On the road, the Moose Jaw Judo Club has already built its reputation.

Now, they hope to start building it at home and they got a good start to that Saturday at Palliser Campus.

Close to 100 competitors took part in the culb's first tournament and while the numbers were down considerably from what was expected, the tournament was still an overwhelming sucess.

"We had a lot of things to compete with this weekend," explained Moose Jaw assistant coach Jim Wiens who was expecting between 200 and 300 competitors.

"There was a national coaching seminar going on and there was a large tournament in Spokane, too.

"And it's still early in the season," he added. "A lot of clubs don't get started until the middle of September and that only gives them a month to train and a lot of coaches might feel that that's not enough time for their new members to get ready for their first tournament."

Add to that the fact that few knew what to expect from a Moose Jaw-based event.

"A lot of people come to tournaments based on the tournament's reputation and because this was our first one, we didn't really have much to go on," Wiens said. "But I think we did a lot to establish that reputation this weekend.

"Everything went smoothly and all the people I talked to were happy with the way things went."

As expected, things also went well for the Moose Jaw competitors who dominated several events and ended up winning 10 divisions while placing in the top three a total of 35 times.

For example, the local club totally dominated the men's under-78kg. division with Jarrod Erickson winning the gold over clubmate John McCubbing. Moose Jaw's Ryan Stich was third, followed by Jarrod Robinson and Jason Warren, both of Moose Jaw.

In the Cadet Boys (12 and under) division, Kyle Beckett won the under-27kg. division, Glen Cullen and Jesse Dickner were one-two in the 32 kg. event, Eli Jacobson was second in the plus-59kg. division and Vincent Langevin was third in the under-35 kg. division.

Moose Jaw swept the Cadet Girls under-32 kg. division with Tiara Dawm finishing first ahead of Kailey Large and Stephanie Legault.

Dawm also finished third in the under-36 kg. event.

Meaghen Cullen won the under 41-kg. event ahead of Jennifer Fatteicher while in the under-45 kg. event Sheena Barns beat Hayley Alix in the final. Leah Jacobson managed a third place finish in the under-50kg. division and was also second in the Juvenile Girls (13-15) under-48 kg. event.

In the Juvenile Boys Division, Peter Cave was second in the under-40 kg. event, Travis Larsen was second in the under-45 kg. event, Dustin Large was second in the under-50 kg. event and Stephen Erickson was third in the under-64 kg. division.

In Juvenile Girls, Elizabeth Legault was second in under-40 while in Junior Men (19-under) Josh Wiens won the plus-86kg. division while Jarrod Robinson was second in the under-78kg. event.

Moose Jaw's Jeff Nelson was a double winner among the senior men, winning the under-60 and under-65 kg. events, Stich won the under-86 kg. event and Warren was third in the under 71-kg. event.

In the advanced senior men's division (blue to black belt holdes), Allen Fernell won the under-95 kg. event and Josh Wiens and Jim Wiens placed second and third respectively, in the plus-95 kg. event.

Appeared in the Moose Jaw Times-Herald Oct 16, 1995