2006 North American Tae Kwon Do Championships

From left: Mark Germano, Adam Tomasik, Andrea Nelson (seated), Brian Behling,
Ben Moderson-Kox, Mike Bowler, Ryan West, Phil Hansen, and Team Instructor Tim St. Clair

    On April 30th, 2006, the UW Eagle Claw Kung Fu team took home a pile of trophies once again at the North American Nationals Tae Kwon Do tournament in Beloit. The team was welcomed back by Master Ben Pedrick, who remembered the team’s exceptional performances in years past. Veterans of the tournament Tim St. Clair, Ben Moderson-Kox, and Andrea Nelson were joined by new UW members Mike Bowler, Jed Frees, Phil Hansen, Ryan West, Adam Tomasik, UW Oshkosh’s Brian Behling and Team Evergreen’s Mark Germano. And, once again, Team UW Madison held its own, placing in every division and showing that even with fresh blood the team is a force to be reckoned with.

Results and Highlights

Men's divisions:

• In the Men’s yellow belts, newcomer Mike Bowler fought a tough fight, although he didn’t place. Ryan West, also new to the team, took home 2nd in forms and 2nd in sparring. The entire team watched his fights and everyone agreed he had to work harder than anyone else for it—we’re all looking forward to seeing him take down the competition at the next tournament.
  
• In Men’s green belts, Phil Hansen took first in forms, barely beating fellow teammate Adam Tomasik who took second after a “form-off” when they tied.  Adam went on to take first in sparring and landed some great hits on his opponents.
• Men’s red belt Ben Moderson-Kox took first in forms after a great performance.
  
• In the Men’s Over 30 division, Brian Behling took second in forms as a green belt in the intermediate division and second in sparring competing in the advanced division.
• In the Men’s Senior division, Jed Frees took third in forms as a brown belt, although his performance was better than his competition’s.
• Tim St. Clair and Mark Germano competed in Men’s Black Belt forms and fighting.  Mark took home second in forms and third in sparring after some really tough matches.

Women's divisions:

• In the Women’s red belts, Andrea Nelson placed first in forms and second in sparring, keeping with her tradition of dominating her division.

The team took home 15 trophies and showed that as always, they rise to the occasion and are ready to take on the next challenge.