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Burke, VA—Miss Shaina Krause, 18 years old, from the Phan University of Martial Arts in Burke, Virginia, came home with the silver medal in the featherweight black belt category at the USA Taekwondo’s (USAT’s) Senior National Championship recently held in Orlando, Florida.

Miss Krause competed against top athletes from all over the nation. Her division had representatives from all 50 states. For the first time at a USAT senior national championship, the LaJust Electronic Body Protectors were used as a scoring system for the 14-17 year-old and adult (18-32 year-old) sparring divisions, according to USAT.

By placing in the top two in her division at the USAT Senior National Championship, she qualifies for three team trials; these consist of the 2011 Pan American Games Team Trials, the 2011 World Taekwondo Championship Team Trials, and the 2012 Olympic Team Trials. Miss Krause said “I would like to thank Master Le for all the years he has devoted to me to get me to this level where I wanted to be.”

Miss Krause has been an up-and-coming taekwondo champion for many years. She is a current member of the 2009 American Athletic Union (AAU) Senior National Team and will be competing for the 2010 AAU Senior National Team in September 2010, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. As an AAU Team Member, she represented the USA at the Spanish Open in Alicante, Spain, in April 2010. She won gold at the 2009 Toronto Open in the featherweight category.

Miss Krause took first place in the featherweight black belt category at the USAT Junior Olympic Championships in Detroit, Michigan, July 3-6, 2008 (http://usa-taekwondo.us/athletes/shaina-krause). By winning first place, Miss Krause earned a place on the 2008 Junior National USAT Team. As a Junior National USAT Team member, (http://www.usa-taekwondo.us/athlete/athlete/2336), she participated in an International Training Exchange with Junior National Teams from Belarus, Canada, Mexico, and Spain, in July 2008, held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In February 2007, Miss Krause took silver at the 16^th U.S. Open Taekwondo Championships and made Team B at the 2007 USAT Junior Team Trials. In 2008, Miss Krause won silver at the Dutch Open, and in 2007, as a member of the 2007 AAU National Junior Taekwondo Team, took first place at the Puerto Rican Olympic Open in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2006, she was an AAU National Junior Taekwondo Team member.

Miss Shaina Krause’s two older sisters, Miss Cheryl Krause, 19 years old, and Miss Christina Krause, 23 years old, also held places on national taekwondo teams. Miss Cheryl Krause is a member of the 2010 and 2009 Collegiate Taekwondo Teams. She was a member of the 2006 USAT National Junior Team and represented the USA at the 6^th World Junior Taekwondo Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in July 2006. Miss Christina Krause was a member of the 2005 AAU Junior Taekwondo Team and represented the USA at the German Open in 2005. The three Krause sisters have been recognized as the only female taekwondo students from Fairfax County, Virginia, who have made national taekwondo teams.

Miss Shaina Krause has been a student of Master Q. V. Phan Le at the Phan University of Martial Arts (P.U.M.A.) for more than a decade (see http://pumateam.org/ and www.http://usa-taekwondo.us/92_1907.htm). In 2006, she won silver at the Pan Am Taekwondo Open and bronze at the U.S. Open. In 2005, she won gold at both the AAU Taekwondo Junior Nationals and at the USAT qualifiers. In 2004, Miss Krause won gold at the USAT National Junior Taekwondo Championships and silver at the AAU Taekwondo Junior Nationals. Her medals go back beyond 1999. Miss Krause recently graduated from South County Secondary School in Lorton, Virginia, and will attend the George Mason University in August 2010. The P.U.M.A. Taekwondo Team is sponsored by Mooto USA.