West Point Judo November Highlights
At Air Force (November 6)
West Point Judo athletes dis-played superb Judo skills while defeating Air Force at their own Dojo. West Point Judo Athletes won 20 out of the 22 total matches at Air Force. All matches won by perfect throw, immobilization, or submission by choke or joint lock technique. It was a great experience and showed the level of training our athletes are receiv-ing.
At Armed Forces Championships (November 14th) at Fort Leavenworth, KS
Four members of the Class of 2010 participated at the Armed Forces Judo tournament this weekend at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. West Point Judo athletes, fresh from a 20-2 victory at the Air Force Academy, traveled for the second weekend in a row to compete at this event. Seniors Matthew Song, Daniel Vara-nelli-Diccico, Nathan Horswill, and Dave McCurdy displayed great judo skills and brought home 4 med-als (two gold and two silvers). Nathan Horswill went undefeated in four matches to take his division. Dave McCurdy fought from behind on a true double elimination format to also take first place in his divi-sion. Matt Song and Dan Diccico fought great matches losing only to the first place winner on their respective divisions. In addition, these athletes par-ticipated in a clinic hosted by 2 time Olympian and 4 time World Military Champion Leo White. These athletes are bringing home over 10 new techniques and modifications to competitive Judo which they will share with the rest of the West Point Judo squad. It was a great weekend of competition and learning and once more, displaying outstanding Warrior competitive Spirit.
At Dallas Invitational USA Judo E-Level Event (November 21st)
Eleven West Point Judo Athletes stepped out of their comfort zone and traveled to Texas to compete at the 44th Dallas Invitational. The Dallas Invitational is a USA Judo elite level tournament where the top Judo athletes in the Nation compete for prize money and ranking on the USA Judo national roster. All the weight divisions were heavily populated with some divisions having as many as 25 competitors on them. Each athlete had the opportunity to compete in at least two matches and in as many as seven. CDT
Jung Sung Won (2012) and Cadet Patrick Cronin (2013) won three matches against black belts to share a 5th finish on their Divi-sion. Both Sung Won and Cronin are brown belts who defeated black belts on this event as they battled on the consolation bracket. CDT Nate Horswill (2010) had some im-pressive wins to place 7th at 66kg , without a doubt, the most competitive division of the event. The highlight of the event for West Point Judo was CDT Andrew Fant taking third at the over 100KG division. Andrew, currently a green belt, lost his first match and had to battle on the consolation bracket through three grueling matches against black belts to get to the third place match. His sec-ond loss of the tournament came against a veteran heavy weight who is already on the National roster. CDT Fant was one place away from getting on the USA Judo Na-tional roster, I am confident that he will ac-complish this feat later this year. Most of the divisions at this event were won by Olympi-ans and National roster athletes. As we con-ducted the team AAR, we identify that we have reached our objectives for this event…these were, learn from the exposure to high caliber Judo athletes, find additional motiva-tion to compete at this level, and prepare for the future approach for Army Judo athletes. As a coach, I am proud of the team?s per-formance and I am enjoying watching their development as competitive Judo athletes.
Three athletes received pro-motions for performance: Fant, Cronin, Sung-Won
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