PRESS RELEASE

Burns Wins National Title
Las Vegas, NV - Burnt Hills High Senior, Liz Burns won her first Sr. National title April 19 at the Riviera Hotel Convention Center. Burns, who trains at the Glenville, NY based Jason Morris Judo Club (JMJC) defeated all three opponents by ippon (full point) including an exciting final win over Anna Palmer (CA) in the 52kg weight class. This victory moved the #2 US ranked, Burns within 5 points of #1 Charlee Minkin who didn't compete claiming to be injured. Carrie Chandler repeated her Silver medal performance of a year ago going 3-1 with her only loss coming at the hands of nemesis, Ellen Wilson. Chandler looked poised to get her first win over Wilson by impressively making the final, but made a mental error by letting up on the edge of the mat and Wilson took advantage throwing Chandler for ippon. Wilson, who was a 2000 Olympian now holds a 4-0 record against Chandler. Nate Torra won a Bronze medal in the 66kg division with a 4-1 record. Torra's only loss was to former JMJC teammate, Brandan Greczkowski in the second round. Greczkowski took seventh place at the 2000 Olympics at 60kg and now resides in Colorado Springs, CO. Torra avenged a loss to Scott Pak for the bronze medal with a thrilling sudden death overtime victory. Pak previously beat Torra at the 2002 US Open. Mike Blizinski had a good showing,at +100kg going 2-2 finishing in seventh place. Jeff Albino (100kg) went 0-1, Taylor Middendorf (70kg) was 0-2 and Leah Fisher (70kg) went 0-2 to round out the JMJC results. Next up for the club will be the Simon Bolivar Cup in Margarita Island, Venezuela. Liz Burns, Carrie Chandler and Nate Torra will accompany coach, Teri Takemori to that event.

Attached are head shots of Liz Burns, Carrie Chandler and Nate Torra
Photo credit: Lou DiGesare/Real Judo Magazine