Alliance Taekwondo fielded a team of twenty-one competitors for the 2023 Greenquist Championship Invitational. Four adult blackbelt competitors including Master Tammy Fairbanks, Mr Eddie Lin, Mr Justin Lafavor and Mr Tanner Lafavor were joined by a juniors team led by Mr Kristofer Huck; jr blackbelts also included Ms Dyllan Heidt, Ms Reese Spadgenske and Mr Braxton Standaert, and the underbelt roster consisted of Mr Austin Heidt, Mr Mason Hager, Mr Carter Delabarre, Ms Brooklyn Luebke, Mr Zachary Ziegler, Ms Elllie Luebke, Mr Eli Almer, Mr Eli Molzahn, Mr Elijah Vanvoorhis, Mr Nalthan Vanvoorhis, Mr Luke Hartl, Ms Hadley Luebke and Ms Emmalie Hartl.
Alliance took home a total of forty-six awards, including ten first place finishes, sixteen second place finishes, twelve third place finishes, five fourth place honorable mention finishes and three additional non-standard contest wins.
In the blackbelt forms divisions Master Tammy showed finesse and polish with Pyongwan at the master level. Under the master level, Mr Eddie Lin took third in a large division despite an ankle injury with a solid performance of Keumgang. In a separate blackbelt division, Mr Tanner Lafavor took third with a snappy performance of Koryo in his first appearance at the adult blackbelt level. In the junior blackbelt divisions, Ms Dyllan Heidt claimed third in a difficult division with inconsistent scoring, and in a separate division Ms Reese Spadgenske took second, with teammate Mr Braxton Standaert taking fourth. In weapons pattern competition, jr blackbelts Mr Kristofer Huck and Ms Dyllan heidt claimed second and third respectively.
In underbelt forms, thirteen juniors competed. In separate advanced divisions, Mr Austin Heidt came away with a fourth place finish and Mr Carter took home second place. At the intermediate levels, Ms Brooklyn Luebke earned a fourth place spot; in a younger division, her sister Ms Ellie took first. Also at intermediate, brothers Mr Elijah and Mr Nathan Vanvoorhis both took first in their respective forms divisions; Mr Eli Almer and Mr Eli Molzahn took second in their respective divisions. In one of the youngest beginner divisons, Ms Emmalie Hartl earned a fourth place finish..
All juniors breaking and underbelt breaking was up next. In a stiff jr blackbelt boys division, Alliance swept the top three spots with Mr Tanner – who was inexplicably included in the jr blackbelt divisions, taking first; Mr Braxton and Mr Kristofer took second and third respectively. In the girls division Ms Reese won a second place award. In a large advanced division, Mr Austin took second; in a separate division, Mr Mason took fourth. At the intermediate level, all in separate divisions, Mr Zach Ziegler took third, Ms Ellie Luebke took second, Mr Eli Almer took third and Mr Eli Molzahn took second.
In a fun, non-standard event unique to the Greenquist Invitational, competitors participated in a belt tying competition. Each division was large and only one award was presented to the top competitor in each ring. In their respective divisions, Ms Dyllan, Mr Braxton and Ms Emmalie all earned the prize for their belt tying speed and dexterity.
In the advanced underbelt sparring divisions, Mr Austin Heidt battled hard and earned himself a first place finish. In a younger division, Mr Mason Hager fought his way to third place. In another division, Mr Carter Delabarre showed his best ring performance to date and took third as well. In the intermediate divisions, Ms Brooklyn Luebke finished her fights coming away with a respectable third place. In a large fighting division, Mr Zach and Ms Ellie battled their way through multiple opponents to challenge each other for first place; when the dust settled, Mr Zach took home the gold and Ms Ellie came away with silver. In his first tournament fighting appearance, Mr Eli Almer took home third in his division. In a separate older division, Mr Eli Molzahn and Mr Elijah Vanvoorhis were matched up against each other first due to a bracket error. Mr Eli came out on top, relegating Mr Elijah to the match for third and fourth. Mr Elijah won his next match to take bronze, and Mr Eli cleaned up his second match to take gold. Out of the beginner divisions, Alliance fighter Ms Hadley Luebke battled hard to earn herself a second place finish in her first tournament appearance.
In the jr blackbelt divisions, Alliance fighters had some interesting matches. Divisions were split into boys and girls. In the boys division, Mr Kristofer Huck was up first and cleanly outscored a fighter two years older than him. After getting a bye, Mr Braxton Standaert similarly polished off his first opponent. Mr Kristofer handily won his second match, and the two boys faced off for the match for first place. Due to tied points at the end of regular time the match went into overtime; Mr Braxton scored first and claimed gold, with Mr Kristofer taking silver. In the girls divisions, Ms Dyllan – an experienced competitor – was matched up against an inexperienced fighter who at one point literally threw herself to the ground after a point-scoring contact. Ms Dyllan was afterward warned for kicking contact thanks to the opponent’s dive. In a match against a girl a head taller than her, Mr Reese pulled out some tough fighting and took the win. In her second match, Ms Dyllan went easy on an opponent who literally didn’t throw a single kick the entire match. Bewilderingly, she was penalized for what should have been a two point head kick after waiting most of the the match to give her less experienced opponent multiple chances to do anything. Ms Reese faced off against a Detroit Lakes fighter and after a fast-paced match Ms Reese came out on top. In the bracket final, Ms Dyllan and Ms Reese dueled with each other; in the end, Ms Dyllan came out ahead to claim the gold medal with Ms Reese claiming silver.
Alliance fielded two adult blackbelt fighters; the Lafavor brothers both fought this year, with Mr Justin in the 18+ division and Mr Tanner in the under 18 division. Mr Tanner lanced through his first opponent but was again stymied by Detroit Lakes fighter Maddie Volesky, with Mr Tanner taking second place overall. Mr Justin, at his first 18+ appearance at the Greenquist event, started off strong winning rounds on his way to the match for first place in the heavyweight division including a win in a fun match against Master Bobby Cisco of Bozeman. The first place match was a low-scoring contest between Mr Justin and another Detroit Lakes fighter, Mr Cameron Kerns; in the end, Mr Justin was out-scored but with a very competitive showing against a seasoned fighter with multiple years of national competition experience. Mr Justin took second in heavyweight, while Mr Cameron went on to claim the Greenquist championship belt in a tough match against young Greenquist fighter Mr Brady Leshovsky, who was defending the belt from his win last year.
Alliance would like to thank the Greenquist Academy for all the work they put in to host the tournament. 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.
