Alliance Taekwondo attended the 2022 Roughrider Invitational Championship on October 22nd. Alliance fielded a team twenty total competitors, including Master Tammy Fairbanks and adult blackbelts Mason Rud, Eddie Lin and Justin Lafavor; the youth team was lead by second degree junior blackbelt Tanner Lafavor and included jr blackbelts Kenyon Meissel, Kristofer Huck, Dyllan Heidt, Reese Spadgenske and Braxton Standaert; underbelt competitors included Austin Heidt, Mason Hager, Zach Ziegler, Ben Hovland, Elijah and Nathan VanVoorhis, Eli Almer, Eli Molzahn, Luke Hartl and Aidan Motesfoote. The Alliance team claimed forty trophies in total, including ten first place wins, fifteen second place awards and twelve third place finishes, and two fourth place honorable mentions.
The competition started – as usual – with blackbelt forms. In the adult divisions, Mr Mason Rud owned a large ring of second and third degree blackbelts with a strong, well-practiced performance of Keumgang – passed down to him as Great Grandmaster Soon Bae Kim taught it to Grandmaster Eric Greenquist – and claimed first. In a separate division of first dan and newer second dan blackbelts, Mr Justin Lafavor secured a second place finish with a strong Koryo. In a competitive jr blackbelt division, Ms Dyllan earned a second place award and Mr Kenyon Meissel scored third. In adult blackbelt weapons, Mr Mason again showed up with a strong performance and took first, with Mr Eddie Lin on his heels for a second place finish. In the jr blackbelt weapons forms division, Mr Kristofer Huck claimed second with an advanced and athletic performance, with Mr Tanner Lafavor following closely to take third.
In underbelt forms, Mr Mason Hager claimed a second place finish in his advanced division. In the intermediate divisions, Mr Ben Hovland claimed first place with Mr Elijah VanVoorhis taking third in his first tournament appearance. In a younger division, Mr Eli Almer place third and Mr Nathan VanVoorhis finished in fourth, both in their first tournament appearances. At the beginner level, in two separate divisions, Mr Eli Molzahn and Mr Luke Hartl both earned solid second place finishes. In the under 18 beginner division, Mr Aidan Motesfoote also earned a second place finish.
In breaking, Mr Aidan Motesfoote placed first in his under 18 division. Mr Eli Almer took first in his age group at the intermediate level. Mr Elijah VanVoorhis earned a second place finish in a separate intermediate division. In two separate advanced divisions, Mr Austin Heidt took second and Mr Mason Hager took third. The jr blackbelt divisions were split into two age groups. In the younger age group, Mr Braxton Standaert slammed his way to a second place finish. In the older age group, Mr Kristofer Huck claimed third. In the adult breaking divisions, Alliance second dan blackbelts Mason Rud and Eddie Lin showcased advanced techniques and combinations and smashed their way to second and thrid place breaking finishes, respectively.
In the sparring divisions, the Alliance underbelts put in work – as always. At the beginner level, Mr Eli Molzahn scored his way to a strong second place finish in his first tournament appearance. In the under 18 divisions, Mr Aidan Motesfoote was moved up to an intermediate division due to a lack of beginner level competitors. After three hard matches, Mr Aidan finished third. At the younger intermediate level, Mr Ben Hovland took home the first place award for his division in a strong showing. In a separate division, Mr Zach Ziegler and Mr Nathan VanVoorhis battled through two other opponents each to face each other in the match for first. After a close fight, Mr Zach secured his first place finish with Mr Nathan taking a very respectable second place. In two separate advanced divisions, Mr Mason Hager claimed a third place award and Mr Austin Heidt took home a first place award.
The junior blackbelt divisions this time around were split three ways based on size. The lightest division boasted Alliance competitors who took three of the top four spots; Ms Dyllan Heidt took first, with Ms Reese taking third after a hard-fought match against Mr Kenyon Meissel, who took fourth. In the middle division, Mr Braxton Standaert showed some of his highest level fighting to date and ended up taking second after a very close match with an older, more experience competitor in the final. In the heaviest jr blackbelt division, Mr Tanner Lafavor cleaned house against all comers to claim a very clear and definitive first place finish.
Blackbelt fighting was two rounds of two-minute continuous fighting and scoring per match. The under eighteen full blackbelt division was run as a round robin. Despite a recommendation to avoid this method by Master Devon Waldron, placement determination ignored match wins and instead relied upon total score. As a result, Mr Eddie Lin – who won all of his matches but did not outscore the runner up due to his second opponent conceding after only one round – took second, despite being the only undefeated fighter in the division. In the over 18 middleweight blackbelt division, Mr Justin Lafavor knifed through multiple opponents, including older, more experience and higher ranking opponents, going undefeated to claim a well-earned first place finish.
After all the dust settled and all the competitor points had been tallied, Alliance second dan competitor Mason Rud – traveling all the way from Cedar Rapids, IA in order to compete – came out of the cut to claim the adult grand-championship title. Despite abstaining from the fighting divisions, Mr Mason placed highly enough in his other events to outscore all other adult competitors and earn another grand-championship for himself and Alliance. Congratulations, Mr Mason!
Alliance would like to thank the Roughrider Academy and Grandmaster Ted Fitzsimmons for hosting the tournament and providing these opportunities. We would also like to congratulate the entire team on all the hard work, and thank the parents, instructors and coaches who have supported them. As always, our gratitude goes out to Grandmaster Eric Greenquist for his many years of dedication and instruction, and Great Grandmaster Moo Young Yun for his tireless efforts in the promotion of Korean martial arts.
