UNC–Chapel Hill Kicks Off 2026–2027 ACATA Season with Collegiate Taekwondo Tournament
1 day
Chapel Hill, NC — October 10, 2026 — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill welcomed 68 collegiate taekwondo athletes from six schools on Saturday, October 10, for the opening tournament of the 2026–2027 Atlantic Collegiate Alliance of Taekwondo (ACATA) season. The competition brought together athletes from UNC–Chapel Hill, Liberty University, North Carolina State University, Virginia Tech, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and Longwood University for a day of individual poomsae and sparring competition.
The tournament marked another successful event for UNC’s taekwondo program, which returned to hosting regional competition less than six months after organizing the 2026 National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships in April. The event also highlighted the continued development of ACATA as part of the National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) Regional League Initiative, which provides collegiate athletes with additional opportunities to represent their schools and compete throughout the academic year.
“This tournament really showed off the hard work our students have been putting in as well as the benefits from expanding our league North, with improvements and increased competition across the league,” said Casey Denham, ACATA President.
The tournament featured strong performances across all belt levels, with athletes competing in individual poomsae divisions and beginner, intermediate, and elite sparring categories. UNC–Chapel Hill claimed first place in the overall school standings with 56 points, followed by Liberty University in second place with 33 points and NC State in third with 17 points.
Several athletes delivered standout performances across both disciplines. Liberty University’s David Varner, Matthew Knowles, and Emily Sloane each captured gold medals in both poomsae and sparring, while NC State’s Liam Milner also earned two first-place finishes. In black belt poomsae, Virginia Tech’s Ryan Sitaram and UNC’s Andrea Gracia Andradi earned gold medals in the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively. The competitive sparring divisions featured additional strong performances from athletes representing all six participating schools.
Beyond the competition, the tournament also showcased the growing connections between collegiate and high school taekwondo programs. Denham recognized two high school volunteers from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM), which has recently established its own taekwondo team.
“I’d also like to give a shoutout to our two high school volunteers from North Carolina School of Science and Math (NCSSM),” Denham said. “They have a high school taekwondo team now and were happy to come spend the day helping us with the tournament.”
Denham also expressed appreciation to UNC for its continued commitment to hosting collegiate taekwondo events, particularly following the considerable effort required to host the National Collegiate Championships earlier in the year.
The event reflects the broader success of the NCTA Regional League Initiative in expanding collegiate taekwondo competition and strengthening connections among schools throughout the country.
“It is exciting to see ACATA continue to grow and provide more opportunities for collegiate athletes to represent their schools in competition,” said Dan Chuang, NCTA President. “The continued expansion of our regional leagues is a testament to the dedication of our student athletes, regional directors, and tournament organizers. I want to thank Casey Denham, UNC, and all of the volunteers for their commitment to making these opportunities possible.”
As the 2026–2027 collegiate taekwondo season gets underway, the UNC tournament reflects the continued commitment of ACATA and the NCTA Regional League Initiative to expanding competitive opportunities and strengthening collegiate taekwondo programs throughout the region.
The ACATA season continues on November 7, 2026, with a tournament at Villanova University, where collegiate teams will have another opportunity to build on their early-season performances.
Tournament Results
Overall School Standings
| Place | School | Points |
| 🥇 1st | UNC–Chapel Hill | 56 |
| 🥈 2nd | Liberty University | 33 |
| 🥉 3rd | NC State | 17 |
| 4th | UMBC | 15 |
| 5th | Virginia Tech | 14 |
| 6th | Longwood University | 3 |
Individual Poomsae Results
Men’s White/Yellow
- 🥇 David Varner (Liberty)
- 🥈 Brenton Lian (UNC)
- 🥉 Tyrian Mathis (NC State), Richard Lin (UMBC)
Women’s White/Yellow
- 🥇 Sana Vemunoori (UNC)
- 🥈 Nara Halvorsen (UNC)
- 🥉 Lillian Jiang (UNC), Finn Hogan (UNC)
Men’s Green/Orange
- 🥇 Eric Chen (UNC)
- 🥈 Luke Price (UNC)
- 🥉 James Agbam (UMBC), Xavier Zumba (Liberty)
Women’s Green/Orange
- 🥇 Isabella Hood (UMBC)
Men’s Blue/Purple
- 🥇 Matthew Knowles (Liberty)
- 🥈 Ajer Magdamit (NC State)
- 🥉 Aditya Vardhan Veerathu (UNC)
Men’s Red/Brown
- 🥇 Liam Milner (NC State)
Women’s Red/Brown
- 🥇 Emily Sloane (Liberty)
- 🥈 Iniya Illamparithi (UNC)
- 🥉 Alexis Goetz (UMBC)
Men’s Black Belt
- 🥇 Ryan Sitaram (Virginia Tech)
- 🥈 Krish Parimi (UNC)
- 🥉 Ericson Lehmann (Liberty), Ryan Kim (UNC)
Women’s Black Belt
- 🥇 Andrea Gracia Andradi (UNC)
- 🥈 Hanah You (UMBC)
- 🥉 Evelyn Gazzola (Virginia Tech), Kaylee Powell (Virginia Tech)
Individual Sparring Results
Men’s Beginner Lightweight
- 🥇 Brenton Lian (UNC)
Men’s Beginner Middleweight
- 🥇 David Varner (Liberty)
- 🥈 Tyrian Mathis (NC State)
- 🥉 Richard Lin (UMBC), Nathan Novak (Liberty)
Men’s Beginner Heavyweight
- 🥇 Simon Zhao (UNC)
- 🥈 Xavier Zumba (Liberty)
- 🥉 Luke Price (Liberty), Alexander Nomeny (UMBC)
Women’s Beginner Middleweight
- 🥇 Nara Halvorsen (UNC)
- 🥈 Jocelyn Naro (Liberty)
Women’s Beginner Heavyweight
- 🥇 Finn Gorritz (UNC)
- 🥈 Anahitha Raffe Sofia (UNC)
Men’s Intermediate Lightweight
- 🥇 Matthew Knowles (Liberty)
- 🥈 Aditya Vardhan Veerathu (UNC)
- 🥉 Andrew Zhang (UNC), Ethan Kim (UNC)
Men’s Intermediate Middleweight
- 🥇 Liam Milner (NC State)
- 🥈 Nathan Le (UMBC)
Men’s Intermediate Heavyweight
- 🥇 James Agbam (UMBC)
- 🥈 Aarya Paduru (UNC)
Women’s Intermediate Middleweight
- 🥇 Jahnavi Kari (UNC)
- 🥈 Iniya Illamparithi (UNC)
Women’s Intermediate Heavyweight
- 🥇 Emily Sloane (Liberty)
- 🥈 Summer Lynn (NC State)
Men’s Elite Lightweight
- 🥇 Daniel Yoon (UNC)
- 🥈 Kyle Le (Virginia Tech)
- 🥉 Ericson Lehmann (Liberty), Jonah Dela Fuente (NC State)
Men’s Elite Middleweight
- 🥇 Bryson Shin (Longwood)
- 🥈 Paul Bearchell (Liberty)
- 🥉 Abbott Sherwin (NC State)
Men’s Elite Heavyweight
- 🥇 Mason Mines (UNC)
- 🥈 Matthew Rotondi (Virginia Tech)
Women’s Elite Lightweight
- 🥇 Evelyn Gazzola (Virginia Tech)
Women’s Elite Middleweight
- 🥇 Kaitlyn Hansen (UNC)
- 🥈 Sophia Varrati (Liberty)
Women’s Elite Heavyweight
- 🥇 Katherine Halick (Virginia Tech)
- 🥈 Elizabeth Nitz (NC State)
NCTA Announces Launch of National High School Varsity League
4 weeks
Oct 6, 2026 -The NCTA is pleased to announce the creation of the NCTA National High School and Middle School Varsity Leagues. The purpose of these leagues is to provide competitive opportunities to scholar athletes during these academic years, offer support to high performing scholars and athletes through scholarships, and create a smooth on-ramp to collegiate taekwondo programs nationwide as they move towards their college years.
Leading this initiative will be the new NCTA National High School Administrator, Master Sunny Woo Park. Master Park will appoint state administrators who will run annual state and regional middle and high school varsity championships, culminating in a national middle and high school championship.
To inaugurate the initiative, a national NCTA High School Championships event was held on June 13, 2026 in Freehold, NJ. The championship awarded $12,000 in scholarships to deserving high school student-athletes. These scholarships reflected the mission of the event: investing in education, building future leaders, and celebrating excellence on and off the competition floor.
“The NCTA National High School Championships is about more than competition,” said Sunny Woo Park of Master Park’s Black Belt America. “It is about investing in the future of our student-athletes. These young men and women represent what taekwondo is truly about: discipline, education, leadership, character, and excellence in life.”
In 2027, middle and high school athletes can look forward to over 15 states that will offer NCTA Announces National High School Varsity League championships, culminating in a National Middle and High School Varsity Championship. Check the varsity league page for more updates.
2026 National Collegiate Taekwondo Team Departs for FISU America Games
4 months
by NCTA Admin
in Team
Lima, Peru, July 21, 2026 – Today, members of the US National Collegiate Taekwondo Team will be traveling to Lima, Peru to represent the United States and the National Collegiate Taekwondo Association at the 4th FISU America Games. The FISU America Games feature 14 sports with over 3,000 participants from 19 countries across the Pan American region.
These 32 taekwondo athletes from the United States will compete in both poomsae and sparring sub-disciplines and hail from 30 different colleges and universities across the United States. Each team member is a student athlete that has split their time between their studies and their preparation for the Games.
NCTA President Dan Chuang said, “Each year, the FISU America Games become more and more competitive, and these student athletes have been working hard to represent USA at a high level. We look forward to seeing strong athletes across the board from the Pan American Region. Thank you to our generous hosts here in Peru for putting on a Games of this scale. We look forward to enjoying the athlete village and the competition venue.”
Best of luck to all athletes! The competition will take place from July 24-26. The official event website is http://fagames2026.fisuamerica.com/
Men’s Individual Recognized Poomsae
Bomin Kim – Duke University
Nathan Kim – San Jose State University
Women’s Individual Recognized Poomsae
Yuri Kim – University of California, Merced
Aahana Mulchandani – Smith College
Men’s Individual Freestyle Poomsae
Landon Her – University of California, Irvine
Matthew Ra – Monroe Community College
Women’s Individual Freestyle Poomsae
Allison DeGuzman – California State University, Fullerton
Gian Legaspi – Bakersfield College
Mixed Pair Freestyle Poomsae
Gian Legaspi – Bakersfield College & Landon Her – University of California, Irvine
Mens’ -54kg
Arian Canete – University of California, Los Angeles
David Yehe-Nara – University of Connecticut, Stamford
Women’s -46kg Sparring
Caliana Fonseca – California State University, Northridge
Yusleny Rangel – Edmonds Community College
Men’s -58kg Sparring
Melvy Alvarez – University of Connecticut
Prahchomvong Thay – California State University, Fresno
Women’s -49kg Sparring
Maggie Shiba – University of Utah
Monique Villasenor – San Antonio College
Men’s -63gSparring
Donovan James Eugenio – University of Washington
Cole Noretto – Seattle University
Women’s -53kg Sparring
Gaia Castillo – University of California, Riverside
Audrey Kohlman – Cornell University
Men’s -68kg Sparring
Justin Fredricks – State University of New York, Old Westbury
Jordan Panotes – South Puget Sound Community College
Women’s -57kg Sparring
Grace Shiba – Weber State University
Men’s -74kg Sparring
Edwind Gabriel Torres – University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Women’s -62kg Sparring
Christina Chimal – University of California, Riverside
Kayla Shanahan – Stony Brook University
Men’s -80kg Sparring
Barron Mosteller – Diablo Valley College
Devin Cornell – California State University, Fresno
Men’s -87kg Sparring
William Smith – University of California, Los Angeles
Women’s -73kg Sparring
Sydney Merrill – Brown University
Men’s +87kg Sparring
Abou Sow – University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Marlon Perez – Lebanon Valley College
Women’s +73kg Sparring
Alena Viana – University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Staff:
Daniel Chuang – Head of Team
Joseph Van – Head Coach
David Lee – Deputy Head Coach
Steve Rosbarsky – Coach/Manager
Kevin Lee Gambill – Coach
Jung Hwan Jin – Coach
Hyejin Jung – Coach
Sungwon Kang – Coach
Long Nguyen – Coach
Fabricio Rodriguez – Coach
Damian Villa – Coach
2026 FISU America Games Selection Procedures Update for Mixed Freestyle Team
5 months
The NCTA is informing athletes of a new opportunity to represent USA in the Freestyle Team Division at the 2026 FISU America Games. Some background is below:
In March 2026, NCTA received word that the Mixed Freestyle Team Division for the 2026 FISU America Games would be canceled. The explanation given to us was “The main reason Team Freestyle Poomsae will not be included is due to recent modifications to the international regulations governing this discipline. As a result of these changes, we currently do not have judges who are properly certified under the new standards.”
The NCTA lobbied to reverse this decision but was ultimately unsuccessful.
This month on June 1, the NCTA received notice that the freestyle team division was being reinstated. We requested an explanation on the latest notice and received the explanation as follows:
“The Organizing Committee has recently decided to include the Freestyle Poomsae Team Event in the competition program. As you mentioned, and as was previously communicated, this event was initially not going to be included. At that time, one of the main challenges was that Peru currently does not have enough qualified referees to evaluate this discipline under the new World Taekwondo regulations.”
“However, following several meetings with the Technical Heads of the discipline, it was decided to add the Freestyle Poomsae Team Event, as there was significant interest from several countries that wished to participate in this modality. ”
“To make this possible and encourage greater participation, the event will be evaluated using the previous competition regulations rather than the new World Taekwondo rules. ”
“We understand that this change may have caused confusion, especially considering our previous communications, and we sincerely apologize for the delay in publishing the updated regulations and technical information.”
After some deliberation, the NCTA is opening up the opportunity for athletes to apply to compete in the freestyle team poomsae division at the 2026 FISU America Games.
To apply athletes, all athletes must meet the eligibility requirements at:
The athletes must email ncta.contact@gmail.com with the names of all athletes on the proposed team (names should be as they appear on the passports of the athletes) by Monday, June 8.
If only one team applies by Monday, June 8, and all athletes meet the eligibility requirements at the website above, that team will be named for the 2026 FISU America Games once they have met all eligibility requirements.
If more than one team applies by Monday, June 8, then each team has until Sunday, June 14 to submit a video of the team’s freestyle performance (no board breaking). The performances will be reviewed by a panel of referees.
The following criteria must be followed for a video submission:
- Video must be taken from a single vantage point.
- The camera can pan left or right but cannot zoom in or out. All five active team members must be in the field of view for the duration of the performance.
- Performance must occur on martial arts mats (i.e. puzzle mats or rolled sparring mats). Spring floors are not allowed.
- Athletes must announce their name and the current date at the start of the video.
- Athletes must provide proof of citizenship, age, and collegiate status by Monday, June 8 per the information on team trials page.
All athletes applying for this opportunity must be willing to pay $1900 for five nights in the Athlete village for the 2026 FISU America Games. Any additional nights in the village incur a $100 surcharge. Also, athletes and staff must purchase their own ticket to Lima from their hometown.
Athletes interested in competing in the team freestyle event (5 athletes + 1 alternate) should email ncta.contact@gmail.com as described above.
Coaching Application for 2026 FISU America Games
6 months
Applications to coach as part of the NCTA Staff at the 2026 FISU America Games in Lima, Peru from July 22-27 are now open. Applicants must be USATKD members and must be Safe Sport certified and background checked now and at the time of the championships. If interested, complete this survey by May 6, 2026.
Details of the trip are in the application.
