Taekwondo team spars against larger teams in first ACATA event at Princeton

Sunday, February 23

Princeton, NJ

8:00 AM

Liberty University Club Sports

Princeton ACATA Tournament

Matthew Knowles gold medal winning sparring team member

Junior Matthew Knowles competes as part of the Flames' gold medal-winning men's middleweight color belt sparring team.

Taekwondo team spars against larger teams in first ACATA event at Princeton

2/26/2025 6:13:00 PM | Taekwondo

Liberty advanced three of its eight teams to the quarterfinals in the best-of-three match format used in Sunday's tournament that drew 440 competitors.

Taekwondo gold medalists Liberty trio — Flames juniors Ricardo Huezo and Matthew Knowles and sophomore Christian DeVincent struck gold in their men's sparring division.

In its first Atlantic Collegiate Alliance of Taekwondo (ACATA) competition since the league was expanded to include college and university programs from New Jersey to South Carolina, Liberty University's men's and women's taekwondo team competed in a field of 440 student-athletes from more than 30 Division I, II, and III teams at Princeton University on Sunday. That was more than four times as large as any previous ACAT tournament — which had a record turnout of 104 — before the conference's expansion.

With 26 participating team members, Liberty was classified as Division III. But unlike previous East Coast Taekwondo Conference tournaments it has competed in, all three divisions were grouped into the final standings and the Flames and Lady Flames placed outside of the top three.

"We actually had a pretty strong showing considering," Head Coach Tom Childress said. "If ACATA had done divisions like the ECTC, I'm pretty sure we would have won our division. The top three teams were from really big schools. We took 26 this weekend, which is a decent number, but was small compared to some of those other schools."

Ricardo Huezo sparring Liberty Princeton — Huezo (right) spars on his way to victory over his opponent in the men's middleweight division.

The Flames had the strongest showing in sparring, with the trio of juniors Matthew Knowles and Ricardo Huezo and sophomore Christian DeVincent advancing to and winning the gold medal match.

"We had some unfortunate pairings, including facing the No. 1-ranked lightweight blackbelt team in the country from Rutgers in the first round," Childress said of his top trio of juniors, Ericson Lehmann and Jackson Hale and senior Seth Whitesell, who were eliminated in the Round of 16. "We entered eight teams, and advanced three to quarterfinals, including (senior) Cheyenne Armes and (junior) Julia Easley who made it through the first two rounds."

Khara Pastean, a junior from Romania, and senior Hannah Wharton reached the bronze medal match and sophomore Taya Shreve and graduate Victoria Lyons advanced to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Lady Flames junior Kaileigh Lowry and seniors Katrina McMillen and Hannah Wharton were eliminated in the Round of 16.

In the Poomsae event, also known as forms, Pastean and sophomore Emily Sloane advanced to the Round of 16.

The Flames and Lady Flames were scheduled to compete in a final ACATA tournament hosted by Cornell on March 9, but the team may instead spend Spring Break training for the April 11-13 National Collegiate Taekwondo Championships in Marlborough, Mass.

"We are hoping to be able to take everybody that has qualified to nationals, but that will depend on the health of the team and academic commitments," Childress said.