The Iron Horse competition team at nationals. Front Row: Jewel Edwards. Middle Row (L-R): Jessica Beaty, Houston Edwards, Kristen Beaty, Bella Marimon, Andrea Kopanski, Casey-Lee Wolfe and Tommy Bodkin. Back Row (L-R): Coach Jack Wimmer, Quinn Sisson, Logan Lagoni, Brock Lagoni and Coach and Iron Horse Owner Master Myron Gerber.
Submitted Photo
The Inaugural-Five Iron Horse Athletes receiving the AAU Taekwondo High School Varsity Letter. Front Row (L-R): Kristen Beaty, Houston Edwards, Andrea Kopanski Back Row (L-R): Quinn Sisson and Logan Lagoni.
Submitted Photo
PENDLETON —The Iron Horse Martial Arts competition team represented Pendleton in the 2023 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Taekwondo Championship held at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale July 2-8.
A record-breaking 4,000-plus athletes, topping last year’s record-breaking 3,294 athletes, registered for this year’s AAU event. Registered athletes represented 45 states, five countries, 900-plus coaches and more than 10,000 events.
The Iron Horse team earned seven gold, four silver and nine bronze placements.
Earning gold medals for the team in the black belt division were Andrea Kopanski (Power Foot Board Breaking and Buzzsaw Board Breaking), Kristen Beaty (Forms), Houston Edwards (Repetitive Side Breaking Boards), and Tommy Bodkin (Point Sparring).
In the intermediate division, Bella Marimon placed first place in Forms, and in the black belt special needs division, Brock Lagoni took the gold in Forms.
Jessica Beaty, Jewel Edwards and Logan Lagoni took home silver in Forms in the black belt division.
Kopanski and Houston Edwards added bronzes in Power Hand Board Breaking and Forms, Jewel Edwards finished in third in both Point Sparring and Repetitive Side-kick Board Breaking, Quinn Sisson added a bronze in Continuous Sparring, Marimon was third in Olympic Sparring and Casey-Lee Wolfe earned bronze in Forms.
Along with the top-three finishes, five team members earned the inaugural AAU Taekwondo National High School Varsity Program Letterman Award.
The inaugural program awarded 180 black belt athletes across the nation who met all the requirements, including being a current AAU member, participation in AAU district or national competitions, a grade-point average minimum with a submitted transcript, active taekwondo training (minimum of 75 hours per year with an instructor’s signatory), community volunteering, taekwondo master recommendation and an additional letter of recommendation.
Many Iron Horse team members train six days per week. Three are traditional-style classroom training sessions, and three are sparring sessions with additional weapons and forms competition-level classes.
The AAU taekwondo varsity letterman program provides high school students the opportunity to earn a varsity letter for dedication and commitment to taekwondo, even if their high school does not have a taekwondo program or if they are homeschooled.
Earning the Letterman Award were Quinn Sisson (Pendleton Heights), Andrea Kopanski (Pendleton Heights), Logan Lagoni (Pendleton Heights), Kristen Beaty (Mt. Vernon) and Houston Edwards (Anderson).
The team has many supporters and sponsors in the community, including this year’s premier sponsor YesterYear Construction Services.