A small Cadet-aged crew from the Moose Jaw Koseikan Judo Club collected a not-so-small amount of medals at the Saskatoon YMCA Judo tournament Saturday.

A contingent of 11 Cadet boys and girls walked out of Saskatoon with two gold medals, four silvers medals and a pair of bronze medals.

"Probably the best performance there was Brock Pearson," said coach Garth Rivers. Pearson lost only one match in the round robin and was able to avenge that defeat in the final, coming back through the 'B' side to win the gold in a bout that took only five seconds.

Brady Smith won gold in the Cadet boys under-23 kg class and looked good. Also, the silver medalist in the Cadet girls under-52 kg class was impressive, according to Rivers.

"Haley Walz has a tough division but she's getting a lot better," said Rivers of the Koseikan competitor. "She was fighting hard and she lost out to a girl she always loses to, but she put on a good show."

Also picking up silver medals were Adam Langdon, who finished second in Cadet boys under-46 Kg; Brianna Walz in the Cadet girls under-30 kg and Rebecca Hanson in the Cadet girls under-34 kg. Taryn Montgomery won bronze in the Cadet girls under-30 kg class and Eryn Langdon, took third place in the Cadet girls under-34 kg.

The tournament may not have the prestige of the international meet they club recently returned from in Edmonton, but it did have an important person in the crowd in provincial coach Fedor Lazarenko.

"It's pretty good tournament for them," Rivers said. "It shows what they can do and with the provincial coach watching, and it shows him what he's about to see coming up and what he'll expect for future team Saskatchewan members."

The young fighters also gained some valuable small tournament experience.

"For how few fighters we had, we did pretty good," said Rivers. "We had a few that tried their hardest but they couldn't quite pull it in. Overall the club did really good."

Their next action is at a Prince Albert tournament at the end of April.

Appeared in the Moose Jaw Times-Herald Apr 3, 2007