Team USA Wins North Central American Championships

(Miami, Fla.) – Team USA won 11 gold medals at the North Central American Championships on Monday at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa. 

The event – a qualifier for the 2011 Pan American Games – included competitors from Canada, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

“We put together a team that did well after a long weekend of fighting,” said USA Judo Director of Athlete Performance Eddie Liddie (Colorado Springs, Colo.) of the 14-player squad that competed in the event on the heels of the USA World Cup on Friday and Saturday and the U.S. Open on Sunday.  “They all fought well and we are well on our way toward qualifying a full team for the Pan Am Games next year.” 

The U.S. men won golds in six divisions with the women taking gold in five. 

Complete results are as follows:  

Men’s 60kg
1. Aaron Kunihiro (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)
2. Charles Breton-Leduc (CAN)

Men’s 66kg
1. Brad Bolen (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center)
2. Patrick Gagne (CAN)
3. Ian Sancho Chinchila (CRC)

Men’s 73kg
1. Nick Delpopolo (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)
2. Alexis Morin-Martel (CAN)
3. Osman Murillo Segura (CRC)
3. Pedro Meja (GUA)

Men’s 81kg
1. Antoine Valois-Fortier (CAN)
2. Jose Bencosme (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University)
3. Franklin Cisneros (ESA)

Men’s 90kg
1. Jake Larsen (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center)
2. Simon Breau (CAN)

Men’s 100kg
1. Kyle Vashkulat (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center)
2. Zachary Marshall (CAN)

Men’s +100kg
1. Daniel McCormick (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)

Women’s 48kg
1. Ann Shiraishi (San Francisco, Calif. / East Bay Judo Institute)
2. Bianca Ockedahl (CAN)

Women’s 52kg
1. Natalie Lafon (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center)
2. Laurie Wiltshire (CAN)

Women’s 57kg
1. Hana Carmichael (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)
2. Nicole Jenicek (CAN)
3. Adriana Pineda Villalobos (CRC)

Women’s 63kg
1. Myriam Lamarche (CAN)
2. Janine Nakao (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / USA Judo National Team FORCE)

Women’s 70kg
1. Katie Sell (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center)
2. Alix Renaud-Roy (CAN)

Women’s 78kg
1. Yacintha Nguyen-Huu (CAN)
2. Suzie Rizek (Naperville, Ill. / Fox Valley Judo)

Women’s +78kg
1. Toni Geiger (Dumont, N.J. / Tech Judo)

Tags: Aaron Kunihiro, Aaron Kunihiro, Brad Bolen, Jose Bencosme, Nick Delpopolo