ROMANIA (October 30, 2023) – The AAU Taekwondo National Team traveled to Bucharest, Romania to compete in the 12^th edition of the Dracula Open. The team represented the United States and the Amateur Athletic Union in spectacular fashion as they came home with a few medals added to their luggage.
 
The 2023 Dracula Open took place on October 27 through 29 and featured Junior and Senior Olympic Sparring. The event is an international competition bringing teams and athletes from all over the world. With more than 500 competitors in 2022, this year’s event continued to grow and bring out the best of the best in Olympic Sparring.
 
The AAU Taekwondo National Team Junior representatives were: Jaycee Basset, Lesili Bertelsen, Arian Canete, Chloe Chua, Diego Dominguez, Layla Flores, Jessica Gniedziejko, Christina Kibass-Maliba, Hana Lee, Cameron Massay, Ian Mondaca-Wang, Brandon Ramos, Victor Rodrigues, Victor Sanchez, Daniel Santiago, Kayla Shanahan, Makaela Usserman, and Sruthi Venkatraman.
 
The AAU Taekwondo National Team Senior representatives were: Kenneth Buenavides, Isabelle Collyer, Hazel Della, Daphne Estrada, Camila Leija, Britney Morales, Alexa Solomon, Robert Banks III, James Chua, Fergus Curran, Alfred Dixon, Sean Laloan, Dallas Parker, Zeph Putnam II, and Ilay Rodrigues.
 
The team came home with 11 medals total.
Gold Medal Winners: Cameron Massay, Chloe Chua, Christina Kibass-Maliba, Daniel Santiago, Jaycee Basset, and Victor Sanchez
Silver Medal Winners: Victor Rodrigues
Bronze Medal Winners: Arian Canete, Diego Dominguez, Makaela Usserman, and Sruthi Venkatraman.
 
The AAU National team also won 1^st place for Junior Male, 1^st place for Junior Female, and captured 1^st place for Overall Junior Team.
 
Congratulations to all of the athletes who represented Team USA and AAU and thank you to all of the coaches. The coaches preached TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More.
 
To see all of the videos and photos from the weekend in Romania, follow AAU Taekwondo on Facebook.