Team USA Readies for Junior and Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championships in Lima
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by Bill Kellick
(Colorado Springs, CO) – The top U20 and U17 athletes from across North and South America and Oceania will battle for gold in Lima, Peru, this week at the Junior and Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championships.
Cadet Preview
The action begins on Friday, April 18, with the Cadet (U17) competition, in which 19 U.S. athletes will compete in eight men’s and seven women’s weight categories. It continues on Saturday, April 19, with 18 American judoka competing in seven men's and seven women's weight categories in the U20 event.
Not only will athletes fight for gold, but the Junior event will serve as the ninth and final qualifier for the 2025 Junior Pan American Games, August 9-12 in Asuncion, Paraguay.
This year’s U.S. cadet squad features 13 first-time team members, including nine on the men's side. These young athletes will be looking to prove themselves and earn world rankings during the leadup to the 2025 Cadet World Championships, August 27-31, in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The cadet women's team is led by five returning team members, including three medalists, from the 2024 Cadet Pan Am-Oceania Championships.
Sixteen-year-old Malia Manibog (San Gabriel, Calif. / San Gabriel Judo) is coming into this event as a two-time silver medalist at 44 kg and is moving up to the 48 kg division in Lima.
Another 16-year-old, Aubrey Genereux (Port Saint Lucie, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center), is #8 in the world rankings and a returning bronze medalist at 52 kg, as is 15-year-old Kaiya Johnston (Queen Creek, Ariz. / Shogun Judo BJJ), who captured bronze last year at 70 kg but will be dropping down to compete at 63 kg in Lima.
Other returning team members on the women's side include 17-year-old Chloe Williams (Stafford, Va. / High Noon Judo) at 70 kg and 16-year-old Ellianna Abbott (Rayne, La. / Louisiana Judo) at 57 kg. Both were members of the 2024 Cadet World Team.
Sixteen-year-old Kanta Ueyama (Burbank, Calif. / LA Tenri Dojo) is ranked #2 in the world at +90 kg and has won back-to-back silver medals at this event. He is joined by fellow 2024 Cadet World Team member, 16-year-old Christian Corchado (New Britain, Conn. / New Britain Judo and Dynamic Arts).
Junior Preview
The U.S. Junior Team features a wealth of experience with 11 returning junior team members and six more with Pan Am experience at the cadet level. Those 17 athletes boast 40 combined Cadet/Junior Pan Am Championship medals (16 gold, 10 silver, 14 bronze).
On the men's team, 19-year-old Christopher Velazco (Coral Springs, Fla. / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) is ranked #4 in the world and has inhabited the top step of the Pan Am podium for the past four years, winning three consecutive cadet titles (2021-23) and adding a junior title last year at 60 kg. Velazco will pair with reigning Cadet World Champion Jonathan Yang (Los Angeles, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team / LA Judo Club) to give the U.S. team a formidable one-two punch at 60 kg. World ranked #8, Yang, 17, won a cadet gold last year to go along with a cadet bronze in 2023 and a junior bronze in 2024.
Four-time Pan Am medalist and world #4 Daniel Liubimovski (Staten Island, N.Y. / NYAC / Colton Brown Training Center) will look to defend his title in the 100 kg competition. The 17-year-old also won bronze in the cadet competition last year to add to his 2023 haul of cadet gold and junior silver.
Twenty-year-old Jacob Yang (Los Angeles, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team / LA Judo Club) is ranked #10 in the world at 66 kg and is a three-time Pan Am bronze medalist (cadet in 2022, junior in 2023 & 2024).
Oleksandr Nyzhnyk (Los Gatos, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team / Nakano Judo Academy), 19, will seek to repeat as champion at 90 kg, while cadet Pan Am medalists looking to add junior medals to their collections include 17-year-old Anthony Farnot (Lehigh Acres, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) at 73 kg, 17-year-old Daniel Shulgin (Philadelphia, Pa. / Yawara Force) at 81 kg, and 16-year-old Kanta Ueyama (Burbank, Calif. / LA Tenri Dojo) at +100 kg.
The U.S. women's squad is led in experience by six-time Pan Am medalist and world #6 Shavon Gonzalez (West Palm Beach, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) at 70 kg, and five-time medalist and world #2 Emily Jaspe (Hialeah, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) at 63 kg. Gonzalez, 18, has garnered two cadet Pan Am gold medals (2021 & 2023), a cadet bronze (2022) and three junior bronze (2022-24). Jaspe, 18, is the defending junior gold medalist to go along with two junior bronzes, a cadet gold, and a cadet silver.
Eighteen-year-old and world #8 Harlee Hiller (Evansville, Ill. / Cohen Brothers Judo) is a three-time Junior Pan Am medalist, having won silver at 48 kg in 2022 and 2023, and bronze at 52 kg last year.
Along with Manibog and Genereaux, other Cadet Pan Am medalists looking to notch their first Junior Pan Am hardware include 2022 silver medalist Danielle Pekler (Prairie View, Ill. / Cohen Brothers Judo) at 57 kg and 2024 gold medalist Jayda Fulp (Fort Worth, Texas / Chandler Judo Academy) at 78 kg.
Athlete Roster
Cadet Men’s 50 kg
Samuel Abdelmalak (Punta Gorda, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Jannaco Searcy (Atlanta, Ga. / Black Ice Judo)
Cadet Women’s 44 kg
Amaris Bell (Pembroke Pines, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Cadet Men’s 55 kg
Sebastian Teran (Pompano Beach, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Cadet Women’s 48 kg
Malia Manibog (San Gabriel, Calif. / San Gabriel Judo Dojo)
Cadet Men’s 60 kg
Adrian Cohen (Vernon Hills, Ill. / Cohen Brothers Judo Club)
Cadet Women’s 52 kg
Aubrey Genereux (Port Saint Lucie, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Cadet Men’s 66 kg
Theodore Lehmen (Jefferson City, Mo. / Jefferson City Judo Club)
Cadet Women’s 57 kg
Ellianna Abbott (Rayne, La. / Louisiana Judo)
Adelina Tate (Canterbury, Conn. / Top Game Martial Arts)
Cadet Men’s 73 kg
Luka Tsikarishvili (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Darfight)
Cadet Women’s 63 kg
Kaiya Johnston (Queen Creek, Ariz. / Shogun Judo BJJ)
Cadet Men’s 81 kg
Shota Kundukhashvili (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Caucasas Judo)
Cadet Women’s 70 kg
Chrystal Monthe Noussi (Fort Worth, Texas / Fort Worth Judo Club)
Chloe Williams (Stafford, Va. / High Noon Judo)
Cadet Men’s 90 kg
Christian Corchado (New Britain, Conn. / New Britain Judo and Dynamic Arts)
Nicholas Zadvinskiy (Staten Island, N.Y. / Cranford JKC)
Cadet Women’s +70 kg
Rhadi Ferguson (Tampa, Fla. / High Noon Judo)
Cadet Men’s +90 kg
Kanta Ueyama (Burbank, Calif. / LA Tenri Judo)
Junior Women’s 48 kg
Malia Manibog (San Gabriel, Calif. / San Gabriel Judo Dojo)
Junior Men’s 60 kg
Christopher Velazco (Coral Springs, Fla. / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Jonathan Yang (Los Angeles, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team / LA Judo Club)
Junior Women’s 52 kg
Aubrey Genereux (Port Saint Lucie, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Harlee Hiller (Evansville, Ill. / Cohen Brothers Judo)
Junior Men’s 66 kg
Lenny Sheynfeld (Staten Island, N.Y. / NYAC / Pedro's Judo Center)
Jacob Yang (Los Angeles, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team / LA Judo Club)
Junior Women’s 57 kg
Danielle Pekler (Prairie View, Ill. / Cohen Brothers Judo)
Junior Men’s 73 kg
Anthony Farnot (Lehigh Acres, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Junior Women’s 63 kg
Emily Jaspe (Hialeah, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Junior Men’s 81 kg
Daniel Shulgin (Philadelphia, Pa. / Yawara Force)
Junior Women’s 70 kg
Shavon Gonzalez (West Palm Beach, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Chloe Williams (Stafford, Va. / High Noon Judo)
Junior Men’s 90 kg
Oleksandr Nyzhnyk (Los Gatos, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team / Nakano Judo Academy)
Junior Women’s 78 kg
Jayda Fulp (Fort Worth, Texas / Chandler Judo Academy)
Junior Men’s 100 kg
Daniel Liubimovski (Staten Island, N.Y. / NYAC / Colton Brown Training Center)
Junior Women’s +78 kg
Rhadi Ferguson (Tampa, Fla. / High Noon Judo)
Junior Men’s +100 kg
Kanta Ueyama (Burbank, Calif. / LA Tenri Judo)
