April 7, 2019 (Burlington, VT) -

Several Eastern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference (ECTC) schools sent strong contingents to compete at the 44th National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships held at the University of Austin at Texas on April 20-21. Over 400 collegiate athletes from 78 schools were present for the two-day event. Unlike at ECTC tournaments, sparring divisions are contested individually at the National Collegiate Championships, and black belt divisions include team and pairs poomsae as well. Points are awarded for each gold (3), silver (2), and bronze (1) medal earned. At the end of the weekend, schools which earn the most points in the Novice (color belt), Championship (black belt), and Combined (Novice and Championship combined) divisions earn team places in the standings, with trophy recognition for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

 

On Saturday, all poomsae divisions as well as white through blue belt sparring divisions were contested. New to the championships this year, all green belt and higher poomsae divisions were scored using an electronic scoring system, and for all green belt and higher sparring divisions, e-headgear was used in addition to e-hogus.

 

Standouts in the black belt poomsae divisions included Kevin Jiang (MIT) and Andrew Hurd (Northeastern), who placed gold and silver, respectively, in a talent-packed Men’s Individual Black Belt Poomsae field. Nina Anwar (MIT), Elizabeth Zou (MIT) and Renee Zhao (MIT) also earned gold in the Women’s Black Belt Team Poomsae Division with bronze in the same division earned by Siqi Feng (Columbia), Catherine Zhao (Columbia), and Muyun Zhou (Columbia). Jiang (MIT) and Zhao (MIT) rounded out the ECTC black belt medals with silver in the Black Belt Mixed Pair Poomsae Division.

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ECTC athletes Juanda Tan (Brown), Benjamin Turner (West Point), Josh Roy (Brown) and Richard Joshua Murdock (MIT) swept the Red Belt Poomsae Division earning gold, silver and two bronzes, respectively. Emily Le (Brown), Jeannie Le (Brown), and Jennifer Dzul (Brown) earned gold, silver and bronze in the Women’s Blue Belt Poomsae Division. Phong Nguyen (Brown), Jeremy Good (West Point), Jared Ho (NYU), Scott Kim (Brown), and Phoung Huynh (Duke), Cinthia Meza Gonzalez (Harvard), Olivia Guan (Princeton) and Abigail Vickery (West Point) represented the ECTC, earning gold, silver, and two bronzes in the Male and Female  White/Yellow Belt Poomsae Divisions, respectively.

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In the color belt sparring divisions, Jordan Huck (West Point) and Jeremy Good (West Point) placed gold and silver, respectively in the Men’s White/Yellow Belt +80kg Division, Rayhan Jhanji (Duke) earned gold in Men’s Green Belt -49kg, Richard Sung (West Point) placed gold in the Men’s Blue Belt -80kg Division, Madison Curry (West Point) and Brock Curry (West Point) earned gold and silver in the Men’s Blue Belt +80kg Division, Olivia Guan (Princeton) and Aissatou Toure (NYU) earned gold and silver in Women’s White/Yellow Belt -49kg Division, Vivian Xing (Northeastern) earned gold in the Women’s Green Belt -49kg Division, Laney Flanagan (MIT) earned gold in the Women’s Green Belt -57kg Division, and Elizabeth Zhao (Brown) earned gold in the Women’s Blue Belt -67kg Division.

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Also contested on the first day of the championships were the team trials for the 2019 National Collegiate Poomsae Team. ECTC athletes Kyra Chan (MCPHS), Leah Rosensweig (Northeastern), and Renee Zhao (MIT) placed 3rd in the Female Team Poomsae division, making them 2nd alternates for the the 2019 World University Games.

 

On Sunday, the red belt and black belt sparring divisions were contested. Earning gold in the black belt divisions were Jenna Slota (Northeastern) in Women’s -46kg and Amanda West (UMich) in Women’s +73kg sparring.

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Black belt silver sparring medals were earned by Gina Yuan (MIT) in the Women’s -49kg division, Drew Plummer (Yale) in Men’s -63kg, Gweneth Szabo (American U) in Women’s -53kg, Aaron Fleischer (MIT) in Men’s -87kg, Catherine Zhao (Columbia) in Women’s -73kg, and Wonha Kim (West Point) in Women’s +73kg.

 

Bronze medals in the black belt divisions were earned by Matthew Galea (West Point) and George Chen (NYU) in -58kg, Taylor Reim (West Point) in Women’s -53kg, Andriy Petrashyk (Columbia) in Men’s -68kg, Sara Music (UVM) in Women’s -57kg, Anthony Shinn (UMich) in Men’s -74kg, Chris Jin (West Point) in Men’s -87kg, and Suying Jin (Princeton) and Renee Silva (MIT) in -73kg.

 

Red belt sparring gold medalists from the ECTC included Helen Situ (Brown) in Female -49kg and Cameron Comrie (Havard) in Female +67kg.

 

Red belt sparring bronze medalists were Roy Auh (Duke) and Russell Slighton (Princeton) in Male -68kg, Richard Joshua Murdock (MIT) in Men’s -80kg, Ainsley Roh (NYU) and Sophia Chan (NYU) in Female -67kg, and Benjamin Turner (West Point) in +80kg.

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At the end of the two day competition, the ECTC came away with 5 of the available 9 team trophies. In the Championship (black belt) Division, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) placed first, becoming the first ECTC school do to so in the history of the National Collegiate Taekwondo Association (NCTA) and ECTC. In the Combined Division, Brown University placed second in the country, with West Point placing third. In the Novice Division, the same standings held, with Brown University taking second place and West Point placing third.

 

A table containing all of the medalists from the weekend can be found below. Congratulations to all of the ECTC competitors who competed at the tournament, and we hope everyone has a great end to the school year.

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Full tournament results can be found here: http://ncta-usa.com/championships/results/.