A new face was at the helm of the Kentridge High judo team this spring.
The same old successful results, however, followed.
The Chargers continued to move into uncharted territory last Saturday, bringing home six gold medals and capturing their eighth-consecutive state championship.
First-year coach Jeff Tibeau admitted there was a slight sense of relief from winning the title.
“For me personally (winning state) was really important because it was my first year,” Tibeau said. “Just to be able to continue what Philip Davis has done … to see the kids step up and just continue to perform year after year no matter who’s at the helm. It really says a lot about their character.”
Fittingly, Tibeau, a 1988 Kentwood High graduate, was a student of former coach Philip Davis.
“We pretty much do the same things,” Tibeau said. “To continue the excellence we’ve always had is nice.”
And the Chargers certainly were excellent on Saturday, taking first place with 89 points followed by second-place Enumclaw at 53.
Kentlake also enjoyed a banner day, collecting a school-record 61 points in taking third.
But the buzz surrounding the tournament, which was held at Kentridge High, was another workman performance by the Chargers. Taking first in their respective weight classes for Kentridge was Matt Degrate, Matthew Campos, Ed Kuo, Alton Lu, Fiona Kang and Christie Chin.
The state title was the perfect way to finish a perfect season for Kentridge, which earned a sweep of judo’s three crown jewels this year: the Puget Sound Judo League championship, the George Wilson Challenge Cup and the state championship.
The Wilson Cup, which Kentridge won earlier this month, symbolizes supremacy among the four Kent District high schools. It was Kentridge’s fourth straight title in the event. The Chargers also completed a perfect run through league competition at 8-0.
The state title is Kentridge’s ninth in the last 12 years.
“(Winning all three) was really something the captains decided that we really wanted and we trained hard for it,” said Degrate. “We kept with our tradition.”
Degrate was particularly good. By winning the gold medal at the state tournament, the Kentridge senior — like his team — finished the season with a perfect record.
“It was nice to have an undefeated season,” said Degrate, who will attend Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. in the fall. “I haven’t had one since I started judo.”
The key to this year’s success proved to be the successful blending of the younger and older athletes, Tibeau noted.
“Going into this year … we had our doubters,” he said. “We had a number of seniors not return for various reasons and we were concerned about filling all the weight slots. That worried us a little bit. But that made the younger kids step up even more. The captains brought them along.”
Front and center among the captains were Degrate and Campos.
Though the Chargers received plenty from a handful of youngsters on Saturday as well. Of note were golden performances from Kuo, a sophomore, and Lu, a freshman.
And while Kentridge proved dominant once again, the three other Kent School District teams — Kentlake, Kent-Meridian and Kentwood — also enjoyed a nice level of success. Kent-Meridian’s Annie Atkinson and Vince Cruz both bagged first-place finishes. Along with registering a program-record 61 points, Kentlake also received a golden day from Caitlin Johnston. Tyler Westover and Emily Halverson added silver medals for the Falcons. Ed Kang and Katie Stillings proved to be Kentwood’s top placers as each grabbed silver medals.
But the tournament, along with the season, belonged to Kentridge.
“They really worked as a team this year regardless of experience,” Tibeau said.
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