Dojo Continues Pattern of Excellence at 2026 Governor’s Cup
The 2026 Governor’s Cup was held on March 7th in Ames this year at Teikiatsu Judo, with 61 total participants, a twenty-five percent (25%) increase over last year. Among the adult judoka who took to the mat that day, only three (3) hailed from the Des Moines Judo Academy: Logan Ballanger (yonkyu/green belt), Joseph Swedenhjelm (rokyu/yellow belt), and Rachel Salisbury (rokyu/yellow belt). The trio was coached by Sensei Chaye Thompson.
Salisbury awarded medal
Rachel fought in the women’s combined bracket, facing familiar opponents Zoe Mytides and Alayna Guschin. Rachel’s first match was against Zoe, and was characterized by Mytides alternation between powerful pushes straight back and rightward circular motion to create openings for footsweeps and reaps. Rachel demonstrated growth in the face of this aggressive style of play, focusing on maintaining good balance and posture, while waiting for the ideal opportunity to attack. Salisbury was taken down once early in the match during a failed attempt at a drop morote-seoi-nage (her preferred attack), which saw Zoe awarded a yuko before Salisbury obtained a half-guard and the pair were returned to their feet. After returning to the action on their feet, Rachel charged in for a chain of attempts at sasae-tsurikomi-ashi, throwing Zoe out of position, allowing Rachel to attempt to move into position for tani-otoshi. Unfortunately, Zoe caught on and slipped out of position, before scoring ippon with o-uchi-gari. Against Alayna, Salisbury scored a quick waza ari on her first attack (o-soto-gari) after obtaining a grip following some initial grip fighting. Salisury followed her waza ari up with an attempt at kesa-gatame that rapidly transitioned to koshi-jime, but didn’t quite secure the submission. After returning to their feet for another bout, Alayna was reluctant to grip with Rachel, who none the less secured a grip on her opponent and obtained a second waza ari via drop morote-seoi-nage, winning her the match. Rachel took home a silver medal from this competition.
Ballanger (on right) grips up with opponent.
Logan Ballanger competed in the heavy men’s novice (which was large enough to be split into two divisions), the master’s heavy, and the senior men’s heavy divisions. He fought seven (7) of his eight (8) scheduled matches before succumbing to injury and being forced to concede the final match, earning one silver medal and two bronze. Ballanger established dominance early, winning his first match swiftly by obtaining guard as the follow up to a failed sumi-geashi, then making his opponent submit with kata-juji-jime.
Left to Right: Referee Scheid, Logan Ballanger, Joseph Swedenhjelm
Ballanger’s second match was a dynamic battle with Joseph Swedenhjelm (“Joe Swede” or “Swede” for short), with Joe leaning heavily on his wrestling experience, adopting a thoroughly bent over posture. Ballanger leveraged his superior experience, first as a judoka, by using a lapel and over the back grip of the belt to gain control over the larger man and foil his attempt as sumi-geashi, and then as a jujistuka, by using a peterson roll when he ended up in the bottom on turtle after the scramble, to reverse the position and end up in ushiro-kesa-gatame. Swede rapidly escaped Ballanger’s ushiro-kesa-gatame via leg entanglement, resulting in the two being stood up. After being stood up, Logan immediately obtained a double sleeve grip and began playing defensively, until Swede freed one hand to secure a belt grip, prompting Logan to attempt uchi-mata, which took both competitors to the ground, with Swede landing on top. Ballanger was in good position and seemed like he might escape this as well, but unfortunately turned into Swede as he rolled to escape, rather than away from him, tightening his hold, allowing him to assume mune-gatame and secure the win via osae-komi.
Logan fought Erik Whiting of Sempai Judo, located in Nebraska, several times. In the first match between the two, Ballanger attempted to distract his opponent with antics, but failed in the attempt, being foot swept with de-ashi-barai in approximately 10.5 second, for the fastest adult ippon of the day. In their second match, Ballanger approached Whiting with more intensity and more defensively, dodging several foot sweeps and attempts to get inside or hip throws, while attempting, and at one point succeeding, at maneuvering Whiting to the ground without giving up a throw. After being stood up, and then receiving a shido for going out of bounds, Ballanger countered Whiting’s attempt at uchi-mata with ura-nage, securing an ippon and the win.
In Ballanger’s final match of the day, he fought Joseph Swede again. The match was much more dynamic, with the two clashing fiercely several times, only to end unfortunately. Swede finally managed to use his bent posture to maneuver into position for a hip throw, tossing Ballanger with o goshi for ippon, but landing on the side of Ballanger’s knee and ankle in the process. The resulting injuries temporarily stopped action, while medical staff check out Logan and determined him to be okay, before instructing that he sit out his final match of the competition.
Left to right - Joseph Swede and Erik Whiting awarded medals
Joseph Swede starting the morning with the first match of the day, a master’s men’s heavy match against Erik Whiting, an brown belt an experience competitor. Despite the difference in experience, Swede manage to counter an early attempt at uchi-mata by Whiting with tani-otoshi, earning Swede a yuko with a move he’d only learned approximately a week earlier. Once on the ground, the award of yuko caused some confusion for the competitors, who slowed briefly before succumbing to the crowd’s urging to continue, with Swede gaining the top position in the resulting scramble. Whiting obtained a half guard, which Swede passed with some difficulty, but not before Whiting was able to turn face down, a position he maintained until the pair was stood up. When action recommenced, the pair gripped up with Whiting applying the “sticky foot” method of de-ashi-barai, leading to a brief hopping exchange and Swede attempted to free his foot. While Joe was able to finally get his foot free, Erik capitalized on the moment, charging in for o-soto-gari, winning the match by ippon. Despite this, Swede left the tournament with silver medals in both the men’s master’s heavy and the men’s novice heavy.
