After issuing a shrill cry, the 26-year-old Atlanta resident defeated Rob Ludgate of Savannah and Brad Gober of Lawrenceville en route to the men's age 26-32 black belt heavyweight championship. Each match consisted of two three-minute rounds.

Charles Prescott, Jr., a 2002 Burke County High graduate who will play football for Valdosta State in the fall, finished fourth in Nowak's division.

"When I get in there, I just do this yell," Nowak said. "It's so ear-piercing of a shriek, (I wonder) where did I get it from? But it releases a lot of the jitters; it gets you kind of calm."

Nowak runs the Professional Training Systems tae kwon do center in Atlanta and coaches the PTS team in nationally-sanctioned events. He began studying martial arts by taking up karate at age seven.

"I watched Karate Kid, and the girl comes running out when he wins," Nowak said. "I was like, 'Dad, I've got to do this.' And within about two weeks I got into a karate school in Lithonia. It's really given me a lot of confidence and discipline."

The school where Nowak trained eventually closed, but when he was 15, he read about a tae kwon do school in the newspaper and decided to join.

He had to learn a set of forms and terminology that was foreign to him, but Nowak tested and started as a red belt. The instructor at the school helped him conform his fighting style accordingly.

"My style was a lot different, and I got beat up every day," Nowak said. "After a while I started to transform. I paid my dues."

Nowak competed in his first Olympic-style tae kwon do event in the 1991 Georgia Games at Georgia Tech. He said the Georgia Games tournament is an ideal place for athletes to debut in competition.

"This is a good tournament for new people to start off with," he said. "There's a lot of beginners that come to this tournament. You've got to work your way up the ranks, and this is a good start to that."

Nowak has been a second-degree black belt since 1994. His ultimate goal is to compete in the Olympics - a goal he nearly achieved when he reached the U.S. Tae Kwon Do Union quarterfinals eight years ago.

Besides fighting in national tournaments and coaching, Nowak works as a personal trainer, teaching "corporate" tae kwon do classes at businesses around Atlanta.

"It's fun to watch people at their first tournament getting a gold medal," Nowak said. "I get that goose bump feeling."

Reach Lane Kramer at (706) 823-3425.