Monday, April 14, 2008

Navy Boxers Capture Individual Titles at Collegiate Nationals!

Three boxers from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD captured titles at the Collegiate Boxing Championships in Reno, NV this weekend.

In the 139-pound division, Antone Aku won a 3-2 decision over Terrell Anthony of Army. Mike Steadman captured the 175-pound championship with a 4-1 decision over Kenny Dyer-Redner of Nevada. In the Heavyweight division, Jeff Laupola captured the crown by defeating Mansfield's Chris Phifer by a 5-0 decision.

Two more Midshipmen made it to the finals but Mikoto Yoshida lost a 3-2 decision to Dean Chuba of the Air Force Academy in the 112-pound class and Jeremiah Oliver dropped a 5-0 decision to Aaron Lynch of Lock Haven.

Army won the team title. The University of Maryland also sent a team to the nationals.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The University of Maryland qualified the following boxers to the tournament:

Russ Williams 156 lbs
Mark Shorr 185 lbs
Josh Stone HWT

Williams lost in the opening round to the eventual national runner up from Air Force. It was a 4-1 split decision with one card tied and the judge giving the bout to Air Force on aggression.

Shorr defeated his opponent from Kentucky in the quarterfinal opening round and lost in the semifinals to the returning national champion from UNLV. The bout was a controversial split decision with Shorr landing many clean right hands in the final round. A 3-2 split decision with one judge giving the third round (and decision) to UNLV despite Shorr clearly winning the final round. Had he won, he would have had a rematch from the regional tournament against eventual 2008 Champion Steve Solaja from Army.

Josh Stone drew the eventual national champion from Navy in the first round. In his losing effort, he gave Navy the most competitive bout of the heavyweight champion's run through the tournament.

These three UMD boxers are all sophomore's and juniors, and all of their losses at the national tournament came by way of seniors at the other universities. Next year the Terps expect to have a larger roster to send to the national tournament, as they are a growing team. Additionally, we are submitting a bid to host the national championships in 2010 at Ritchie Coliseum in College Park, MD.

For more info check out:

www.terpsboxing.com
www.thecollegiatenationals.com

Thanks!
Luke Runion
Coach, UMD

Anonymous said...

The Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) just announced their list of Referee/ Judges for the '08 Olympics in Beijing and Navy boxing coach Jim McNally who has also been a long time official is on the list representing the USA.
http://www.aiba.org/en-US/news/ozqsp/newsId/607/news.aspx