Description

In the month of May there is no better place to be than Daytona Beach, Florida and the Best place to be in Daytona Beach is the Gator Nationals World Karate Championships. The Gator Nationals does things a little different, like showcasing the youth and women fighters on stage during the Grand Championships. This year both girls and boys fighting finals were held on the stage. For the girls there was Melanie Ortiz vs Felicia Marcial and Melanie would win this battle. For the boys there were two divisions, first was the 14-15 year olds with Dylan Suarez taking on Andrew Schmetzer, and in a slugfest Dylan would come from behind to win. Next up,16-17, Ernesto Valdez faced Alex Vargara. When the dust settled Ernesto had defeated Alex 3 to 2. There were two women’s fighting divisions on stage, first up Women’s Mystery Tag Team with Jessica Robeson and Jodi Schaubschlager winning and Jessica would also go on to win the women’s Sparring Overall Grand Championship by defeating Katie Smith 4 – 3. Youth Weapons saw Cole Eckert win the 13 under title and Audrey Donihoo win 14-17 division. Mackensi Emory defeated Cole Eckert to win the 13 under Forms Grand. Austin Crain won in a stacked 14-17 Forms division. The Gator’s again the innovator separated the Adult Weapons and Forms Divisions First up the women with Caitlin Dechelle continuing her dominance of the Women’s Divisions by winning both the Weapons and Forms Titles. Kalman Csoka won the Men’s Weapons title by defeating Marc Canonizado and Ross Levine. Ross would face team mate Jason Bourelly in the Men’s Sparring Championships and this time he would not be denied as he beat Jason at the buzzer by a score of 5-4. Joe Anon won the Executive Men’s Forms, Scott Wu won Men’s Forms with 4 10s, the most of the evening. Team Velocity beat Team Full Circle to take home the Team Sparring Trophy. KICK Team was back and dominated the Team Demos Division beating out Team Florida Sports Martial Arts and Team Talent. Marc Canonizado and Caitlin Dechelle of Team Paul Mitchell continue their control over the Team Sync Division. What a better way to end this weekend of competition than with the after party being held on the beach! See you Next Year!