San Jose State University Judo

04/26/05 - 2005 Senior National Championships Results

The San Jose State Judo team sent 19 team members to Virginia Beach, Virginia for the 2005 US Senior Nationals this past weekend. Coming off the heels of winning the Collegiate National Championships, the team was confident going into this tournament.

Alumni and assistant coach Chuck Jefferson led the way with a Gold medal in the 73kg weight division. Chuck also won the "Outstanding Competitor Award" for the entire tournament. Chuck had a great day going 5-0 for the competition, beating rival Ryan Reser in the finals by a yuko.

In addition to Coach Jefferson's outstanding performance the team also brought home 4 Bronze medals. In the 57kg woman's division the two Bronze medals belonged to San Jose State freshmen Kati Bartkowski and Marti Malloy. Kati and Marti recently competed against each other for the Gold medal at the Collegiate Nationals, but with stiff competition at this year's Seniors, Bronze medals were the order of the day. Both Kati and Marti have been training extremely hard and we expect big things to come from both of them.

In the Men's 60kg weight division Matt Diaz (sophomore) had his best Senior National showing to date. Avenging a loss earlier this year to Dale Hata from East Bay judo, Matt threw Hata for a full point. Fighting for a Bronze medal, Matt met Rhan Dillard. Matt unfortunately lost and had to settle for fifth.

In 73kg SJS had 6 competitors of the 36 that competed in the division. For Sophomores Louie Hung, and Takeshi Young, tough first matches knocked them out of the tournament. Senior Jose Bencosme, after taking a break since last years Olympic trials, had a respectable day in a very competitive division taking fifth place. Santa Clara University Sophomore and San Jose State Judo team member Trevor Mallo unfortunately hurt his knee and had to withdraw from the tournament.

The Women's 63kg division found SJSU Senior Heidi Bartkowski taking 5th place losing to Kayla Harrison from New Jersey.

In the Men's 81kg division first semester Freshman Travis Stevens took a Bronze. Recently taking a Silver medal at the Junior Pan American Championships and a Gold at his first Collegiate Nationals, Travis is looking to be a force in this division. Steven's only loss came at the hands of Aaron Cohen, the eventual Gold medalist of the tournament.

Jonathan Leonhardt fought the heavyweight division (+100kg) and took home the Bronze medal. Jon had a good day only losing to the eventual Gold medalist Kirk Hoffman. Jon also won the USJI Sportsmanship Award.

Also competing were SJSU Judo Team members Kim Kaufold, Sean Lang, Lucas Mignogna, Andrew Hung, David Torres, Kenny Lott, Cori Geier, and Davor Vasiljevic.