Seven Medals Show Success of USA Athletes

Senior Pan American Championships Recap

Day one was marked with four medals for Team USA athletes in the lightweight divisions of the Pan American Championships in Costa Rica. Starting with the women, after beating Yuisleidy Hernandez-Iglesias of Cuba and Ayelen Elizeche of Argentina, Angelica Delgado faced #14 ranked, Ecaterina Guica of Canada in the semifinals, winning by ippon, to fight in the finals. The final was decided in Ne waza with a Jessica Pereira (Brazil) sankaku to give Delgado the silver medal. Delgado dedicated this win to her mother who was present, and while she was upset about not winning the gold medal, said this would only push her to do more.

As for the men, after beating Luis Morandi of Venezuela and Steven Morocho of Ecuador to win pool A, Adonis Diaz fell to Roberto Almenares of Cuba to fight for the bronze medal. There he beat Elmert Ramirez of the Dominican Republic by ippon to assert his dominance and claim the bronze medal spot. Ryan Vargas beat Gerard Cadet of Haiti and Jacob Valois of Canada to win pool B in the 66kg and under category. He fell to 15^th ranked Daniel Cargnin of Brazil to qualify for the Bronze medal match and ultimately took down Minoru Tamashiro of Argentina by Waza-ari to receive the medal. Alexander Turner and Nicholas Delpopolo would both fall one fight before winning their respective pools and face one other in Repechage for the 73kg and under category. Delpopolo ultimately came out the victor by ippon and in turn Turner would receive 7^th place. Delpopolo then faced David Lima of Brazil where he won by golden point to receive a bronze medal and his 7^th overall medal at the Pan American Championships.

Day two was marked with just as much success as three more athletes received medals in Costa Rica. Starting with Colton Brown, who won his first preliminary matches against Marco Montoya of Columbia, but lost his second match to Robert Florentino of the Dominican Republic. In Repechage, Colton beat out Tomas Spikermann of Argentina by ippon in 46 seconds and 22^nd ranked Zachary Burt of Canada in less than two minutes with a strong ippon with sasae to claim the bronze medal. In the 100kg and under category, L.A. Smith III successfully beat his first two opponents, Armando Pineda of Guatemala and Pablo Aprahamian of Uruguay, beating his second opponent by ippon in 29 seconds to make it to the semifinal round. After losing to Lewis Medina of the Dominican Republic, L.A. won his final match over Alexis Esquivel of Mexico with an ippon to claim a bronze medal. Nina Cutro-Kelly, the most senior athlete on the Senior Pan American team lost her first match to Beatriz Souza of Brazil, but won her next fight against Mariannys Hernandez of Venezuela by ippon in 41 seconds to send her to the final round for the bronze medal. In a close match against 2017 Pan American champion, Melanie Bolanos, Bolanos was disqualified when she waki gatame to Nina who won her second Pan American medal.

Full Results:

• Angelica Delgado (-52kg): Silver Medal
• Adonis Diaz (-60kg): Bronze Medal
• Ryan Vargas (-66kg): Bronze Medal
• Nicholas Delpopolo (-73kg): Bronze Medal
• Colton Brown (-90kg): Bronze Medal
• L.A. Smith III (-100kg): Bronze Medal
• Nina Cutro-Kelly (+78kg): Bronze Medal
• Ajax Tadehara (+100kg) : 5^th
• Anne Suzuki (-48kg): 7^th
• Amelia Fulgentes (-57kg): 7^th
• Alisha Galles (-63kg): 7^th
• Alexander Turner (-73kg): 7^th
• Jack Hatton (-81kg): 7^th
• Chantal Wright (-70kg): 7^th
• Nefeli Papadakis (-78kg): 7^th

Complete Recap: all athletes

Day 1

Women

-48kg: Anne Suzuki. After beating Maria Gimenez of Venezuela, Suzuki fell to 23^rd ranked Edna Carrillo of Mexico. In repechage, she fell to Erika Lasso of Columbia to claim 7^th place in the 48kg and under category.

-57kg: Mariah Holguin lost her first match to Wisneybi Machado of Venezuela who received 5^th place ultimately.

-57kg: Amelia Fulgentes beat Melissa Dennison in 5 seconds by ippon and then lost her second match to 31^st ranked, Christa Deguchi of Canada to qualify her Repechage. There she lost to 62^nd ranked Abi Betsabe Cardozo Madaf of Argentina to take 7^th place in the 57kg and under category.

-63kg: Alisha Galles beat 37^th ranked Yanka Pascoalino of Brazil by waza-ari in the preliminary round and lost by the same in the next round to Canada’s 36^th ranked, Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard to qualify her for Repechage where she lost by ippon to Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz of Mexico securing her 7^th place finish.

Day 2 Recap

Men

-81kg: Jack Hatton started the preliminary round with a win over Fernando Salazar of Chile, but lost in the next round to 25^th ranked Antoine Valois-Fortier of Canada. In Repechage, Jack lost to Brazil’s 10^th ranked judoka, Eduardo Yudy Santos to receive 7^th.

-90kg: Matthew Koch lost his first preliminary round to Tomas Spokermann of Argentina by ippon.

+100kg: Ajax Tadehara lost his first match against Andy Granda of Cuba to qualify him for Repechage where he beat Rafael Ferrer of Puerto Rico and then lost to 60^th ranked Francisco Solis of Chile to place 5^th in his weight class.

Women

-70kg: Chantal Wright lost her first match to 19^th ranked Elvismar Rodriguez of Venezuela to qualify for Repechage, but then lost against 8^th ranked Maria Perez of Puerto Rico to qualify for 7^th place in the 70kg and under weight class.

-70kg: Nicole Stout lost her first qualifying match to 57^th ranked Olga Masferrer of Cuba.

-78kg: Nefeli Papadakis won her first match against Xsara Morales Falconi of Peru, but lost her second match against 31^st ranked Karen Leon of Venezuela. In Repechage, Nefeli withdrew due to injury, giving the win to Lucia Cantero of Argentina to set her in 7^th place.