Micayla Maes (Wheat Ridge), of Northglenn Judo Club and Darya Cogswell (Westminster) of Hyland Hills Judo Club, will travel to Costa Rica as part of the team named by USA Judo to represent the United States in the Pan American “Infantil” Championships, a Continental Junior Judo Championship to be held Nov. 9-13 in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The team, listed below, consists of 15 athletes competing in 13-14-year-old division and 16 athletes competing in the 11-12-year-old division.
Maes will compete in the Female, 11-12 year old, 28 kg (62 lbs.) category and Cogswell will compete in the Female, 11-12 year old, 34 kg (75 lbs.) category. Both girls were chosen for for the team because of their excellent records this past summer in national and international competition. Darya won 2 national tournaments and one internationals tournament and Micayla won three national and one international tournament. In addition, Micayla won a national silver, and international bronze medal at the next higher weight class (31 kg) in two of the events. Their divisions will compete on Friday, November 11th.
This will be the first international tournament outside of the USA for the girls. Jim Hrbek (Schenectady, New York), USA Judo's Junior Development chairperson wrote to the team in an email today, ". . .I am convinced that we have assembled our strongest Team entry EVER for this event. I have great expectations for you all individually, and also as a group and a Team."
This event is a Continental Union Championship. It allows one entry per age and weight division from each of the countries from North and South America.
The athletes representing USA Judo for this event are:
11-12-Year-Old Division
Female
28kg: Micayla Maes (Wheat Ridge, Colo./Northglenn)
31kg: Katelyn Bouyssou (Hope, R.I./Mayo Quanchi)
34kg: Darya Cogswell (Westminister, Colo./Hyland Hills)
38kg: Kayla Hall (Granite City, Ill./USA Stars)
42kg: Carina Caminero (Tampa, Fla./El Mambi)
48kg: Kia Artis (Marion, Indiana/ Marion Youth)
53kg: Carly Patton (Zephyrhills, Fla./ El Mambi)
+53kg Persila Bencomo (Miami, Fla./ Pine Crest)
Male
28kg: Eric Benevides (Fall River, Mass./Mayo Quanchi)
31kg David Terao (Honolulu, Hawaii/Shobukan)
34kg: Everet Desilets (Hope, R.I./Mayo Quanchi)
38kg: Ren Hirokawa (Wahiawa, Hawaii/Shobukan)
42kg: Max Schneider (Chicago, Ill./Tohkon)
48kg: Ruben Martin (Burleson, Texas/Ruben Martin Judo Club)
53kg: Max Golembo (Vernon Hills, Ill./Cohen's Judo Club)
+53kg: Christian Gil (Miami, Fla./Falcon Judo Club)
13-14-Year-Old Division
Female
36kg: No Entry
40kg: Ashley Cameron (Garland, Texas/Becerra)
44kg: Mirielle Graves (Edwardsville, Ill./USA Stars)
48kg: Risha Mishima (Honolulu, Hawaii/Shobukan)
53kg: Franchesca Durand (Coral Springs, Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
58kg: Danielle Greenstein (Coral Springs, Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
64kg Kelsi Bostic (Anderson, Ind./Anderson YMCA)
+64kg Marina Lambert (Chesapeake, Va./Washington Judo)
Male
36kg: Nathan Silva (Baldwin Park, Calif./Guerreros)
40kg: Kyle Taketa (Torrance, Calif./Gardena)
44kg: Robby Schultheis (Gurnee, Ill./Gurnee)
48kg: Aaron Fukuhara (Torrance, Calif./Gardena)
53kg: Dariel Porras (North Lauderdale, Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
58kg: Miguel Ballesteros (Miami, Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
64kg: Antonio Rodriguez (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Ki-Itsu-Sai)
+64kg:Daniel Palatnik (Rego Park, N.Y./Spartak)