MuSool Black Belt Makes the Daytona News Journal Sports Page

Local aims for 2012 Olympic spot

By AUDREY PARENTE
Staff writer



The aggressive fighting yell of tae kwon do Olympic-hopeful Jacquelyn "Jackie" Lauricella of Port Orange is getting louder.

Lauricella -- a Spruce Creek High School senior, who was previously on the Junior Olympic Team -- placed first in her weight class at a Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center team trial recently.

The win earned her one of eight female spots on the first-ever under-24 USA National Team.

"We have a junior national team (ages 14-17) and a senior national team (ages 24-27), but we wanted to give those who are not quite senior the opportunity to compete," USA Taekwondo spokesman Bill Kellick said. "She (Lauricella) should be right at her peak for the next two Olympics (2012 and 2016)."

A featherweight, Lauricellawas scheduled to compete in France today through Saturday. But officials cancelled the team's first outing for "lack of suitable accommodations," and because "one of the (U-24 Team) coaches was sent to Afghanistan," according to a USA Taekwondo release.

A new event, a round robin which guarantees multiple fights for all participants, is being rescheduled for Mexico in April, according to USA Taekwondo CEO David Askinas.

The schedule change hasn't deterred the 18-year-old. She's determined to seek an Olympic spot on the four-member team dominated by Steven Lopez, 31. Last year his siblings, Mark Lopez, 22, and Diana Lopez, 25, made the team. Charlotte Craig, 18, rounded out the 2008 squad.

"I don't feel discouraged because they are something to look up to," Lauricella said. "It would be the greatest feeling in the world to unnerve a dynasty and take a place on the Olympic team."

Her heightened martial arts yell isn't the only change of regimen since the junior games, when she was a middleweight competing at the pack's center.

"My style of training went from every night for a couple of hours to every minute I can," she said. "I'm working out and running. I'm constantly on the move. I really want this."

She's been dieting to stay a featherweight and plans to lose another 15 pounds.

"At this weight I am a lot faster, and I am definitely one of the top contenders in this division rather than someone just in the middle," she said. "The coaches closely watch our fighting styles and attitudes."

At international competition, Lauricella will pair with national team coach Jean Lopez of Miami. But locally her trainer is Shelby Creech at Musool Academy in Port Orange.

Creech said Lauricella -- a third-degree black belt who has trained for 10 years -- is the only girl on his competition roster. Two younger male students are training for the junior team. Creech is known at USA Taekwondo, because he has competed for a spot on the team himself.

"Jean Lopez went to the same team trials as me in 1993, but not in the same weight division," said Creech, who has high hopes for Lauricella.

"It's every coach's dream to put someone on the national team," he said.