McMCINNVILLE, Ore. (KOIN) — Blink and you would most certainly miss it.
Right off Highway 99 heading into McMinnville, nestled between a bunch of other business buildings is a place where not one, but two karate national champions train.
“The experiences you get to have when you go places with a national team is a lot more fun to me than just saying, ‘I’m national champion,’” said Logan Mendonca.
Nevertheless, that’s exactly what 15-year-old Logan and 13-year-old Mackenzie are.
Beyond that, they both placed second at the Pan American Championships just a few weeks ago, so the duo is not only representing McMinnville nationally, but internationally as well.
“It’s really cool because this small town that you can cross in 15 minutes is where we grew up and it’s where we’ve trained,” said Mackenzie. “We can go and represent this town and this dojo and all of the people that we train with and go bring home some medals for them.”
Mackenzie is not old enough to qualify, but Logan has an even bigger event up next: The world championships.