Karate action in GR

The parking lot was packed, not a space available at the Green River Recreation Center Saturday.

Walking through the doors of the recreation center, kids and adults were all wearing karate gis, typical martial arts clothing. The gym floor is flooded with people; competitors and spectators alike. A sea of 200 competitors from 18 different schools from around the region attended the event. Of the 200, 42 competitors from Pineda's participated. Wyoming competitors traveled from Worland, Cheyenne, Jackson and Gillette. The majority of competitors came from Utah, Jim Dean of Pineda's Kenpo Karate said. Many of the attendees have traveled to compete in the tournament for many years and participate in various divisions.

The tournament includes 175 divisions. The gym floor is divided into eight rings, where various events take place simultaneously, all day long. Events of the day included sparring, padded sword sparring, flag sparring, forms, creative forms, weapons, creative weapons, self-defense, and breaking.

Team Pineda's competitors participated in four or more divisions each, in hopes of qualifying for the Elite Championships Tournament at the International Martial Arts Festival in Orlando, Fla. Any participant who placed in first or second place in their division qualify. The excitement for opportunity was in the air; 33 of Pineda's 42 competitors qualified for the festival at Disney World.

"I have a lot of excitement within the studio," Dean said.

He said the trip for the international tournament will be expensive, but he hopes to take about 15 to 20 students to the event.

Two younger competitors Trenton Collar and Jordan Brady knew they both qualified for the tournament early on in the afternoon. They were pumped.

"I got first in every event except sparring," Collar said.

He was more excited about proving the skills of their school than his own.

"It's a big tournament," he said. "We want to show everyone that our studio works hard. Every tournament leads up to this."

Both Collar and Brady love the competition.

"You don't really expect what the other person will be like," she said. "It's like a gift that opens up."

Brady went undefeated through out the day, receiving the honor of grand champion of the 13-17 year old under belt class. This was the 13-year-old's second year in a row named a grand champion at the tournament.

A few others from Team Pineda were named grand champion in their divisions as well; Josh Finley for adult under belt, Trenton Burd, 12, and Hunter Finley, 11 received their first grand champion title, the Eric Fry Memorial grand champion.

Much work and dedication goes into receiving a grand champion title. Each one of them proved their skills in their division.

"I like fighting. I'm good at it," Brady said, "It's the first event I actually placed in."

Aside from the competition, the tournament brings people together.

"I love all of it," Collar said. "We get friends from Utah and Missoula (Montana)."

"Everyone's nice here," Brady added. "It's more of a tough competition between everyone."

The two have made friends simply from participating in regional tournaments around the area. The same goes for the ones visiting. Participants from the Gurl Fytrz martial arts school in Park City, Utah have been attending the tournament for many years; over a decade for some.

"It's one of our favorite ones of the year," Betsi Thompson of Gurl Fytrz said. "It's just fun to see everyone. It's fun to see all the kids grow up at the tournament."

She's been traveling to the tournament for five years. This was her first tournament in Green River. The competitors from Green River were especially excited the tournament returned to home base this year.

"It's good that we brought it back here for the community," Pineda competitor AJ Pavey said.

"The team was excited to have the event back at the Green River Rec Center," Dean said. "The staff was very helpful in their efforts to help put on a very successful event." Dean said his favorite part of the day though was announcing the grand champions.

"Team Pineda's was able to capture four grand champion awards," he said. "And watching my first-timer kids compete in their first major event and doing so well."

Results from the Western Wyo. Karate Tournament

(Editor's Note: Not all the results are listed here. We will publish the remaining results next week.)

Will Allen; 5th place in novice power breaking, too 2nd in novice flag sparring, 1st place in novice padded sword sparring, took 3rd in novice forms, 2nd place in novice self defense, 2nd place in novice weapons

Devin Bobbitt; took 2nd in intermediate power breaking, 1st place in intermediate flag sparring, 2nd place in intermediate forms, 1st place in intermediate sparring, 4th place in intermediate self defense, took 3rd in intermediate weapons

Andrew Bozner; 3rd place in novice power breaking, took 5th in novice flag sparring, 1st as a first-timer in forms, 1st place in first-timer sparring, 1st in novice padded sword sparring

Jordan Brady; named the age 13-17 Underbelt Grand Champion, placed 1st in novice forms, 1st place in novice sparring, took 1st in novice self defense, 1st place in novice weapons

Charlotte Burd; 5th place in novice flag sparring, 4th place in novice padded sword sparring, 6th place in novice forms

Janey Burd; 10th place in novice power breaking, 3rd place in novice forms, took 1st in novice sparring, 4th in novice weapons

Trenton Burd; named the Eric Fry Memorial Grand Champion, took 1st place in novice forms, 1st place in novice sparring, 2nd in novice self defense, 3rd place in novice weapons

Shelby Carson; 5th in first-timer power breaking, 4th place in first-timer flag sparring, 1st in first-timer forms, took 1st in first-timer sparring, 2nd in first-timer padded sword sparring

Silas Chetterbock; 5th in novice power breaking, 4th novice flag sparring, 1st in first-timer forms, 6th in novice padded sword sparring, 9the place in novice sparring, 4th in novice sparring

Austin Collar; 1st place in intermediate power breaking, 2nd in intermediate padded sword sparring, took 2nd in intermediate forms, 3rd in intermediate sparring, 1st place in intermediate self defense, 2nd place in intermediate weapons

Trenton Collar; 3rd place in intermediate flag sparring, 1st place in intermediate padded sword sparring, took 1st in intermediate forms, 5th place intermediate sparring, took 1st intermediate self defense, 1st place in intermediate weapons

Ethan Conley; 5th place in novice padded sword sparring, 4th in novice forms, 2nd in novice sparring, 3rd place in novice self defense, 3rd in novice weapons

Gary Dean; 4th in Adult 18+ Black-Belt sparring, took 2nd in Adult 35+ Black-Belt sparring, 1st place in Adult 45+ Black-Belt sparring, 2nd in Adult 50+ Black-Belt sparring

Hunter Finley; named Eric Fry Memorial Grand Champion, 4th in novice power breaking, 5th in novice flag sparring, took 4th in novice padded sword sparring, 1st place in novice forms, took 1st in novice sparring, 1st in novice self defense, 4th in novice weapons

Joshua Finley; named Adult Underbelt Grand Champion, 1st place in adult intermediate power breaking, 2nd in adult intermediate padded sword sparring, 6th in adult intermediate forms, 3rd in adult intermediate forms, 5th in adult intermediate sparring, 1st in adult intermediate sparring, 2nd in adult intermediate self defense, 1st in adult intermediate weapons, 1st in intermediate power breaking, 2nd in intermediate flag sparring, 2nd in intermediate forms, 5th place in intermediate sparring, took 2nd in intermediate self defense, 4th in intermediate weapons

Garrett Gilmore; 4th place in intermediate power breaking, 1st place in Intermediate flag sparring, 4th in intermediate forms, 7th in Intermediate sparring, took 6th in Intermediate self defense, 5th in Intermediate weapons,

Jaxxson Gomez; took 1st in novice power breaking, 7th in Novice flag sparring, 5th place in novice padded sword sparring, took 1st in Novice forms, 6th in Novice sparring, 1st in novice forms

Karson Hansen; took 3rd in Novice power breaking, 2nd in Novice flag sparring, 1st in novice padded sword sparring, 5th in Novice forms, 6th place in Novice sparring, took 4th in novice weapons,

James Harris; took 1st in Adult Intermediate forms, 3rd in Adult Intermediate forms, 6th in Adult Intermediate sparring, took 3rd in Adult Intermediate self defense, 1st place in adult intermediate weapons, 2nd in Adult Intermediate weapons

Zayden Harrison; 1st in novice power breaking, 6th in Novice flag sparring, 1st place in first-timer forms, took 1st in First-Timer sparring, 2nd in Novice padded sword sparring

Acacia Hooley; 2nd place in Novice flag sparring, 5th in Novice padded sword sparring, 4th in novice forms, took 1st in novice sparring, 3rd in Novice weapons

Aurora Hudson; 1st place in First-Timer forms, 1st in First-Timer sparring,

Jesse Kniep; 4th place in Novice power breaking, 4th in Novice forms, 11th in Novice sparring, took 2nd in Novice self defense, 3rd in Novice weapons, 5th place in novice weapons

Olivia Laughlin; 6th in First-Timer power breaking, 3rd in First-Timer flag sparring, 1st in First-Timer forms, took 1st First-Timer sparring, 4th in First-Timer padded sword sparring

Riggs Laughlin; 7th in First-Timer power breaking, 7th in First-Timer flag sparring, took 1st in First-Timer forms, 1st place in First-Timer sparring, 1st in First-Timer weapons, 3rd place in First-Timer padded sword sparring

Dacen Lauriski-Adams; 6th place in Novice power breaking, took 1st in Novice flag sparring, 6th in Novice padded sword sparring, took 6th Novice forms, 5th in Novice sparring, took 5th in Novice weapons

Vance Lauriski-Adams; 5th in Novice power breaking, 7th place in Novice flag sparring,

7th in Novice padded sword sparring, 5 Novice forms, took 7th in Novice sparring, 1st place in Novice weapons

Skyler Lee; took 1st place in Novice power breaking, 6th in Novice flag sparring, took 6th in novice padded sword sparring, 2nd in novice forms, 2nd in Novice sparring, 3rd place in novice self defense, 2nd place in Novice weapons

Jason Mandros; took 6th in Novice power breaking, 1st in First-Timer forms, took 1st in

First-Timer sparring, 1st in First-Timer weapons

Marina Montoya; took 4th in Adult Intermediate forms, 2nd in Adult Intermediate sparring, 1st in Adult Intermediate self defense

Caleb Morrell; 1st in Intermediate power breaking, 4th in Intermediate

Spencer Morrell; 7th in Intermediate power breaking, 6th place in Intermediate flag sparring, 3rd in Intermediate padded sword sparring, 4th in Intermediate forms, took 4th in Intermediate sparring, 3rd in Intermediate forms

Christian Oswald; 4th in Novice power breaking, 2nd in Novice flag sparring, 7th place in novice padded sword sparring, took 4th in Novice forms, 3rd in Novice sparring, 2nd in Novice weapons