Rousey, Carrion and Reser Among Dallas Competitors This Weekend

From USA Judo Press Release

(Grapevine, Texas) – More than 450 judo players are expected to compete on Saturday at the Dallas Invitational Judo Championships, a Senior Elite domestic tournament and one of the longest-running events in the United States.

The tournament is being held at the Hilton DFW Lakes in Grapevine, 1800 Hwy 26 East, and will begin at 8:30 a.m. with finals being held at 7 p.m.

The competition schedule is as follows:
Juniors 12 and Under … 8:30 a.m.
Juniors 13 – 16 … not before 10 a.m.
Senior Eliminations … not before 12:30 p.m.
Senior Novice and Masters … after Senior Eliminations
Senior Finals … 7:00 p.m.

Athletes scheduled to compete include:
Ronda Rousey (Santa Monica, Calif. / NYAC / 63kg), 2004 Olympian, two-time Junior World Medalist and #4 senior player in the world

Ryan Reser (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Olympic Training Center USA Judo National Training Site / 73kg), a Dallas native and two-time 2006 World Cup medalist

Danieska Carrion (CUB / Harlingen, Texas / Harlingen USA Judo National Training Site / 57kg), two-time World Championship medalist

Adler Volmar (Miami, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 100kg), 1996 Olympian (HAI) and #1 in 100kg and Open divisions

Daniel McCormick (Arlington, Texas / Pedro’s Judo Center / +100kg), 2005 British Open bronze medalist

Kayla Harrison (Middletown, Ohio / Renshuden / 70kg), 2006 Senior National Champion and U.S. Open silver medalist

Taylor Takata (Harlingen, Texas / Harlingen USA Judo National Training Site / 66kg), 2006 National Champion and Pan Am Championships fifth-place finisher

Kirk Hoffmann (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Olympic Training Center USA Judo National Training Site / +100kg), 2006 Pan Am Team member

Franchesca Durand (Coral Springs, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 52kg), 2006 Senior Nationals and U.S. Open bronze medalist

Bobby Lee (Coral Springs, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 73kg), 2006 U.S. Open Champion and Senior Nationals bronze medalist

Miguel Ballesteros (Miami, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 60kg), 2005 Pan American Infantile Champion

Ronnie Talledo (Coral Springs, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 60kg), 2006 New York Open Champion

Natalie Lafon (Harlingen, Texas / Harlingen USA Judo National Training Site / 52kg), 2005-2006 Senior Nationals silver medalist

Phillip Spano (Tampa, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 81kg), 2006 Junior National Champion

Myles Porter (Toledo, Ohio / Olympic Training Center USA Judo National Training Site / 100kg), 2006 World Blind Championships fifth-place finisher

Jeff Fong (San Jose, Calif. / San Jose State University / 66kg), 2006 Senior Nationals fifth-place finisher

Katie Sell (Harlingen, Texas / Harlingen USA Judo National Training Site / 70kg), 2006 Senior Nationals bronze medalist

All three USA Judo National Training Sites (Harlingen, Texas; North Miami, Fla. and the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs) will be well-represented at the competition.

The OTC squad will include not only top senior players, but also a strong crew of junior players as well as young athletes who will be competing in their first major event through USA Judo’s pilot program with the Police Athletic League.

TexSport Publications will publish results from all the matches as soon as they become available.