EBJI
Students Shine
at
the 2003 US Senior National Judo Championships
The
2003 Senior National Judo Championships were held in
Las Vegas
,
Nevada
on
April 18-19, 2003
. Over
320 competitors from around the nation gathered at
the
Riviera
Convention Center
for this prestigious event.
Representing the East Bay Judo Institute were
Sayaka Matsumoto
,
Marti Malloy
and Molly O�Rourke.
Three-time defending National Champion
Sayaka Matsumoto
earned her fourth consecutive gold medal in the
women�s under 48-kilogram category.
In her first match she faced Nicki Schultheis
from
Chicago
,
Illinois
. A
minute into the match Matsumoto applied an arm-bar
for ippon (full point), advancing to the semi-finals
against Crystal Brown from the Olympic Training
Center. Against
Brown, Matsumoto dominated the match, scoring minor
points before throwing her for ippon (full point)
with osotogari (outer leg sweep), placing her in the
finals for first place.
Matsumoto�s third and final match was
against number 2 seed, Christine Carrera from the
Olympic Training Center.
Matsumoto fought aggressively, and Carrera
was given two penalties for passivity.
Matsumoto held onto the win for the gold
medal and a spot on the 2003 World and Pan American
Games Team.
Sixteen year old, 2003 High School National
Champion
Marti Malloy
won a bronze medal in the women�s 57-kilogram
category. In
her first match she faced Janine Nakao from
California
. Malloy
dominated the whole match, eventually catching Nakao
with an arm-bar and forcing her to submit, giving
Malloy the win.
She advanced to the next round to face
Katherine Ensler from
Oklahoma
, where she scored a wazari (half point) with
uchimata (inner leg reap).
Malloy was able to stay tough and hang onto
the win, advancing to the semi-finals against 2000
Senior National Champion Carrie Chandler from
New York
.
Chandler
took an early lead, scoring a minor point with
sode-tsuri-komi-goshi.
With about a minute and a half left in the
match, Malloy entered for a technique, which
Chandler
promptly countered for ippon (full point).
The bronze medal final was against Christal
Ransom from the Olympic Training Center.
Malloy controlled the match before throwing
Ransom with ogoshi (hip throw) for full point and
her first Senior National medal.
2003 Collegiate Silver Medalist Molly
O�Rourke impressively won a bronze medal in the
women�s 78 kilogram category.
In her first match, she faced eventual Senior
National Champion, Nicole Kubes from
Texas
. The
match was even until O�Rourke was caught off guard
and was thrown for ippon (full point) while
attempting to counter Kubes� attack.
In the repechage,
O�Rourke faced Rhonda.
O�Rourke promptly disposed of her, throwing
her with ippon (full point) with uchimata, advancing
to the bronze medal match.
Here O�Rourke faced 2002 Jr. World Team
Member, Nina Cutro-Kelly.
Previous to this match O�Rourke had beaten
Cutro-Kelly only once out of their many meetings.
The match was tied and O�Rourke looked
strong when Cutro-Kelly attempted an attack, which
O�Rourke countered for a beautiful ippon, giving
her her first medal at the Senior National
Championships.
The East Bay Judo Institute is a nonprofit
organization dedicated to the teaching of Kodokan
Judo. It�s head instructor is Dr.
David Matsumoto
, 6th degree black belt. For information
about classes, schedules, location, and contact
information, see www.ebji.org
or call 510-237-0607.
