy Harmleing ( Babson Park , Fla. / Summerlin Judo)

Men’s Open

1. Daniel McCormick ( Wakefield , Mass. / USA Judo National Team FORCE)

2. David Bleeker (Pinkin, Ill. / Canton Judo)

3. Anthony Noli ( Arizona )