Alliance Taekwondo fielded a team of eighteen competitors for the 2025 Central Plains Taekwondo Invitational. Adult competitors including Master Tammy Fairbanks, brothers Justin and Tanner Lafavor, Ms Dyllan Heidt and Mr Kristofer Huck were joined by a juniors team led by jr blackbelts Mr Braxton Standaert and Ms Reese Spadgenske and included jr blackbelts Mr Mason Hager and Mr Carter Delabarre and underbelts Zachary and Elliot Ziegler, Elijah and Nathan VanVoorhis, Luke and Emmalie Hartl, Ellis Price, Thatcher and Judah Kerzman, and Mr Camden Standaert.
Alliance took home a total of forty-eight awards, including sixteen first place finishes, fourteen second place finishes, eleven third place finishes, and seven fourth place honorable mention finishes.
In the Masters forms division, new 5th Dan Master Tammy Fairbanks earned a fourth place honorable mention. In the over eighteen divisions, Mr Justin Lafavor took third. In the blackbelt forms divisions under eighteen, Alliance blackbelts Mr Tanner Lafavor, Mr Kristofer Huck and Ms Dyllan Heidt took second, third and fourth respectively, each sporting their own flavor of Koryo. In two separate junior blackbelt divisions, Ms Reese Spadgenske took first, Messrs Mason Hager and Carter Delabarre took second in separate divisions, and Mr Braxton Standaert took third.
In underbelt forms, ten juniors competed. In an advanced division, Mr Zach Ziegler took first with teammate Mr Elijah VanVoorhis taking third. In a younger advanced division, Mr Nathan VanVoorhis took first. At the intermediate level, Mr Luke Hartl took first in his division, while in a younger division Mr Ellis Price took third. In the beginner rings, brothers Messrs Thatcher and Judah Kerzman both took first in their age group in two separate divisions; in other divisions, Ms Elliot Ziegler took second and Mr Camden Standaert earned a fourth place honorable mention.
All underbelt breaking was up next. In the advanced divisions, Mr Zach took first in his division. At the intermediate level, Mr Luke also took first. In the beginner divisions, Mr Thatcher earned a second place finish. In separate, younger divisions Ms Elliot was awarded third place and Mr Camden was awarded fourth place.
In the advanced underbelt sparring divisions, both Mr Zach and Mr Nathan dominated their respective rings, each coming away with a first place win. In the beginner rings, brothers Thatcher and Judah did well in their first competitive sparring appearances, earning second and third respectively in two separate divisions. Mr Camden also earned a third place finish in his ring.
In a rare exhibition, the sparring side of Kumdo was included in this competition. Alliance fielded two competitors in the under eighteen division and one in the adult men’s division. In the under eighteen ring, Mr Tanner and Mr Kristofer battled hard for first place, with Mr Tanner ending up in first despite an early lead by Mr Kristofer. In the adult men’s divisions, Mr Justin showed his trademark range and precision, losing only his final match and coming in second overall.
Blackbelt breaking was the second to last event of the day. The junior blackbelt boys were up first, with Mr Braxton coming out on top in the first place spot, Mr Carter taking second and Mr Mason taking fourth. The adult blackbelt divisions consisted of breaking sequences of up to ten boards and five stations each. In his first tournament appearance at the adult blackbelt level, Mr Kristofer Huck beat out a ring of more than ten other more experienced blackbelts to take the first place spot with an exciting and athletic breaking performance.
The adult blackbelt fighting was broken down into under eighteen and eighteen and up for the fighters. Despite other under eighteen blackbelt women in attendance competing in forms and breaking, none of them were willing to spar; Mr Dyllan Heidt then chose – in the absence of other women fighters – to compete in the men’s under eighteen division rather than forgo the opportunity to fight. She was up first against a Montana blackbelt; Ms Dyllan outscored her opponent over two continuous rounds with speed, precision and technique despite his hard kicks and aggressive action. Up next was a a match reminiscent of a hundred training sessions as Mr Tanner Lafavor and Mr Kristofer Huck squared off. In a very close match, Mr Tanner pulled ahead. Mr Kristofer was up after that, and sailed through his match with a display of clear superiority and a TKO of his opponent in the second round to claim third. In the first place matchup, Ms Dyllan and Mr Tanner had a fun, fast-paced set of rounds in which Mr Tanner didn’t let his training sister get the better of him; Mr Tanner took first and Ms Dyllan took second. In the over eighteen blackbelt fighting, Mr Justin lanced through all of his opponents to fight for first place in a rematch with Mr Brady Leshovsky; last summer, Mr Justin got the better of the Greenquist headquarters blackbelt, but Mr Brady has been working some advanced skills and used technique to narrowly outscore Mr Justin for the the first place spot.
Alliance would like to thank Washburn Taekwondo and Master Ken Sorenson 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.
