In just the second tournament of the fall semester, Texas A&M judo competed in front of the 12th Man on Oct. 18 at the Go Shibata Memorial. With competition varying from in-state opponents to Australia, some key Aggie contributors ensured the Maroon and White finished second of the participating 31 teams.
By the end of the competition 8 of the 20 medals A&M earned were gold. The scoring was based on a system where each medal denomination holds a certain point value, the Aggies’ 71 point total was only topped by Westlake Judo Clubs 82.
This success is thanks mostly to the club’s two coaches, Bob Perez and Dan Gomez. Both hold the godan belt rank — an honor denoting a high level of mastery. According to the team’s website, Perez has been practicing judo for over 40 years and is now positioned to pass his wisdom on to other competitors.
There were a handful of standout judoka throughout Saturday’s tournament. While this is only the second event of the season, financial planning freshman Joel Hetzel has led the team in wins throughout the start of fall with eight. He won his four matchups at Go Shibata to win gold in the men’s novice under-81kg division, an improvement from bringing home a bronze medal when the team traveled to Plano for the Becerra Judo Challenge on Sept. 13.
Kinesiology junior Steven Salazar’s performance pushed him near the top of the Aggies’ active win leaders. Adding two victories along with the gold medal in senior men under 73kg puts him at 50 career wins across four years with the team, according to the A&M judo’s Instagram. Above him for total wins is applied mathematics senior Paolo Maaskant, who has totaled 51 victories during his time with the team.
Next, the club is scheduled to visit Plano on Nov. 22 for the Dallas Open Judo Championship. For any potential fighters, the registry closes four days before the event and can be found on the Smoothcomp website designated for this tournament. The next day, A&M will compete in the President’s Cup, held in the same Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas.
