East
Bay Judo Institute Members Shine at US High School
and
Collegiate
National Championships
By Marti Malloy
The
US
high school and collegiate national championships
were held in
Spokane
,
WA
, on
Saturday 22 March 2003
. Over 265 contestants from high schools and
colleges/universities from around the country
competed in this prestigious championships.
East Bay Judo Institute (EBJI) was
represented by Veronica Castillo and Marti Malloy in
the high school divisions, and Marija Djokic and
Molly O�Rourke in the collegiate divisions.
Together they turned in the best performance of any
dojo in the country.
Veronica Castillo, 14 and a freshman at El
Cerrito High School in El Cerrito, CA, started off
the day in the female under 63kg division with a win
when she beat Jessica Wooldridge by ippon through
penalties. In judo an ippon is the equivalent of a
knockout in boxing. She then won her second match
with a reverse triangle hold for ippon. In the
semi-finals she threw her opponent for ippon with
uchimata, inner thigh reap. In the finals she pinned
Janine Nakao of
Monterey
,
California
reverse triangle hold once more to secure her first
gold medal, which was quite an accomplishment for
this freshman. In addition, Veronica received the
Best Technique Award for the high school division.
Sixteen-year-old Marti Malloy of
Oak
Harbor
High School
in
Oak Harbor
,
WA
, competed in the female under 57kg division. She
won her first match by a triangle hold for ippon.
She won her second match against former 52kg elite
player Katherine Ensler of Oklahoma by throwing her
with osoto-gari (major outer reap) for ippon. In the
finals she faced Tawny Uemura of Los Angeles,
California, whom she also threw for ippon with
osoto-gari. Marti also received the award for
Fighting Spirit.
Molly O�Rourke, 19 and a freshman at Contra
Costa Community College, won her first match in the
female under 78kg category by throwing her opponent
for ippon with osoto-gari, bringing her to the
finals. There she faced Lisa Uemura of
Salinas
,
California
, who thwarted Molly�s counter attempt for ippon,
giving Molly the silver medal.
Eighteen-year-old Marija Djokic, a freshman
at
San Francisco
State
University
, won her first match in the female under 63kg
division she threw her opponent for ippon with
osoto-gari in the first 10 seconds. She then threw
her next opponent for ippon with uchimata, bringing
her to the finals. There she faced Heidi Bartkowski
of
San Jose
State
University
, whom she also threw for ippon with uchimata in the
first gripping exchange, securing the gold medal.
Overall the EBJI team had a record of 11 wins
and 1 loss, and all wins were decided by ippon. The
three gold and one silver medal was the best
performance of any single dojo in the country at the
championships.
