2019 NCTA Championships Held at University of Texas at Austin

The National Collegiate Taekwondo Association held the 44th National Collegiate Taekwondo Championship and 6th National High School Championship at the University of Texas at Austin on April 20 and 21, 2019. The NCTA president was Dr. Russell Ahn and the tournament host was Joseph Van of the University of Texas at Austin. The Tournament Committee Chair was Tara Sarathi, the Referee Chair was Mike Wickham, and the Medical Chair was Dr. Sherri Lashomb.

Said President Ahn at his final Championships as president, “Thank you very much for the successful National Collegiate and High School Taekwondo Championships at the University of Texas Austin. I am grateful for our dedicated officials, medical staff, referees, coaches and most importantly, athletes. It has been such a wonderful privilege and a great honor to work with such an intelligent and passionate group of people.” President Ahn will be succeeded by Dan Chuang of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as president.

The first day of competition on April 20 featured the black belt collegiate championship poomsae divisions. Winning these poomsae divisions were Christina Castillo (Austin Community College) in the Female Individual category, Kevin Jiang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the Male Individual Category, Adalis “AJ” Munoz and Michael Pascua in the Mixed Pair Category, Nina Anwar, Renee Zhao and Elizabeth Zou (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the Female Team category, and Alex Kim, Shuka Park and Richard Zhao (University of California, Berkeley) in the Male Team category.

The black belt collegiate sparring divisions were contested on the second day of competition, April 21. The winners in the female division were Jenna Slota (-46 kg, Northeastern University), Sommer Jones (-49kg, College of Southern Nevada), Logan Weber (-53kg, Johnson County Community College), Starla Santana (-57kg, Miami Dade College), Danica Deaton (-62kg, University of Texas at Austin), Cecilia Cozza (-67kg, University of Maryland, College Park), Jordan Stewart (-73kg, George Mason University), and Amanda West (+73kg, University of Michigan).

The men’s winners were Cole Crawford (-54kg, University of Texas at Austin), Isaac Weintraub (-58kg, University of Central Oklahoma), Edgard Castillo (-63kg, University of Dayton), Luis Orozco (-68kg, Eastfield College), Joao Costa (-74kg, Massasoit Community College), Connor Wilson (-80kg, University of California, Los Angeles), Tyler Edmiston (-87kg, Northlake College), and Adrian Villalobos (+87kg, University of Texas at Austin).

Special recognition was given to Starla Santana of  Miami Dade College, who was named Freshman of the year, Danica Deaton of University of Texas at Austin, who was named Female Athlete of the Year, and Connor Wilson of the University of California, Los Angeles, who earned Male Athlete of the Year honors. Coach Joseph Van of the University of Texas at Austin was named Coach of the Year.

Team awards were given based on the total number of gold, silver and bronze medals earned. In the Championship Division (black belts), first place went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, second place to the University of California, Berkeley and third place to the University of Texas at Austin. 

In the Combined Division (black belts and color belts), first place was earned by the University of Texas at Austin, second place by Brown University, and third place by the United States Military Academy at West Point.

In the High School divisions athletes competed for the title of high school national champion. In poomsae the high school champions were Jacqueline Vasquez (El Camino High) in the individual female division, Jospeh Yoo (New Providence High) in individual male poomsae, and Vazquez and Yoo in mixed pair poomsae. In Male Team Poomsae, Sunny Chen (Temple City High), Dylan Do (W.T. Woodson High), and Yoo earned gold, with Jenna Do (W.T. Woodson High), Aabia Hasan (Shrewsbury High), and Vasquez earning gold in Female Team.

Female high school sparring champions included Karine Leclercq (-46kg, Westwood High), Katie Smith (-49kg, Mercy High), Sophia Venetis (-52kg, Falmouth Academy), Sarah Ziehme (-55kg, Edmond High), Judy Hong (-59kg, Decatur High), Lauren Kheylik (-63kg, Milpitas High), and Zoe Osborn (-68kg, Bear Creak School).

The male high school sparring champions were Bryan Shon (-48kg, Stadium High), Kaishi Fukami (-51kg, Dublin High), Tyler Balestracci (-55kg, Norwell High), Alan Randall (-59kg, Stafford High), Raymond Malphurs (-63kg, Bole’s High), Chan Park (-68kg, Westlake High), Hadi Zreik (-73kg, Farquier High), and Robert Church (-78kg, Cathedral Catholic High).

For medal results and standings, please click here. For poomsae score results, click here.

Press release written by Dan Chuang, NCTA Secretary General.