| AWI 2008 | Final Results |
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The Final round of Freestyle saw some awesome routines: Chiba and Gaia showed strong, their 6 in distance forgotten. Local boy Todd Murnan and Bella had what might be the round of a lifetime, with unreal catches and energy that had the crowd cheering very loudly! But all eyes were on the Champs, Rusty and Ishida, and the would-be American usurpers, Lawrence and Harley. Both teams had good routines, easily capable of high scores. But it may have been the long trip from Japan, or a long weekend, eventually Ishida blinked: his freestyle fell off a bit, and the bid to join Ashley, Bouncing Boo and Sam as the only 3-time champs was ended for a year. Lawrence Frederick and Harley brought one more incredible round, only dropping 3 discs. As the shadows grew long, there could be no doubt: Harley Davidson and Lawrence had earned the title of World Champions. It is always bittersweet to see our friends for the short period of time that we get to at competitions, and the hugs and handshakes were very liberal as the awards ceremony died down. 1 more name will get etched into the Lander Cup base, and for Lawrence Frederick, the quest to become World Champion has finally yielded fruit. Those who have been around the sport for a while know that Lawrence and Aerodynamic were very, very close in 1999, and many, many times after that they were maybe 1 catch away from the title. But a big, happy-go-lucky border collie earned the title this year, and has set the bar very high for those that will try to take it away next year. Congrats to all the competitors, and we will see you all next year! A full picture slideshow will be available shortly. Another video from the OC Register AWI 08 Final Results
Top Freestyle Score Champion | Lawrence Frederick - 93.00 points - gold medalTop Distance Score Champion | Masao Kashiwa 17.5 points* - gold medal*Mr. Kashiwa, Yoshihiro Ishida, and Matt DiAno were all tied with 17.5 points in the distance round on Sunday. The tie breaker went back to Saturday's distance score, in which Mr. Kashiwa was the winner with 15 points.JudgesJim Safford- Head Judge, Pasadena, CAEd Jakubowski- Main Judge, Salem, CT Hiroshi Ebihara- AWI Japan Main Judge, Tokyo, Japan Chuck Middleton- Main Judge, Dallas, TX Mark Jennings- Main Judge, Houston, TX Amazing canines leave the crowd wowed!!Saturday, Nov 1st, 2008-La Mirada, California AWI World Championships  Day 1 of the AWI World Championships are now complete, and we have had a terrific day here in Sunny Socal. What? You heard that it rained? ok, well, for a couple minutes, but it was immediately followed by bright SoCal Sunshine.The competition was intense, with competitors and their dogs putting forth incredible efforts all around. Chris Cabral and Caine left everyone gasping with amazing blind catches...Takayuki Muranaka and Ken displayed speed that was picked up on local radar-simply off the charts with Hustle!!...Hiroaki Kuroda and Feel showed that you can do a pretty nice set of moves with one disc-very very innovative exchanges and throws...Kazunori Chiba and Gaia made our backs hurt with flexibility and speed on throws...Lawrence and BOTH of his top 10 dogs are dropping jaws like bombs with moves no one can duplicate... All around today, the dogs have been having fun. You can see it in their faces, and drive and and the crowd reactions. This game is about an incredible bond, and it has been celebrated here today in every throw. We can't wait for the finals at Knott's Berry Farms on Sunday, but we have a nice competitor party to attend between now and then. Day 1 Standingstop 15
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