UW MADISON KUNG FU TEAM HITS BIG AT SEVENTH ANNUAL GREAT LAKES KUNG FU NATIONALS.

WUSHU KUNGFU MAGAZINE COVERAGE JANUARY '99 ISSUE, PAGE 93

On Saturday April 25th 1998, members of UW Madison's Eagle Claw Kung Fu National competition team joined forces with teammates from Chicago, Evergreen State College in Washington, Boston's U-Mass and Westfield State College to compete at the 7th Annual Great Lakes Kung Fu tournament in Cleveland Ohio; the biggest of all Chinese martial arts competitions in the Mid-West. UW-Madison teammates included club president Noam Reininger, Greg Rosen, Paul and Mark Villarreal, Jessie Lange, Michael Diensch and former UW Madison and current Evergreen State College Kung Fu Club president Sam Haskin. The team was lead by Grandmaster Fu Leung and Sifu Dana G. Daniels.

The day started off with forms competition, in which contestants performed their martial routines before a panel of judges. In the beginner level division UW-Oshkosh teammate Brenden Townsend won fourth place and Chicago teammates Pete Himargious (head instructor Chicago club), Angelo Ladas , Gorgie Patrinos took two silvers and a gold in advanced, intermediate and youngsters divisions respectively. Bob Parks, also an instructor in Chicago, took the silver in advanced weapons-sword division. Madison Club President Noam Reininger won a bronze in the Advanced Black belt division.

Some of the most outstanding achievements of the team were in the sparring competition later that day. There were three levels of fighting: Light contact, Semi-Contact and Full Contact. The team excelled in all three. In the Light-Contact Intermediate heavyweight arena, Boston teammate Gary broke all of his opponents down and finished with the gold. Dennis (Chicago) and Brenden Townsend (Oshkosh) took third and fourth places in the beginner lightweight class and UW-Madison student Michael Diensch took bronze in heavyweight in his first showing with the Eagle Claw Club.

The most aggressive fighting of the competition was in the semi-contact division, where competitors were allowed to continuously fight their opponents for a two minute round. In the lightweight division, after four tough fights, UW-Oshkosh student Nate Sonnenberg took the bronze. In addition, two UW-Madison teammates, Noam Reininger and Greg Rosen as well as Boston's Isham Guess using his "drunken monkey style", despite obvious victories and complete domination of their opponents in the ring, were disqualified for excessive contact. UW-Madison's coaches Master Fu and Sifu Daniels argued heatedly a number of times over these types of calls from the judges, who at times appeared to have a bias towards the local favorites. Mark Villarreal, UW-Madison masters graduate and currently a schoolteacher in Milwaukee performed well in his matches. His brother, Paulito "Viper" Villarreal, made quite a showing with his unusually evasive style of fighting. In the heavyweight division, the team swept all competition aside and landed gold, silver and bronze. Winners were Bob Tyler (Chicago) Sam Haskin (Evergreen State) and Gary (Westfield). Chicago teammate CC Cynroff was clearly on his way to fourth place but again was disqualified for excessive contact in a well placed roundhouse kick that drew blood. In a somewhat unusual and generous display of sportsmanship, his opponent gave him the fourth place medal, saying, "You won it".

After a long day of hard competition, the arena sat silent for the San Shou division; a full contact bout of three two minute rounds which is similar to kick-boxing, but includes ground-throws. Greg Rosen, UW-Madison's fighting team captain, nationally ranked Semi-Contact gold medallist in the United States of America Wushu Kung Fu Federation (USAWKF) '96 and former wrestling champion, took the silver medal in the 156 pound weight division after knocking his opponent onto the mat several times.

In all, the UW-Madison team along with their national teammates brought home eighteen medals. A lasting impression was surely made in the minds of opponents, judges and spectators alike and the day will not soon be forgotten.

As a final word, the UW Madison Eagle Claw Kung Fu team would like to thank its supporters and non-competing members for their efforts. They would also like to thank their coaches, Grandmaster Fu Leung and Sifu Dana Daniels for the training that lead them to victory and the UW Union coordinators for arranging training space. The team is currently looking for sports minded competitors and new members for general training at all levels.

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