Cadets and Juniors Gear Up for Pan Am Championships in Ecuador
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by Bill Kellick
(Colorado Springs, CO) – The top U20 and U17 athletes from across North and South America will battle for gold in Guayaquil, Ecuador, April 28-30, at the Junior and Cadet Pan American Championships.
Cadet Preview
The action begins on Tuesday, April 28, with the Cadet (U17) competition, in which 19 U.S. athletes will compete in eight men’s and seven women’s weight categories. This year’s U.S. cadet squad features 11 first-time team members. These young athletes will be looking to prove themselves and contribute to a cadet squad that won 10 medals at last year's event in Lima, Peru.
The cadet men's team is led by four returning team members, including 2025 bronze medalist and world No. 1 at 55kg, Sebastian Teran (Pompano Beach, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center. Other returning members from the 2025 cadet men's team include Jannaco Searcy (Atlanta, Ga. / Black Ice Judo) at 50kg, Shota Kundukhashvili (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Caucasas Judo) at 81kg, and Nicholas Zadvinskiy (Staten Island, N.Y. / Cranford JKC) at 90kg.
The women's cadet team also has four returning, including three previous medalists, led by returning champion and world No. 7 at 48kg, Amaris Bell (Pembroke Pines, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center). Aubrey Genereux (Port Saint Lucie, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center) won a bronze medal at 52kg in 2024 and finished fifth in 2025. This year, she moves up to the 57kg division. Rhadi Ferguson, Jr. (Tampa, Fla. / High Noon Judo) is a returning silver medalist at +70kg, and will be joined by 2025 team member Chrystal Monthe Noussi (Fort Worth, Texas / Fort Worth Judo Club) competing in the 70kg division.
Junior Preview
The U.S. Junior Team also had a 10-medal performance at last year's championships in Peru and features a wealth of experience with 11 returning team members who have Pan Am experience at the cadet and/or junior level. That 17-member junior roster features a pair of world No. 1 athletes and two more ranking in the top 10.
On the men's team are world No. 1's Jonathan Yang (Los Angeles, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team) at 60kg and Daniel Liubimovski (Staten Island, N.Y. / NYAC / Colton Brown Training Center) at 100kg, along with world No. 7 Daniel Shulgin (Philadelphia, Pa. / Yawara Force) at 81kg.
Yang, the 2024 cadet world champion and 2025 junior world bronze medalist, has won consecutive bronze medals at the Junior Pan Am Championships the past two years, to go along with a cadet bronze in 2023 and cadet gold in 2024. He has also captured a bronze at the Senior Pan Am Championships in 2025 and a silver medal at last week's Senior Pan Am Championships in Panama.
Liubimovski has accumulated five medals at the cadet and junior levels. He won gold at the Cadet Pan Am Championships in 2023 and followed that up with a bronze medal in 2024. At the junior level, he has reached the podium the last three years with a silver medal in 2023, gold in 2024 and bronze last year.
Shulgin won gold at the cadet level in 2024 and earned a bronze medal in the junior competition last year.
Another men's junior team members who has reached the podium at the Cadet Pan Am Championships includes Octavio DeOliveira (Lynnfield, Mass. / Pedro's Judo Center), who captured a bronze medal at 81kg in 2023.
Emily Jaspe (Hialeah, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center), world No. 3 at 63kg, leads the junior women's team into Guayaquil. Jaspe won cadet gold in 2022 and cadet silver in 2023. At the Junior Pan Am Championships, she has mounted the podium three times, winning bronze in 2022 and 2023, and gold in 2024.
She will be joined by returning Junior Pan Am team members Chloe Williams (Stafford, Va. / High Noon Judo) at 70kg and Rhadi Ferguson, Jr. (Tampa, Fla. / High Noon Judo) at +78kg. They both own Cadet Pan Am medals from 2025, with Ferguson winning silver last year and Williams earning a bronze medal.
Athlete Roster
Cadet Men’s 50 kg
Taylor Do Carmo (Lehigh Acres, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Jannaco Searcy (Atlanta, Ga. / Black Ice Judo)
Cadet Women’s 44 kg
Lily Infantado (Lehigh Acres, Fla. / Chief Pride Judo Club)
Clara Notopradono (San Gabriel, Calif. / Colton Brown Training Center)
Cadet Men’s 55 kg
Sebastian Teran (Pompano Beach, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Cadet Women’s 48 kg
Amaris Bell (Pembroke Pines, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Alexandra Erb (Adams, Tenn. / Tri-Star Judo Team)
Cadet Men’s 60 kg
Hector Sanchez (Miami, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Cadet Women’s 52 kg
Madison Nguyen (Sunland, Calif. / Los Angeles Tenri Judo Dojo)
Cadet Men’s 66 kg
Daniel Lima (Coral Springs, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Cadet Women’s 57 kg
Aubrey Genereux (Port Saint Lucie, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Cadet Men’s 73 kg
Sascha Lievano (Berkeley, Calif. / Griffin Judo)
Cadet Women’s 63 kg
Mckinley Wells (Justin, Texas / Chandler Judo Academy)
Cadet Men’s 81 kg
Shota Kundukhashvili (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Caucasas Judo)
Cadet Women’s 70 kg
Chrystal Monthe Noussi (Fort Worth, Texas / Fort Worth Judo Club)
Cadet Men’s 90 kg
Taras Petrovskiy (Bothell, Wash. / Washington Judo Academy)
Nicholas Zadvinskiy (Staten Island, N.Y. / Cranford JKC)
Cadet Women’s +70 kg
Rhadi Ferguson, Jr. (Tampa, Fla. / High Noon Judo)
Cadet Men’s +90 kg
Judah Harris (Kenly, N.C. / El Toro Judo Club)
Junior Women’s 48 kg
Iya Sadanchikova (Pahoa, Calif. / San Jose State University Judo)
Junior Men’s 60 kg
Jonathan Yang (Los Angeles, Calif. / USA Judo National Resident Team)
Junior Women’s 52 kg
Madison Nguyen (Sunland, Calif. / Los Angeles Tenri Judo Dojo)
Junior Men’s 66 kg
Liam Kesler (San Jose, Calif. / CJ Judo)
Junior Women’s 57 kg
Ellianna Abbott (Rayne, La. / Colton Brown Training Center)
Junior Men’s 73 kg
Domenico Ternullo (Lynn, Mass. / Pedro's Judo Center)
Junior Women’s 63 kg
Emily Jaspe (Hialeah, Fla. / Ki-Itsu-Sai National Training Center)
Junior Men’s 81 kg
Daniel Shulgin (Philadelphia, Pa. / Yawara Force)
Octavio DeOliveira (Lynnfield, Mass. / Pedro's Judo Center)
Junior Women’s 70 kg
Chrystal Monthe Noussi (Fort Worth, Texas / Fort Worth Judo Club)
Chloe Williams (Stafford, Va. / High Noon Judo)
Junior Men’s 90 kg
Nicholas Zadvinskiy (Staten Island, N.Y. / Cranford JKC)
Junior Women’s 78 kg
Allison Miller (Marion, Ind. / Marion PAL Judo)
Junior Men’s 100 kg
Daniel Liubimovski (Staten Island, N.Y. / NYAC / Colton Brown Training Center)
Caedmon Haddad (Evergreen, Colo. / USA Judo National Resident Team)
Junior Women’s +78 kg
Rhadi Ferguson, Jr. (Tampa, Fla. / High Noon Judo)
Junior Men’s +100 kg
Gabriel Wilson (Newalla, Okla. / USA Stars Foundation)
