Alliance Taekwondo brought a team of eight competitors to the 2023 Detroit Lakes Tournament. Four adult competitors – blackbelts Mr Mason Rud, Mr Eddie Lin and Mrs Justin and Tanner LaFavor – and two jr blackbelts – Mr Kristofer Huck and Mr Braxton Standaert – were joined by underbelts Mr Mason Hager and Mr Zachary Ziegler. Alliance took home a total of 24 medals and a grand champion trophy.
In blackbelt forms, Mr Eddie Lin took first in open hand and first in weapons. At the jr blackbelt level, Mr Kristofer Huck and Mr Braxton Standaert took second and third respectively in open hand, Mr Kristofer also placed second in weapons. In underbelt forms, Mr Mason Hager took second place. There were also group forms, in which a blackbelt team of Mrs Eddie, Justin and Kristofer took 3rd.
In the breaking divisions, Mr Mason Mr Zach took third place in two separate divisions. In the jr blackbelt divisions Mr Kristofer claimed second place. In the adult breaking divisions, Mr Eddie Lin owned a clean first place finish. Mrs Mason and Tanner each earned a fourth place honorable mention in their divisions.
In sparring, Mr Mason Hager battled his way to a third place finish in an advanced underbelt division. Due to an injury, Mr Kristofer had to sit out the sparring divisions this time around, but younger teammate Mr Braxton did enough work for both of them, claiming a well-earned first place finish after several tiring matches. The blackbelts were split into a combined younger division and two older mens and women’s divisions. In a contentious double-elimination bracket, Mr Eddie beat Detroit Lakes fighter Ms Maddie Volesky, who then won all of her matches and came back up the bracket for a rematch. Fighting on a sprained ankle, Mr Eddie couldn’t get the better of Ms Maddie during the second match, so went on to fight for third and won. Mr Tanner went undefeated to match with Ms Maddie in the final match, and for the first time in their fighting history came away the winner. In the adult men’s blackbelt division, Mr Justin Lafavor pounded through three matches of best-of-three rounds also going undefeated that day to claim first place as well.
In the jr blackbelt divisions, many of the other competitors and audience members gathered to watch the Alliance fighters. Mr Kristofer made it look easy on his way to first, while Mr Braxton showed some technical improvement and took second; Mr Kenyon battled hard and earned third. In the girls division, Ms Dyllan and Ms Reese ended up fighting for first and second; Ms Dyllan’s precision scoring gave her the edge to win.
Finally moving to the adult men’s division Mr Eddie Lin crushed his division for first.
When the dust had settled, Mr Eddie Lin had again topped the charts in and – for the third year in a row – took home the Detroit Lakes grand championship award.
Alliance would like to thank the Detroit Lakes Martial Arts Academy for hosting 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.
