Princeton, NJ, February 23rd – The Atlantic Collegiate Alliance of Taekwondo (ACATA) held its second and final tournament of the season at Princeton University.

This tournament was historic in several ways. As part of the National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) Regional Initiative, Princeton University—renowned for hosting over 30 years of tournaments with the Eastern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference (ECTC)—hosted its first tournament within the ACATA region. This tournament also introduced the 3v3 team format for both Poomsae and Sparring, marking a significant shift for ACATA. “The blend of ECTC into ACATA is a good way to say that this is what we can be doing and what we can be,” said Rex Hatfield, Princeton Head Coach and ECTC Board Member.

Additionally, the tournament set a new record with 454 athletes in attendance, the highest turnout in ACATA history. “This is the largest ACATA tournament we have held by a factor of four,” said Casey Denham, ACATA President. “As an ECTC alumnus, the Princeton Tournament was always my favorite to compete in. It’s really nice to come back and continue bringing this tournament to future generations of athletes.”

This tournament also served as a qualifier for the new NCTA Cup Division, set to debut at the 2025 NCTA National Collegiate Championships. “Six regional conferences are being recognized and organized across the United States, creating more opportunities than ever for college students to compete and grow as athletes and leaders,” said Dan Chuang, President of the NCTA. “Participation in these regional conferences will qualify collegiate athletes for the NCTA Team Championships, where they will compete for the new traveling trophy, the NCTA Cup. This cup will reside with the winning school each year.”

In addition to debuting the 3v3 team format, ACATA introduced the concept of ‘hybrid teams’ at this tournament. Traditionally, athletes could only compete in teams of up to three members from the same school. However, ACATA allowed single-person teams from different schools to pair up and form two-person teams. “I love the hybrid idea,” said Matt Weinberg, Princeton Coach. “It’s awesome how the core values have clearly remained while the details have adapted to radically new situations.” Columbia Coach Hilary Monaco echoed this sentiment: “I love the hybrid teams. Athletes have the chance to compete, learn from other athletes, and be on the same side.”

Poomsae Winners

A Team Divisions
1st Place: University of Pennsylvania PA1 (Ryan Real, Chloe Ng, James Santos)
2nd Place: Rutgers University PA1 (Hamin Kim, Jessica Lee, Bailey Eng)
3rd Place: Rutgers University PA4 (Linh Ho, Owen Zacherau, Kelvin Cheng)
3rd Place: University of Michigan PA1 (Erin Clingerman, Juhyun Kim, Nishant Dash)

B Team Divisions
1st Place: Rutgers University PB1 (Medinee “Mia” Joshi, Abby Cohn, Shiril Reddy)
2nd Place: Duke University PB1 (Maanav Allampallam, Clarence Soh, Krystally Hour)
3rd Place: Yale University PB1 (Camila Otero, Christian Kwon, Fong-Ying Gau)
3rd Place: Rutgers University PB2 (Joyce Lee, Rachael Kim, Eesha Vijayakumar)

C Team Divisions
1st Place: University of Connecticut PC1 (Maleah Echevarria, Destinie Barkley, Emily Dubord)
2nd Place: American University PC1 (Mya Parker, Nina Jaafari, Hope Nyoni)
3rd Place: Brown University PC1 (Jester Abella, Icy Liang, Salah Ali)
3rd Place: Yale University PC2 (Serina Wang, Vicky Tan, Isaac Lian)

Sparring Winners

Men’s A Team Division
1st Place: Rutgers University A1 (Ian Hong, Matthew Kwon, Yunjea Choi)
2nd Place: University of Connecticut A1 (David Yehe-Nara, William Perry)
3rd Place: University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC) A1 (Colin Choi, Dave Manuel Djachechi, Abou Sow, Alt: Edwin Torres)
3rd Place: University of Virginia A1 (Nathan Cabrera, Macbel Yacob, Aidan Chan, Alt: Eli Smith)

Women’s A Team Division
1st Place: New York University A1 (Wenjia Qu, Cindy Lin, Shevana Au Yang)
2nd Place: Cornell University A1 (Hae Yeon Park, Audrey Kohlman)
3rd Place: Brown University A1 (Jiwon Yoo, Sydney Merrill)
3rd Place: Yale University A1 (Emely Rivas, Sophia Lahik)

Men’s B Team Division
1st Place: University of Pennsylvania B1 (Dailing Wu, Anton Rzaev, Christopher Spletzer)
2nd Place: University of Connecticut B3 (Behzad Qurbani, Michael Albert)
3rd Place: Princeton University B1 (Anderson Chiang, Drilon Barnes)
3rd Place: University of Connecticut B1 (Chanik Lee, Sean Daly, Sebastien Jean Michel)

Women’s B Team Division
1st Place: ACATA (Hybrid Team) B1 (Arielle Hershkowitz (AU), Cierra San Roman (UVM))
2nd Place: Cornell B1 (Lily Rose Felicie Mager, Aloyse Maille, Dylan Beegal)
3rd Place: Liberty University B2 (Khara Pastean, Hannah Wharton)
3rd Place: University of Pennsylvania B1 (Isabella Chu, April Tong)

Team Awards

At the conclusion of the event, overall team trophies were awarded based on cumulative results:

1st Place: Rutgers University
2nd Place: University of Pennsylvania
3rd Place: University of Connecticut

“This tournament shows that we are a developed collegiate league,” said Denham. “ACATA can host a high-level event with a huge number of competitors. This just demonstrates the trajectory that ACATA is on, and we hope to see this level of competition at every tournament moving forward.”

Photos from the event can be found at this Google Drive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XNnsbkUdHpSB3Y45DXU5H21xNDr0zcAc