Alliance Taekwondo brought a strong team to the 2012 Greenquist Championship Invitational on Cinco de Mayo, with ten underbelt competitors, six black belt competitors, and three black belt alumni. Alliance juniors Caleb and Logan Olson, Lynsey Eberle, Ashton Madche, Tanner Olson, Nick Uhlich, Shawna Fairbanks, Austin Hunt, Steven Weigel and Braden Fritel took home seventeen trophies and five honorable mentions. Adult underbelt competitors Issac Eberle, Kelsie Madche and Justine Hulm took home seven trophies. Three adult black belts, Alliance instructor Devon Waldron and assistant instructors Paige McDaniel and Tammy Fairbanks, as well as Alliance alumnus Charles Smith, Jamison Woods and Kyle Sanford, competed in seven separate divisions and took home thirteen awards.
The black belts started the day with forms, competing in four separate divisions. Mr. Devon Waldron took second in the men’s division with alumnus Mr. Charles Smith taking first just ahead of him. In a separate men’s division, alumnus Mr. Kyle Sanford took second with his display of Koryo narrowly edging out fellow alum Mr. Jamison Woods, who took third. In the women’s divisions, Ms. Paige McDaniel took second with fellow assistant instructor Ms. Tammy Fairbanks taking third right behind her. Later in the day, Mr. Devon Waldron also competed in the weapons division, and came in second after fellow Greenquist blackbelt Mr. AJ Christiansen. Ms. Lynsey Eberle was narrowly edged out of first place in forms and took second, with teammate Mr. Logan Olson earning an honorable mention behind her. Each of the jr. black belts also performed the Hapkido bo-staff pattern for the first time, with Ms. Lynsey Eberle placing second and Caleb Olson earning an honorable mention.
In underbelt forms, seven juniors competed. In his first tournament appearance, Mr. Braden Fritel earned an honorable mention in forms. Mr. Austin Hunt took second followed by Mr. 
Steven Weigel in third in an intermediate division. Mr. Nick Ulich secured the third place spot in his advanced division, while teammate 
Mr. Ashton Madche took second one age group up. Three adult underbelts also competed; Mr. Issac Eberle claimed second place in his advanced forms division, Ms. Kelsie Madche claimed second in her division and Ms. Justine Hulm took first in her forms division, in her second tournament appearance.
In breaking, Mr. Caleb Olson took second in a jr. black belt boys division. In the underbelt divisions, newcomer Braden Fritel nailed his breaks and took second. Mr. Austin Hunt took first in an intermediate division. 
Mr. Ashton Madche took third in an advanced division , and Mr. Tanner Olson took third in a separate advanced division. Adult underbelts Kelsie Madche and Justine Hulm competed in separate divisions placing second and third respectively.
In a separate breaking event, the Jay Halvorson Memorial Trophy was up for grabs to the person breaking the most stacked boards with a single knifehand strike. In his third consecutive year, Mr. Devon Waldron took the prestigious trophy as the only competitor to break seven boards.
In the sparring divisons, the underbelts fought across a wide range of ages and ranks. Mr. Braden Fritel came off the line in a flurry of strikes and secured third place in his division. Mr. Ashton Madche showed power and control and fought his way to a second place finish. In an intermediate division, Mr. Austin Hunt battled hard through multiple opponents, and 
came away with second. Fighting one age-range up, Mr. Steven Weigel went undefeated in his intermediate division to claim first place. In the adult divisions Ms. Kelsie Madche, fighting for the first time since an injury, battled her way to second place while teammate Ms. Justine Hulm fought her way to a first place finish.
In the jr. black belt divisions, Ms. Lynsey Eberle secured second place after fighting tough matches and outdoing her opponents all the way to the final match, which went into overtime. Seasoned fighters Caleb and Logan Olson both battled stiff competition, and Mr. Logan Olson managed to secure a third place spot.
Adult black belt breaking was the second to last event of the day, and consisted of three rings of black belts setting up breaking sequences of up to ten boards each. Mr. Kyle Sanford, in his most successful black belt tournament breaking appearance yet, came away with third place.
The black belt fighting divisions were divided into lightweight men, heavyweight men, and women. In the lightweight division, Alliance alumnus Mr. Charles Smith fought like lightning, gunning through three rounds to take first. In his first Taekwondo sparring competition appearance in two years, Mr. Devon Waldron slammed through three opponents of his own to take the heavyweight spot, with alumnus Mr. Kyle Sanford taking third in the same division. The first place finishers then faced off against each other, with the winner moving on to challenge the current title holder, Master Lucas Holzhueter. After the two long-time training brothers matched up, it was Mr. Devon Waldron who moved on to battle Master Holzhueter; in a close match, Mr. Devon Waldron pulled ahead at the end with a jump backspin kick to the head, moments before the final whistle, to claim the championship title belt.
Alliance would like to thank the Greenquist Academy for hosting the tournament and providing a wonderful environment for competition and both team and personal growth. 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.
