San Jose State University Judo

4/30/04 - 2004 Senior National Championships San Diego California

This years Nationals were very important for individuals that were in tight races for seeding position for the June 5 th Olympic Trials. Several top athletes chose not to compete at this year's tournament with their positions secure in the top 5 looking forward to the trials. San Jose State had 4 Athletes that were already guaranteed a slot in the Olympic Trials from points they had gathered throughout the last year. However we had a handful of other athletes that were in tight races making this yearÕs event very meaningful.

For the women we had Heidi Bartkowksi at 63kg going into the nationals as the number 6 seed in her division. Heidi had a great performance with a 3-1 record on the day. Her only loss came to the eventual champion Rhonda Rousey. This secured Heidi a spot as the 5th seed and an invitation to the Olympic Trials.

We had 2 other women in the trials hunt, both at 57kg. Freshmen Kati Bartkowski finished the day with a 1-2 record and Shana Sugiura (2003 Alum) unfortunately lost in the 1st round and did not get carried into the repecharge. Neither of them gained the necessary points to get the invite to the trials, however the year showed great promise for the two judoka, and we look forward to seeing them atop their division for the next few years.

We came out with 2 medals in the mens divisions, both at 73kg. Chuck Jefferson took home the gold medal winning all his matches by ippon to claim his first Senior National title as well as being awarded the Best Technique of the tournament. The other medal went to Jose Benscome with a 3rd place win, his only loss coming to teammate Chuck Jefferson. Going into the Olympic Trials, Jefferson will be the number 3 seed and Benscome will be the 5th.

Heavyweight John Leonhart finished the day in San Diego in 5th place with 2 very nice ippon wins. SJS veteran player John Serbin chose to sit out this year since he had already secured his spot in the Olympic trials. Mike Barnes at 100kg who had already secured his spot as the number 3 seed at the trials fought through to the semi-finals where he lost a hard fought match against Theo Caracostas of Colorado. Barnes opted to forfeit the bronze medal match to avoid risking injury before the Olympic trials. He ended his day in 5th place.

Tetsu Okano who has also secured a spot in the top five for the Olympic Trials chose not to fight in the Nationals so he could extend his training in Japan. SJS Junior Remi Fatoki and Senior Lee Heitzman were both sidelined this year due to injuries.

Other players that fought for San Jose State but did not finish in the top 5 were Matt Dias, Sean Lang, Trevor Mallo, Takeshi Young, Joshua Resnick, Andy Hung and Kenny Lott. Our young players fought really hard, showing great promise for the future.