Kiel Hicks, a soon-to-be eighth grader at Totem Middle School, has earned a spot on Team USA for karate after an impressive performance at the USA Karate National Championships in Greenville, S.C.

Hicks returned with four medals, including two golds, one silver and one bronze medal. The event was held July 8-11.

The two national championship titles came in the Boys Advance Open Kata (forms) category and in the Boys 45-kilogram Elite Kumite (sparring). The Kumite gold medal earned Hicks a spot on the U.S. Junior Team.

Hicks will be travelling to Montreal with Team USA in mid-August for the 2010 Junior Pan-American Games.

Hicks participated in the Junior Pan-Am Games in El Salvador last year and received a bronze medal for Kumite (fighting). He also earned a trip to the U.S. Olympic Training Center where he was one of 40 athletes selected to live and train with Olympic athletes for one week.