On May 25, at the Newman Fitness Center, on Fort Stewart, 156 Third Infantry Division Soldiers
competed for the chance to represent the Marne Division at the All-Army Combatives Tournament, at Fort Hood, Texas in July.
If 3rd ID wins at this year’s tournament, they will host next year’s tournament and receive funding for more Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs for Soldiers.
The Soldiers competed in humid weather all day to compete to be the best. If a Soldier lost twice then they were eliminated from the competition.
The division will send 16 Soldiers to compete in eight weight categories and will send an additional eight alternates.
Third Heavy Brigade Combat Team was awarded the Commander’s Cup for having 10 Soldiers who won either first or second place in their weight categories, out of the 16 total first or second place finishers.
One of the 3rd Brigade Soldiers, specialist Ashley Green, a water purification specialist, won for the flyweight category.
“This has been a passion of mine before I joined the Army,” she said. “It feels awesome. I trained my butt off. I trained about three to four times a day.”
“All the hard work’s paid off. The competition is July 23. I’ll be training all day every day until then. It’s a great day.”
Colonel Thomas James, deputy commanding general for maneuver, was on hand to see the tournament.
He congratulated the participants of the competition for their hard work.
“We talk about the warrior ethos in this organization,” he said. “And I saw it here today. I saw sportsmanship and I saw teammates and I saw a lot of good fighting. My hat’s off to all of you.
There is no Army in this world that would want to fight you in hand-to-hand combat.”
This tournament is significant for 3rd ID because this is the first time that Soldiers from Fort Stewart, Fort Benning, and Hunter Army Airfield all competed at the same location. This is
also the first time every unit has been represented at the Marne Combatives Tournament.
Here are the top winners of the weight classes: In the Bantamweight class, Pvt. Alana Mozelle, with, 3rd HBCT, took top prize. She also was awarded female champion for the tournament. Private First Class Krista Maag, with the, 1st HBCT, came in second. Private First Class Johelli Reyes, 3rd SB, won 3rd place. In the Flyweight category, Spc. Ashley Green, with 3rd HBCT, took top honors. Specialist Wakely Rogers, with 3rd HBCT, took 2nd and Pvt. Cody Ramon won 3rd place.
In the Lightweight category, Pvt. Chester Howell, with 3rd SB, took home top honors. Private First Class Karl Williams, with 3rd HBCT, took home 2nd, and Sgt. Corey Addison, with 2nd HBCT, took home 3rd place.
In the Welterweight Category, Pfc. Hanlin Liu, with 3rd HBCT, took home 1st place. Second place went to Cpl.Brett Larned, with 3rd HBCT. Specialist Jorge Huizar, with 3rd HBCT, took home
3rd place honors. Sergeant First Class Set McDowell, with 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade won
the Middleweight Category. Specialist Jonathon Medieros, with 3rd HBCT, was
runner-up in the category. Specialist Ahmad Harrell, with 3rd SB, took home 3rd.
In the Cruiserweight category, Pfc.Brian Wilson, with 3rd HBCT, took top honors. Specialist Craig Crain, with 3rd SB took second and 3rd place went to Sgt. Jerome Thomas, with 3rd SB.
Light Heavyweight top honors went to Pfc. Austin Avera, with 3rd CAB. Specialist Michael Carey, with 3rd HBCT took second, and Cpt. Christopher Haskell, also with 3rd HBCT, won 3rd.
In the Heavyweight Category, Spc. Nathaniel Freeman, with 1st HBCT, won first place. Private First Class Jeremy Myers, with 3rd HBCT, took home second, and 1st Lt. Zarod Capers
took home 3rd place.
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