Chandler Wins 4th National Title

         Houston, TX - Athletes from the Jason Morris Judo Center (JMJC) collected five total medals including one gold at the US Sr. National/Pan Am Trials over the weekend at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Carrie Chandler (24) led the way for the JMJC winning her third straight and fourth overall National crown posting a 4-0 record in 52kg on the day. By winning the Nationals, Chandler qualified for her second straight Pan Am team which will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina May 26-27. Katie Mocco (22) had a few more bumps in the road as she failed to defend her title as she was upset by Kayla Harrison in the semis and had to settle for a bronze medal in the 70kg weight class. As the #1 seed, Mocco got another chance to make her second Pan Am team in a two out of three fight off with Harrison. Mocco won the first, dropped the second then showed her championship mettle by slamming Harrison in the rubber match by ippon to earn a trip to Argentina. The JMJC's third #1 seed, Burnt Hills High Junior, Jeremy Liggett (17) showed his inexperience by making a crucial error in his first 60kg bout getting thrown by a lower seed and was eliminated. Liggett came back in the fight off like a veteran by dominating the eventual champ, Tito Ramos and won in two straight bouts to join JMJC teammates Chandler and Mocco on the Pan Am team. Nate Torra (23) reemerged from a down year in 2005 to make the final of 66kg where he lost to #1 seed Taylor Takata in a horribly refereed match. Torra threw Takata and was given the proper score but the sideline referee jury seemed confused to whose score it was and ended up removing the score from the board taking away Torra's lead. Takata then scored as Torra lost focus over the bad call, but regrouped to dominate the rest of the fight but couldn't make up the score and had to settle for the silver. Schenectady Community College Sophomore, Nick Kossor (20) broke through in 60kg to claim his first National medal picking up the bronze going 4-1 on the day. This was only Kossor's third tournament back from total ACL knee reconstructive surgery last year. Kossor raised his US ranking to a career high #3 behind only National Champ, Tito Ramos and JMJC teammate, Jeremy Liggett. Albany State Freshman, Yuko Sin (18) enjoyed his best performance to date picking up a bronze medal in the 81kg division in only his second Sr. Nationals. Sin posted a 4-1 record losing only in the semis to #1 seed and 2005 World team member, Aaron Cohen. Sin bumped his ranking up to a career high #4. Burnt Hills High Junior, Nick Delpopolo (17) made a big statement in his Nationals debut by making it all the way to the semis eventually losing a closely contested battle with #1 seed, Ryan Reser. Delpopolo gave the highly touted Reser his toughest match of the day pushing the #1 man the distance. Delpopolo then had to contest for the bronze only 10 minutes after the semis and obviously didn't have much left in the tank but still managed to push favorite, Mike Eldred into sudden death overtime. Delpopolo started strong in the extra period and managed to knock Eldred down almost scoring, but the Referee called a score for Eldred ending the fight. The bout was awarded to Eldred despite a huge protest from the JMJC contingent making him have to settle for fifth place.  Delpopolo climbed to his career high ranking as he sits at the #5 spot. RPI graduate, Leah Fisher had a career day in 63kg posting a 3-2 mark to finish in fifth place. This result puts Fisher on the roster for the first time at #7. Burnt Hills High Senior, AJ Silverman (18) was 30 seconds away from the bronze medal match in 66kg then ended up finishing in seventh place in one of the toughest weight classes. Silverman made a weak attack and was countered on his way to the bronze medal bout. AJ finished up 2-2 on the day as he continues to improve. The newest member of the JMJC squad, Jess Elizalde (18) who is originally from San Antonio, TX came out strong but was defeated in the first round then dropped her first loser's pool bracket match to #2 seed, Francesca Durand and was eliminated. The Schenectady Community College Freshman, Elizalde performed well in her Nationals debut.

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