Championships

The National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) held the 39th National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships on April 4-6, 2014 in Berkeley, California at the University of California, Berkeley. The tournament was hosted by tournament director and NCTA founder Ken Min, and presided over by NCTA president Russell Ahn.  Over 400 athletes participated from over 100 different colleges and universities.  At the conclusion of the tournament, 26 athletes were selected to represent the United States at the World University Taekwondo Championships in Hohhot, China on June 8-14, 2014.

Nine athletes were selected to represent the United States in the poomsae divisions.  Kody Han (University of California, Berkeley) won the men’s individual division, and Thanh-Van Huynh (Kennesaw State University) won the women’s individual division.  Carissa Fu (Boston University) and David Chan (MGH Institute) won the mixed pair division.  Albert Jong (San Jose State University), Alvin Jong (University of California, Davis), and Lance Supnet (California State University, East Bay) earned the men’s team division spot, and Margaret Kim (University of California, San Diego), Stephany Kim (University of California, Los Angeles) and Saejin Yi (California State University) won the female team spot. However, because the team of Kim, Kim and Yi cannot attend the team trip, they will be replaced by first alternates, Carissa Fu, Miyako Yerick (University of Texas at Austin), and Michelle Chen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Fu is a six time collegiate poomsae team member and earned a bronze medal at the 2010 World University Taekwondo Championships in women’s team poomsae. Yerick and Alvin Jong are three time collegiate poomsae team members, and Supnet and Chen are returning for their second national collegiate poomsae team.

The sparring divisions were contested in a single elimination bracket, with double elimination beginning at the semifinal rounds. In the women’s sparring divisions, this year’s team members are Samery Moras (46 kg, University of Utah), Yessica Wiryawan  (49 kg, University of California, Berkeley), Carissa Fu (53 kg, Boston University), Devon Lewis (57 kg, Germanna Community College), Emilia Morrow (62 kg, University of Miami), Blanca “Jenny” Quezada (67 kg, Arizona State University), Jacqueline Galloway (73 kg, Collin College), and Danielle Harrison (over 73 kg, Johnson and Wales University). Quezada and Harrison are three time US collegiate team members. Moras and Galloway are both returning for their second team berth.

In the men’s divisions, the winners were Joseph Aguon III (54 kg, Tarrant County College), Justin Bretz (58 kg, Sinclair Community College), Chase Graham (63 kg, Golden West College), Abraham Lee (68 kg, Duke University), Jaysen Ishida (74 kg, University of Hawaii at Manoa), Jared Reed (80 kg, Laney College), William Connick (87 kg, University of California, Berkeley), and Jonathan Price (over 87 kg, SUNY Cortland).  On the team, Reed is a two time member of the US collegiate team.

The female athlete of the year was Carissa Fu. Fu qualfied for the poomsae team for the sixth consecutive year in addition to clinching her first sparring team berth at bantamweight. She is the first female athlete to qualify for both the poomsae and sparring collegiate teams.The male athlete of the year was William Connick. Connick won the 87 kg division and was the runner up in the 87kg division at the 2014 US National Team Trials in Colorado Springs. The freshman athlete of the year was Joseph Aguon III, who won the male finweight division during his first year of collegiate eligibility.

The coach of the year was Sophia Chung of the University of California, Berkeley, who coached both Wiryawan and Connick to national team spots in the sparring divisions and coached Berkeley to first place in the Championship division.  The referees of the year were Melissa Johnson (female) and Samir Zerbouh (male).

In the team standings, the championship (black belt) division was won by the University of California, Berkeley, with Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles tying for the second place spot. The overall (combined) division was won by Brown University, with Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley, tying for second place. The novice (color belt) division was won by Brown University, with Princeton University placing second and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology placing third.