Army Judo Defeats Both Navy Teams

 By Michael Kolton

The Army Judo traveled to Annapolis on 9 Oct 04 for the U.S. Naval Academy Senior Invitational Team and Individual competition. The tournament included competitors from across the mid-Atlantic region to include Navy. Filling out an 18-person roster, Army dominated the tournament in almost every weight-class.

            In additional to the typical individual tournament structure, the Navy Invitational holds a team competition not usually seen in judo today. Following a traditional construct, the Team competition does not have weight classes. Rather, players are paired by their relative size so that a team lines up lightest to heaviest plus a single female and then fight head-to-head against an opposing team. By eliminating weight-classes, the competition dramatically increases the need for strong conditioning and solid technique.

            The competition divided the team competition into two separate mats so that large teams like Army Judo could enter two line-ups. Army took on fierce competition on both sides, and took second in both their respective brackets. Army A’s only loss was against one of the toughest teams in the region, Washington Judo Club. The standard team competition ended in a tie, causing the need for a tie breaking match. Sophomore Jordan Bellamy, who had tied his opponent during the first match, fought hard and as the clock ran out the two fighters were still tied. Thus, the tie breaking match went into overtime where victory goes to the first person to score. In an unfortunate conclusion, Jordan was hit with a stalling call during the overtime play, giving Washington Judo the win and first place overall. Both teams destroyed the two Navy line-ups. Junior Dave Dunham at 160 lbs led the Army A team to a 6-0 sweep over Navy. Meanwhile, Army B went 5 and 1 against the Navy Team with a close defeat in the heavyweight category.

            Taking second place in both divisions gave Army a overall top place performance for the day as no other team could claim a better dual showing. Following the team competition, the individual matches began. In a repeat of the earlier team competition, Army swept the competition. Dunham took his first gold medal in a Blackbelt level competition, dominating the 73 kg weight class. Team Captain, Senior Michael Kolton, took second in the 66 kg division. Other incredible performances came from Freshman J.D. Caddell and Sophomore Sean O’Connor, both ended the day fighting an uncommon 11 matches each. Entered into both the novice and Blackbelt divisions, the cadets kept moving up in their brackets. With outstanding determination like theirs, the Army team gained numerous accolades from the veteran fighters and coaches. Army’s reputation for solid judo technique and sportsmanship was commended publicly and privately at the conclusion of the tournament. The competition demonstrated the true essence of Army Judo’s winning tradition and discipline to perform even when fatigued.