Our team traveled to Colorado Springs with 10 fighters on March 26-29 for the WAKO National Championships tournament. Our fighters faced some very high-level competition, but we celebrated some great victories and many performances to be proud of.

Eh Kuh Htoo had two beautiful fights to win Gold in his division. He put on a fantastic performance all weekend! He showed great range, strong low kicks, and stayed disciplined to the game plan. A dominant showing to earn gold! With the win, he secures his spot on Team USA for the Pan American Championships in Chile. This was the best we’ve ever seen Eh Kuh. Way to go!

Travis Engstrom competed in two Tatami divisions as a senior participant. In his Light Contact division, Travis knocked out his opponent with a controlled and well-timed shot. He then fought in Kick Light against a very slick and game opponent, Chris Walker. Travis stayed with the low kicks to secure his second win, achieving Gold in both divisions! Congratulations, Travis!

Steven McCormick won in the finals by unanimous decision to secure the championship! Both opponents had strong boxing exchanges throughout, but Steven mixed in enough strong low kicks to bring home the win. Congratulations!

Ethan Marshall lost a very close split decision in his first fight of the tournament. He had strong first two rounds, landing hard kicks and knees, and was up on points going into the third. His opponent came out aggressive in the third and was able to flip the score in the last minute of the fight. Good fight Ethan!

Liam Whitney lost a close split decision, with his opponent having a bit more volume against Liam’s more calculated shots. But he had a great a fight and we are very proud!

Eliot Woods dropped a close one, losing by 2 points to a tough, experienced opponent. He came out a little slow to start, but he found his rhythm as the fight went on, picking up the pace and landing clean combinations. The scores fell just short, but Eliot had a strong performance and a lot to build on!

Anteze Howard had some solid exchanges and landed a clean right hand early. His opponent came back with a perfectly timed knee to the body, resulting in a first round TKO. Anteze looked confident and composed going in and there’s a lot to take from this one. That’s the fight game!

Luna dealt with a rollercoaster of a fight week with sickness, schedule changes, bout switch ups, and technical issues. She came out strong and had a great first round, sticking to the game plan the entire fight! She ended up getting outscored in the end, but a very solid performance. The future is bright for Luna and she handled the adversity like a pro.

Dru Greene lost via ref stoppage in the 3rd round. He started strong and was ahead early, but his opponent found his boxing range and built pressure that began to shift the momentum. This was a tough but valuable experience! Only up from here!

Ava Kehrer lost a close decision against a tough opponent. She had a strong first round, landing some awesome face teeps and keeping the pressure on throughout the fight which forced her opponent to stay on the back foot. In the end, her opponent was able to edge her out on the scorecards. Tough one, but a great heart!

It was a tough weekend for our team, but a great one. Everyone fought hard and carried themselves with a level of maturity and composure all weekend. We knew coming in this was going to be a challenging tournament, and every year the level of competition continues to rise. It forces us to evolve and elevate with the sport. A lot of our fighters stepped into the advanced division with only a handful of fights, choosing to test themselves against opponents with sometimes triple the experience, all for a shot at the national team. We are coming home with 4x gold medals!

Proud of the way the team showed up and represented The Cellar Gym. Thank you to the parents, coaches, and support systems that made this weekend possible!