The second to last day at the Super Grands concluded all of the SKIL divisions. Under belts and black belts alike finished up their competition in order to gain their last amateur titles. Tonight, however, was very different than any of the finals from the rest of the week.
The night was a mixture of the ring ceremony (where the new world champions received their prizes) and World Grand Championship competition.
The first competition of the evening was the Junior Contemporary Forms. The competition was dominated by Western competitors, as Jordan Simon and Jasmine Magallanes of Team International and Karina Hipolito of Team Pinnacle, squared off to determine who would be champion. Magallanes came on strong, but Simon’s “Welcome to the Jungle” was too much to overcome, giving him the victory and the third World Grand Championship in as many years.
We then saw the Adult Traditional division. Austin Jurgensen, Casey Nash, Brandon Bertsch, and Ashley Artese all demonstrated traditional forms that made for a very close competition. Jurgenson performed his soft form, Nash represented the Japanese division, Bertsch with traditional weapons, and Artese represented Korean. Bertsch's performance was incredibly intense, but Nash pulled through for the title after a long absence from the NBL stage.
Next it was time for the Junior Traditionalists to take the stage. Tan Nguyen (Japanese), Trevor Kim (Weapons), and Diego Marroquin (Kenpo) all attempted to outdo one another with their performances. Colbey Northcutt (Korean) bowed out of the competition. Nguyen was the victor, with a rendition of Annan that reminded us of his teacher, Kenny Lim.
The audience was than treated to sparring competition. Casey Nash and Lauren Ferguson squared off in the first round for the women. Nash defeated Ferguson 7-2 to advance to the finals. Then, teammates Tracy Martinez and Regina Thompson, put on a clinic of picture perfect sparring. Thompson’s experience was able to overcome Martinez, advancing herself to the finals. Thompson would than force a mercy against Nash, shutting her out from winning the world grand championship with a 12-2 score.
The Men’s Sparring was next, with Enrique Rodrigo scheduled to face off against Kyle Richards - except they both left to go home early. So the next match was Willie Hicks taking on longtime friend Jason Holmes. Even after a Holmes cartwheel kick, Hicks took the victory to advance. Chris Gallio had to face a big time height disadvantage with his bout against Dan Marshall. The long legs of Marshall were too much for Gallio to overcome, and Marshall advanced. Ending out the first round was Trevor Nash facing Rene Perrault. Nash pounded fellow Canadian Perrault and advanced to the next round.
It was student versus instructor, as Marshall had to fight Nash. Marshall couldn’t overcome Nash’s experience, and Nash moved on to face Hicks in the finals. It was a close bout, but Nash injured his ribs close to the end of the round. It was reminicent of two years ago when Hicks suffered a rib injury that impeded his fighting and Nash won the grands that year. Hicks would capitalize on Nash's pain, tying the score and forcing sudden death. Hicks would score in overtime, becoming the World Point Sparring Grand Champion.
The last division was the Adult Contemporary Forms division. Austin Jurgensen performed his drunken sword form, Ashley Artese performed her musical form, Casey Nash performed her weapons form, and Jeff Doss performed his musical form. Jurgensen would not only walk away with the World Grand, but also a near perfect score of 49.99 to close out the evening.
With that, the 2009 NBL Supergrands came to an almost close – there would be one more day of grappling and stick fighting on January 1. However, the NBL and SKIL divisions were all complete. Congratulations to all the competitors who made the week exciting for the sport!
