A big weekend provided some big moments. On May 2-4,...Read More
A big weekend provided some big moments.
On May 2-4, the Mennen Sports Arena was home to the Tier 1 Northeast regionals! At the event, hundreds of athletes came in and out of the doors to qualify for a spot in the Tier 1 World Championships this coming June. The Northeast Ninjas once again proved how strong they were, with every division featuring highly competitive athletes and close results. Read on to find out which competitors came out on top!
With 16 active divisions in this Regional, it was only a matter of time until someone took the top spots on both the Flow Course and Challenge Course. This weekend, there were an impressive 8 athletes who did so: Owen Ulzheimer (Kids Male), Will Vaz (Preteen Male), Emily Bauco (Preteen Female), Alex Ascone (Teen Male), Sara McCurdy (Adult Female), Timothy Lazzarevich (Masters Male), Jennifer Bryant (Masters Female), and Helena Smith (Elite Female).
Ulzheimer, Vaz, Bauco, Ascone, McCurdy, Lazzarevich, and Bryant all managed to hit a buzzer on both courses. McCurdy was the only athlete in her division to clear the Flow Course. Bauco and Ascone bring 2 Regional titles back to Ninja Mania, while Bryant and Smith contribute their wins to Jump Climb Extreme’s list of awards. Meanwhile, Ulzheimer, McCurdy, and Lazzarevich bring 3 titles to Dexterity Depot.
The scoring for Regionals is determined by the placement athletes receive on each course. For example, 1st place is 1 point, 2nd is 2, and so on. The lowest total score between both the Flow and Challenge Courses is crowned Regional Champion. However, 3 divisions featured ties in overall score, in which the tie was broken by who performed better on the Challenge Course. Emily Wilkes (Mature Kids Female) tied with Morgan Lauchner. Both athletes scored a total of 4, but since Wilkes beat Lauchner on the Challenge Course, she was granted the win. The same can be said for Sarah Korn (Young Adult Female) who tied with Holly MacFarlane with a score of 6. Korn won the Challenge Course while MacFarlane placed 4th.
The Kids Female division featured a three-way tie. Emilia Diaz Landt, Ruby Hals, and Julia Testani all tied with a score of 5. In the end, it was Diaz Landt who won the Challenge Course, crowning her the winner of the weekend. Hals placed 2nd on the Challenge Course, making her the overall runner-up and placing Testani in 3rd.
Every division featured talented athletes, and as a result, multiple divisions had large handfuls of contenders for the win. In the end, only one could come out on top in each division…but not without some resistance from their fellow competitors.
In the Mature Kids Male division, Aveon Erardi-Rowser scored 4 points to barely beat Haris Pupovic’s score of 5. It was Erardi-Rowser’s 1st place finish on the Flow Course that gave him the win. Malone Canter (Preteen Female), JJ Black (Young Adult Male), Tyler Wyman (Adult Male), and James Sannella (Elite Male) didn’t win on either of their courses, but hit buzzers on both in a fast enough time to clinch the win in their divisions.
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