Senior Pan Ams Take Center Stage This Weekend in Santiago
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by Bill Kellick
(Colorado Springs, CO) – The city that hosted the Pan American Games two years ago will welcome 199 athletes from 21 nations competing at the Senior Pan American-Oceania Championships in Santiago, Chile, from April 25-27.
Competition will be held at Contact Sports Training Center – the venue that was home to judo during the 2023 Pan American Games.
Eighteen athletes have been named to the U.S. team that will travel to Chile, including three of the four Olympic Team athletes from last summer's Paris 2024 Games, and six members of the 2023 Pan American Games team who will be returning to a familiar locale.
Competition schedule is as follows:
Friday, April 25
Men’s 60 kg, 66 kg, 73 kg
Women’s 48 kg, 52 kg, 57 kg, 63 kg
Saturday, April 26
Men’s 81 kg, 90 kg, 100 kg, +100 kg
Women’s 70 kg, 78 kg, +78 kg
Preliminary rounds begin daily at 10 a.m. local time, with finals at 4 p.m.
Paris 2024 Olympians Maria Laborde (Kenosha, Wis. / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center), John Jayne (Chicago, Ill.) and Jack Yonezuka (West Long Branch, N.J. / NYAC / Cranford JKC) will be representing the U.S. in Santiago. Laborde, 34, is ranked #13 in the world at 48 kg and has won three straight bronze medals at the Senior Pan Am Championships, and another at the 2023 Pan American Games.
Jayne, 28, is also a three-time medalist at the event, winning bronze in 2022 and 2023, and upgrading to silver last year in the 90 kg category. Yonezuka is ranked #18 in the world at 73 kg and will be making his third Senior Pan Am appearance at just 21 years of age.
Other returning Senior Pan Am medalists include 24-year-old Mariah Holguin (San Antonio, Texas / Universal Judo), who owns bronze medals from 2022 and 2024, 31-year-old David Terao (Falls Church, Va.) who captured silver last year and will be making his third appearance at the event, and 26-year-old Ari Berliner (Cumming, Ga. / NYAC / Jason Morris Judo Center) who notched a bronze medal in 2022.
Laborde, Jack Yonezuka, Holguin and Terao will be returning to the sight of their 2023 Pan Am Games experience in Santiago along with 23-year-old Alex Knauf (Yorkville, Ill. / NYAC) and 27-year-old Yasmin Alamin (Woodbridge, Va. / USA Judo National Resident Team / Sport Judo). Knauf captured a bronze medal at the Pan Am Games in the 90 kg competition.
Nicole Stout (Schenectady, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center), 27, will be making her seventh Senior Pan Am Championships appearance, while Nick Yonezuka (West Long Branch, N.J. / NYAC / Cranford JKC), 22, will be competing in his fourth. Both Melissa Myers (Burnt Hills, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center), 29, and Jenna Schurr (Torrance, Calif.), 30, will be competing at their third Senior Pan Ams.
Seven first-timers round out the U.S. roster in Santiago, including Alamin, 22-year-old Noran Elmahroukey (New Providence, N.J. / NYAC), 18-year-old Emily Jaspe (Hialeah, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center), 21-year-old Jessica Alaynick (Scotia, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center), 17-year-old cadet world champion Jonathan Yang (Los Angeles, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team / L.A. Judo), 22-year-old Johan Silot (Salem, Mass. / NYAC) and 22-year-old Jared Causse (Westminster, N.C. / Los Angeles Tenri Judo Dojo).
The complete athlete roster is as follows:
Women’s 48 kg
Maria Laborde (Kenosha, Wis. / NYAC / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Men’s 60 kg
David Terao (Falls Church, Va.)
Jonathan Yang (Los Angeles, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team / L.A. Judo)
Women’s 52 kg
Jenna Schurr (Torrance, Calif.)
Men’s 66 kg
Ari Berliner (Cumming, Ga. / NYAC / Jason Morris Judo Center)
Women’s 57 kg
Noran Elmahroukey (New Providence, N.J. / NYAC)
Mariah Holguin (San Antonio, Texas / Universal Judo)
Men’s 73 kg
Jack Yonezuka (West Long Branch, N.J. / NYAC / Cranford JKC)
Women’s 63 kg
Emily Jaspe (Hialeah, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Men’s 81 kg
Johan Silot (Salem, Mass. / NYAC)
Nick Yonezuka (West Long Branch, N.J. / NYAC / Cranford JKC)
Women’s 70 kg
Yasmin Alamin (Woodbridge, Va. / USA Judo National Resident Team / Sport Judo)
Melissa Myers (Burnt Hills, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center)
Men’s 90 kg
John Jayne (Chicago, Ill.)
Alex Knauf (Yorkville, Ill. / NYAC)
Women’s 78 kg
Nicole Stout (Schenectady, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center)
Men’s 100 kg
Jared Causse (Westminster, N.C. / Los Angeles Tenri Judo Dojo)
Women’s +78 kg
Jessica Alaynick (Scotia, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center)
