Trio Collects Medals at Minnesota Tournament
From Left to Right - Sensei Chaye Thompson, Josh Costlow, Rachel Salisbury, Jacob van Cleaf
On September 20th, 2025, three judoka from the Des Moines Judo Academy competed in the 2nd Annual Twin Cities Classic in St. Paul Minnesota. The tournament, a newly established tradition primarily drawing over 100 competitors, mostly from Minnesota and Wisconsin, saw the Des Moines Judo Academy represented by Joshua Costlow, Rachel Salisbury, and Jacob van Cleaf. Sensei Chaye Thompson was also kind enough to sacrifice his day to make the trip to advise and support his students.
Joshua, who made his tournament debut in July at the 2025 Iowa games, where he took gold, made the trip the day of the tournament with Sensei Thompson. After a brief struggle to make weight, Josh fought in the Novice Senior Men’s under 100kg division. Josh won both his matches and secured the gold in the round robin style competition against two other competitors from Midway Judo, a club located in St. Paul, Minnesota. Josh is still a white belt, primarily attending the Judo Fundamentals Classes taught by Sensei Thompson, and Thursday evening classes taught primarily by Sensei Leo Rodriguez, with Sensei Thompson assisting as an adjunct. This author looks forward to reporting his promotion in the near future.
Rachel Salisbury, a long time spectator and supporter of competitions at our dojo, recently resumed training and made her tournament debut at this event. Rachel fought in the Novice Senior Women’s [REDACTED] division (I’m stupid, but I’m not that stupid), facing two opponents in a round robin style competition. Still a white belt, Rachel fought against a green belt competitor from Madison Judo in Wisconsin, and a yellow belt competitor, cross trained in sport ju-jitsu, from Red River Judo located in Fargo North Dakota. Mz. Salisbury made an excellent first showing on the mat, at one point smoothly transitioning from ippon seoi-nage (which her opponent blocked by hipping in) to ko-uchi-makikomi, and swiftly splitting and passing an opponents guard before being stood up by the referee. Rachel secured a bronze medal for her efforts, and has since returned to her regular training with a clear focus on how and where to improve, as well as renewed vigor.
Jacob van Cleaf, a regular competitor since first starting with the Des Moines Judo Club in July of 2023, competed in the Novice Senior Men’s over 100kg and Novice Masters Men’s over 100kg categories. Jacob secured a bronze medal in the Master category, expressing that “Sensei Parkhill has always said that ‘a tournament is the equivalent of 6 months of training all at once’, and this experience has definitely helped me absorb some lessons more quickly.” Jacob has chosen to use this experience as a test run to help him focus his training for the Iowa State Championship in November.
Following the competition, the trio and instructor had an adventure exploring the local restaurant scene before returning to the Des Moines area. Congratulations all!
Rokkyu Duo Clean Up at 2025 Governor’s Cup
From Left to Right - Kasten Lappe, Jon Milledge, Ian Schaff
On March 15th, 2025, two yellow belts or “rokkyu” from the Des Moines Judo Academy made their competitive debut at the Iowa Governor’s Cup Tournament, which was hosted by Teikiatsu Judo in Ames, Iowa. Adult competitor turnout was a sharp decline from 2024, during which sensei and academy founder Bret Parkhill made his final regular appearance coaching. Despite adult participation being thinned by scheduling and recent injuries, Karsten Lappe and Jon Milledge made up for quantity with quality.
Karsten, is a young man of 22 years of age who attends most, if not all, weekday classes at our dojo and occasional Saturday open mats. Standing 6’7”, Karsten fought in the 220lbs+ senior men’s open rank, winning both his matches against the green belt, or “yonkyu,” Brent Shipley from Sempai Judo. Karsten’s first match was won by application of the “renraku waza'“ (combination technique; when two or more attacks are made in sequence) Uchi-Mata, followed by O-Soto-Gari, earning an “Ippon” (full point, which wins a match). His second match was won by scorring Ippon via “Osae Komi” (pin), a varient of Yoko-Shiho-Gatame (commonly referred to as side control in jujitsu), after taking his opponent to the ground without scoring, securing the gold medal for his division. A southpaw, Karsten is known in our club for his explosive strength, preference for extremely high collar grips, and his love of Uchi-Mata, which he’s striven to improve since he first arrived at the Des Moines Judo Academy.
Jon Milledge, a man of 35 who stands at approximately 5’8”, fought in both the senior men’s middle weight novice, and the senior men’s 161lbs & Under open rank divisions. Jon, an mma fighter in the process of winding down his mma career, is one of a pair of far travelling Judoka who consistently grace our dojo at Saturday open mats and the occasional Thursday class. Jon fought five total matches between the two divisions. While Jon lost his first match by throw for Ippon, he went on to only have one more loss for the day, by submission while attempting to pass guard. Jon’s extensive drilling of “ashi waza” (leg/foot techniques), particularly foot sweeps, showed, as he scored “Waza Ari” (half point, two of which are required to win a match) by both Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi, and De Ashi Barai. While he did win one additional match by submission, the highlight of the adult competition of this tournament was an Ippon scored using Nidan Ko-Soto-Gari as a counter to Uchi-Mata, further demonstrating Jon’s ashi waza dominance. Sensei Parkhill, reviewing a video of the match, commented that the counter was “a thing of beauty!” Jon took gold in the open rank, and silver in the novice.
Despite being the only adult judoka to take to the mat or “tatami” to represent our Academy at this tournament, they were not alone. Ian, Jon’s long time training partner and travelling companion, was also present to give his support despite being wounded. Jon’s family was also present to cheer him on, and were enthusiastic, if frequently confused. The three are seen together in the cover photo for this entry, celebrating their victory.
Great Performance at 2024 Iowa State Championship
Des Moines Judo & Sambo Academy had seven Judoka compete at the 2024 Iowa State Championship, hosted at Teikiatsu Judo in Ames, Iowa, on November 9th, with several wounded members making an appearance to coach and support.
Junior competitors Brayden and Jayce Hanssen each earned silver in their respective divisions after obtaining a win each. Senior women’s medium competitor Olivia McBee also took silver in her division. Josh Pohl, the regular instructor for Thursday evenings, took to mat to claim gold in his division, winning both matches by throw for Ippon. Upon winning his first match via his well honed drop seoi-nage, some crowd member was heard to exclaim “it’s funny when it happens to someone else!” between burst of riotous laughter. Recently joined white belt, but long time wrestler, Christian Wilson was able to claim gold after stepping onto the tatami for the first time and looks to have a strong future in his new found passion.
Lastly, the long standing rivalry between training partners and close friends (some say too close) Logan Ballanger and Jacob van Cleaf had an unexpected upset, with Jacob claiming his first two victories on the competition mat, and the Masters Heavy weight gold medal over Logan. Ballanger found some measure of revenge in the Senior 220+lbs division, claiming victory by pin with Kesa Gatame.