It was another great showing for Team Lloyd Irvin at the NAGA Virginia on February 28th. Here are some of the results:
Head coach Danny Ives got back to his old ways in winning the mens advanced 170-179 weight class. He beat his first opponent 5-4 and his second 22-2. Danny hadn’t competed in a while and had a bit of a slow start but he got it together, in the end he split the finals with teammates Roberto Torralbas and Jon Delbrugge.
Matt Brannon was just amazing in winning the mens white belt 140-149 weight class. This was Matt’s first time competing in the gi and he was impressive in a division that had over 20 other competitors in it. Matt submitted all but one opponent in route to the gold medal. He got much use out of his “Judo” armbar from the turtle position and using very good guard passing didn’t hurt either. Way to go Matt!
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Paul Peck scooped up a silver medal in the Nogi mens masters 180-189 weight class. He did very well leading up to the finals, hitting some very skillful moves. He came up short for the championship but he will learn from this and come back stronger then ever.
Teresa Russin was in some wars, in the nogi division she placed third and along the way showed why she is known for her never say die style. She was caught in some brutal chokes and armbars but refused to give up and fought out of everything. She also picked up a nice black eye to sport around town!
Honorable mention for some others that got out there and fought hard but didn’t place:
Jack Dawson
Eric Davis
Matt Hall
All in all, NAGA Virginia was a great learning experience for Ivey League and we look forward to the next competition.
