Austin, TX, March 1, 2025 – The University of Texas at Austin hosted the first-ever Southern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference (SCTC) tournament, marking a major milestone for collegiate Taekwondo in the southern region. With over 100 competitors from UT Austin, Texas A&M University, UT Dallas, UT Rio Grande Valley, and the University of Chicago, the event showcased team Poomsae, team sparring, and individual sparring, fostering both competition and community among 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.”

The tournament introduced the 3v3 Poomsae and Kyorugi formats for both black belts and color belts—formats that had yet to be seen in the southern collegiate circuit. “This event was not without its hiccups, but overall, it was many steps in a positive direction,” said Danielle Drews, a UT Austin alumna. “All schools and athletes demonstrated remarkable sportsmanship and camaraderie as this tournament brought them one step closer to their goals for the national collegiate tournament next month.”

The tournament also saw a growing presence of UT Austin alumni stepping up to support the event. “From an operations perspective, this year went so much smoother than the chaos of trying new things last year,” said Drews. “I am so grateful for everyone’s continued support. Having day-of support from ECTC Tournament Committee member Joshua Kwok and virtual support from Will Estey was extremely helpful. We were also able to garner more support from UT alumni, which felt amazing, especially after being the sole onsite alum volunteer last year. NCTA Tournament Committee Chair Tara Sarathi and I have talked before about the ECTC tournament committees and how the alumni have grown into the incredible force they are, and that’s my dream for the UT Taekwondo program.”

Tournament Results

Poomsae Winners

A Team Winners:
🏆 UT Austin PA2 – Ava Lim, Rachel Zhang, Wesland Ung
🥈 UT Austin PA1 – Fiona Hawkins, Kacie Nguyen, Kaila Pierson
🥉 UChicago PA1 – Ronik Bhaskar, Karen Chuchuca, Ethan Li
🏅 UTD PA1 – Nathan Boyle, Becky Leija, Travis Raley

B Team Winners:
🏆 UT Austin PB1 – Joey Hummel, Tivon Nguyen, Tyler Moon
🥈 UT Austin PB2 – Catherine Ta, Nicholas Peasley
🥉 UT Austin PB4 – Alice Jeong, Ilaria Cielo, Robin Sherrer
🏅 UChicago PB1 – Jocelyn Hsu, Lia Guerrero, Victoria Alana

C Team Winners:
🏆 UT Austin PC1 – Anh Vu, Christopher Chin, Martin Becker
🥈 UT Austin PC6 – Abi Pither, June Lee, Brianne Johnson
🥉 UT Austin PC5 – Ashwini Patil, Francesca Cadet, Lilliana Cadet
🏅 UT Austin PC2 – Hailey Lockett, Jack Whitehead, Paromita Cesano Bagchi

Men’s Sparring Winners

A Team Winners:
🏆 UTRGV Men’s A1 – Alex Rayas, Matias Lopez, Matthew Kim
🥈 Texas A&M Men’s A1 – Bryan Sutjipto, Jack Hughes, Tyler Seibert, Kevin Von Nacher
🥉 UT Austin Men’s A1 – Joey Hummel, Francisco Martinez
🏅 UTD Men’s A1 – Lu-Chen Lu, Bryan Ha, Brandon Kim

B Team Winners:
🏆 Texas A&M Men’s B1 – Zachary Gavlick, Aayushman Sharma
🥈 UT Austin Men’s B3 – William Chau, Arav Rawat
🥉 UT Austin Men’s B1 – Tyler Moon, Adarsh Javvaji, Douglas Ramirez
🏅 UT Austin Men’s B2 – Nicholas Peasley, Siddharth Shanbhag

C Team Winners:
🏆 UT Austin Men’s C2 – Jack Whitehead, Inhyeok Cho
🥈 UT Austin Men’s C5 – Samarveer Panag, Tyler Chamberlain
🥉 Texas A&M Men’s C1 – Kush Ganji, Varun Venkataraman
🏅 UT Austin Men’s C1 – Langston Stowers, Aaron Chris Tabuco

Women’s Sparring Winners

A Team Winners:
🏆 UT Austin Women’s A1 – Madeline Pitts, Danica Deaton
🥈 Texas A&M Women’s A1 – Isabella Afsar, Nora Dolt

B Team Winners:
🏆 UT Austin Women’s B4 – Stephanie Degnore, Adalia Sorola, Kate Mader
🥈 UT Austin Women’s B3 – Franchesca Untalan, Yashwini Trivedi
🥉 UT Austin Women’s B2 – Paloma Vega, Esmeralda Rizo, Ankitha Doma
🏅 UT Austin Women’s B1 – Mia Saavedra, Catherine Ta

C Team Winners:
🏆 UT Austin Women’s C1 – Malaika Shah, Sophia Li, Pournima Mante
🥈 Texas A&M Women’s C1 – Lauren Pilon, Malina Nesian, Rosaline Kumar
🥉 Texas A&M Women’s C2 – Divija Dronadula, Orleane Alima
🏅 UT Austin Women’s C2 – Eesha Conikee, Cassidy Wong

As the SCTC continues to establish itself within the collegiate Taekwondo landscape, this tournament set a strong foundation for future events and strengthened the competitive pipeline leading into the 2025 National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships.