Congrats to all the Floridians that competed and
especially to those that placed at this event.

NOTE: If I listed them all this e-mail would be doubly
long because of the amount of winners from Florida.
Therefore, see e-mail below for the complete results.

--- Nicole.Jomantas@... wrote:

Subject: Fall Classic Results
From: Nicole.Jomantas@...
Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2005 06:26:53 -0600


Junior Athletes Dominate Fall Classic Nationals
(Miami, Fla.)
A look at the final results from Saturday's Fall
Classic National Championships reads like a who's who
of junior judo players as some of the top young
judokas in the country made their presence known at
this Senior D Level Elite Tournament, one of the top
four judo tournaments in the nation.

Similar to the summer junior season, Jhonny Prado?s
(North Lauderdale, Fla.) Ki-Itsu-Sai athletes claimed
four of 16 gold medals and nine medals overall.

Ki-Itsu-Sai's Jeanette Rodriguez (North Lauderdale,
Fla./48kg.), Bobby Lee (North Lauderdale, Fla./73kg.)
and Francesca Durand (North Lauderdale, Fla.) all won
the Triple Crown of Judo (three different junior
National Championship Events) and the Junior U.S. Open
in the months prior to their wins today.

For 15-year-old Rodriguez, Saturday's results add to
both her #2 national senior ranking as well as her #1
national junior ranking behind 2005 World Team member
Sayaka Matsumoto (El Cerrito, Calif./East Bay Judo
Institute)

"Today went really well," Rodriguez said. "There's
still room for improvement though and there's some
things I want to work on and some techniques I'd like
to see get better."

As the second-ranked athlete in her division,
Rodriguez also looks ahead to future competition,
including the E-Level Dallas Invitational in
November and the 2006 Pan American Junior
Championships to be held in March in Miami, as well as
beyond.

"Sayaka's definitely the top of 48s right now, but I
hope one day to be able to make an Olympic Team," she
said.

Lee's division was one of the largest in the
tournament, including #2 ranked Richard Cohen (Buffalo
Grove, Ill./Cohen's Judo) who lost in his
fourth round to eventual bronze medalist Bobby
Yamashita (Northglenn, Colo./Northglenn Judo Club).
Lee also defeated former World Team Member
Taylor Takata (Wahaiawa, Hawaii/Brownsville CODP) by
Ippon during his undefeated day. The 17-year-old
continues to rapidly climb the senior roster, claiming
his second win in as many weeks following last week's
victory at the Golden State Open.

Durand recovered from a loss to Natalie LaFon
(National City, Calif./Judo America), a silver
medalist at the 2005 National Championships, in her
third round to defeat LaFon twice in the finals and
claim gold.

Daimisy Porras (North Lauderdale, Fla.) won the
44kg. round-robin contest over Ki-Itsu-Sai teammate
Veronica Prado (North Lauderdale, Fla.)

Youth wasn't the only story of the day as 2004
Olympian Rhadi Ferguson (Boca Raton,
Fla./IntoCombat/100kg.) finished his judo career with
one final gold medal

"I wanted to establish myself as the best 100kg.
player in the country and that's just what I did,"
Ferguson said.

Although Ferguson fought his last match today, he
will continue to be involved in the judo community as
a trainer for judo players and mixed martial artists.

One of Ferguson's former rivals at 100kg., 34-year-old
Michael Prieditis (Raeford, N.C./Fayetteville Fort
Bragg Judo Club) upgraded to the heavyweight division
(+100kg.) prior to the Fall Classic, but fell short
of winning his new class as he lost in the final to
2004 World Junior Team member J. Daniel McCormick
(Arlington, Texas/Bedford Kodoka).

Outstanding Male and Female Players of the Tournament
were Athens Olympian Rick Hawn (Wakefield,
Mass./Pedro's Judo Club/81kg.) and Wendy Scholz
(Iowa City, Iowa/Judo America/57kg.)

Hawn went undefeated in his division while Scholz
defeated Angelica Delgado (North Lauderdale,
Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai) twice in the double elimination
final.

Tomorrow, more than 150 athletes will compete in the
Ladder Tournament, a senior elite level point
tournament (Level E) where athletes who do not
already have points in the weight class that they
enter compete for national ranking points and placers
qualify for spots in the U.S. Open, October 1-2 in Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla. This tournament is considered to be
the first step for elite athletes as they enter a
new weight division and have the opportunity to be
scouted by national level coaches.

Who: 150+ elite judo players.

What: Fall Classic National Championships and
Ladder Tournament

When: September 4: 10 a.m. ? 6 p.m., preliminary
and final matches (Ladder)

Please note: Matches run consecutively, concluding
time is approximate.

Where: Florida International University, Golden
Panther Arena, Miami, Fla.

For more information, contact Nicole Jomantas, USA
Judo Director of Communications and Media Relations,
at (719) 271-9937.
Medal winners are as follows:
> Female 44kg
> 1. Daimisy Porras (North Lauderdale,
> Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
> 2. Veronica Prado (North Lauderdale,
> Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
> 3. Adela Garcia (Corpus Christi, Texas/Texas
> A&M)
>
> Female 48kg
> 1. Jeanette Rodriguez (North Lauderdale,
> Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
> 2. Ann Shiraishi (Elk Grove, Calif./East Bay
> Judo Institute)
> 3. Tabitha Lum (San Jose, Calif./San Jose
> State)
>
> Female 52kg
> 1. Francesca Durand (North Lauderdale,
> Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
> 2. Natalie LaFon (National City, Calif./Judo
> America)
> 3. Nicki Shultheis (Gurnee, Ill./Gurnee Judo
> Club)
>
> Female 57kg
> 1. Wendy Scholz (Iowa City, Iowa/Judo America)
> 2. Angelina Delgado (North Lauderdale,
> Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
> 3. Hannah Martin (Burnt Hills, N.Y./Judo
> America)
>
> Female 63kg
> 1. Ashlie Martini (Chicago, Ill./Tohkon)
> 2. Kristen Allan (Springfield, Va./Sport Judo)
> 3. Anastasia Krivosta (Smithtown,
> N.Y./Smithtown YMCA)
>
> Female 70kg
> 1. Kathleen Sell (Oshkosh, Wis./Welcome Mat)
> 2. Cleo Grinberg (Tarrytown, N.Y./Spartak
> Sports Club)
> 3. Haley Shadden (Mineral Wells, Texas/Ruben
> Martin Judo Club)
>
> Female 78kg
> 1. Nina Cutro Kelly (Albany, N.Y./Judo America)
> 2. Marina Shafir (Latham, N.Y./Judo America)
>
> Female +78kg
> 1. Brittini Bradford (Land O'Lakes, Fla./St.
> Pete Judo)
> 2. Eva Smith (Fall River, Mass./Taki Gawa)
>
> Male 55kg
> 1. Andrew Taylor (Covina, Calif./San Gabriel
> Judo)
> 2. Dariel Porras (North Lauderdale,
> Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)\
>
> Male 60kg
> 1. Jeremy Liggett (Scotia, N.Y./Jason Morris
> Judo Club)
> 2. Rafael Ramos (Union City, N.J./Camal Judo)
> 3. Joseph Hasmimoto (Thornton, Colo./Northglenn
> Judo Club)
>
> Male 66kg
> 1. Kenny Hashimoto (Thornton, Colo./Northglenn
> Judo Club)
> 2. Joshua O?Neil (Colorado Springs, Colo./OTC
> Judo Club)
> 3. Francisco Alejandro (North Lauderdale,
> Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
>
> Male 73kg
> 1. Bobby Lee (North Lauderdale,
> Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
> 2. Radu Brestyan (Wakefield, Mass./Pedro?s Judo
> Club)
> 3. Bobby Yamashita (Northglenn,
> Colo./Northglenn Judo Club)
>
> Male 81kg
> 1. Rick Hawn (Wakefield, Mass./Pedro?s Judo
> Club)
> 2. Sin Yuko (Glennville, N.Y./Jason Morris Judo
> Club)
> 3. Alejandro Masias (Denver, Colo./Northglenn
> Judo Club)
>
> Male 90kg
> 1. Shintaro Higashi (Scarsdale, N.Y./Kokushi
> Budo Institute)
> 2. Joshua White (Decatur, Ga./ |Kokora Tatsu)
> 3. Phillip Farabaugh (Pittsburgh, Pa./South
> Hills Juco)
>
> Male 100kg
> 1. Rhadi Ferguson (Boca Raton, Fla./Into
> Combat)
> 2. Adler Volmar (North
> Lauderdale,Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
> 3. Timothy Harmeling (Babson Park, Fla./GE
> Judo)
>
> Male +100kg
> 1. J. Daniel McCormick (Arlington,
> Texas/Bedford Kodoka)
> 2. Michael Prieditis (Raeford,
> N.C./Fayetteville Fort Bragg Judo
> Club)
> 3. Adam Blackburn (Salt Lake City, Utah/USA
> Stars of Salt Lake)
>
> Nicole Jomantas
> Director of Communications and Media Relations
> USA Judo
> One Olympic Plaza Suite 505
> Colorado Springs, CO 80909
> (719) 866-4732