Rudolph, Presleys, Emory Lead Way at 2019 ISKA US Open

Thousands of martial artists from around the globe traveled to Florida for the 2019 ISKA U.S. Open held this weekend, including the Night of Champions event held on July 6.
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Jackson Rudolph scored his third consecutive men’s weapons championship to close out the night, beating out Cole and Reid Presley, as well as Shanin Jahanvash. Meanwhile, the 14-17 boys’ title in the category went to the third Presley brother, Jake. And with Haley Glass out due to injury, the 14-17 girls saw a new champion, with Megan Butterfield claiming the title.

Mackensi Emory took home the Women’s CMX Weapons title and added to her mantle by also claiming the CMX Forms trophy.

In teams competition, Team Paul Mitchell won the Synchronized Team Weapons category, while Team Infinity won Synchronized Teams and Team Competitive Edge upset Team Chip in Demo Teams. Team Impex defeated Team Proper 9-4 in Men’s 3-Man Point Sparring.

Reid Presley won in Men’s CMX Forms, while Mason Stowell took him gold in 14-17 Boys’ CMX Forms. Ariel Torres edged out Joey Castro in Men’s Traditional Forms, 49.94-49.92.

Morgan Plowden defeated Gaby Cunha in Women’s Open Weight Sparring, while Elijah Everill bested Bailey Murphy on the men’s side. Ackeem Anthony Lawrence beat Axel Vargas in the ITF Continuous Challenge and Javier Arteaga defeated Matias Rodriguez 7-5 in the Men’s Punox Traditional Kumite Challenge, a preview of what action will be seen at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Sandra Sanchez defeated Sakara Kokumai 26.34-25.00 in Women’s Traditional Kata.

The event also saw a Lifetime Achievement Award from ISKA given to Christine Bannon Rodriguez. Adam Grogin, meanwhile, established the record for wooden boards broken with spinning kicks in 15 seconds by breaking 40 of 60.