Bulldog Winter 2023

Luke Garrett delivered an astonishing standard of speedcubing at Green Middle School, capturing the classic Rubik's Cube crown with an elite 5.93 final average and a blazing single of 4.78. The performance placed him firmly ahead of a tough field on January 28, 2023, setting the tone for an intense day of competition. Held in Uniontown, Ohio, USA, Bulldog Winter 2023 brought together 62 competitors across six distinct events and eight hard-fought rounds, treating regional speed cubing fans to high-level execution from start to finish.

Garrett was not finished after securing top honors on the main stage. He continued his commanding run in the 5x5x5 Cube, taking first place with a composed 53.16 average to accompany his best single of 50.77. In that event, Daniel Karnaukh followed in second place with an average of 54.66, while Luke Griesser rounded out the top three with 55.34. Garrett also made his presence felt on the 6x6x6 Cube stage, finishing as the runner-up with an average of 1:45.22 behind Jack Pfeifer.

The 3x3 results demonstrated remarkable depth throughout all three rounds in Uniontown. Luke Griesser took second place in the 3x3x3 Cube with a sharp 6.69 average, while Daniel Karnaukh took third on the podium with an average of 7.42. The tournament schedule allowed solvers of every discipline to shine, ranging from the frantic pacing of the classic puzzle to large hardware and memory-intensive blindfolded trials.

Jack Pfeifer claimed victory in the 6x6x6 Cube, recording a winning average of 1:41.50 and the round best single of 1:33.81. Behind Pfeifer and Garrett, Daniel Karnaukh took third place on the podium with a 1:53.57 average. In the Square-1 competition, Karnaukh stood atop the field, winning the event with a rapid 6.81 average and an exceptional 5.31 single, besting Dominic Cater who posted a 9.06 average and Pfeifer who logged a 9.40.

Mason Langenderfer produced an extraordinary double in blindfolded events, demonstrating immense concentration and spatial precision. Langenderfer captured first place in the 4x4x4 Blindfolded event with a winning single time of 3:40.85, finishing ahead of Jayden Mitchell who marked a 22:41.00 single. Langenderfer duplicated his mastery in the 5x5x5 Blindfolded event, securing the title with a 13:33.00 single ahead of Howie Craig at 20:22.00 and Pfeifer at 25:03.00.

Beyond the podium battles, this cubing competition provided plenty of memorable personal breakthroughs. Brandon Howard delivered a remarkable 3x3x3 Cube personal best of 13.76, improving his previous benchmark by 59.3 percent. Rudra Patel entered four separate events, lowering his Square-1 personal best to 35.45, a 53.5 percent drop from 1:16.17, while also logging his first ever attempts at 5x5x5 Cube with 2:14.18 and 6x6x6 Cube with 5:33.96. Elizabeth Wallie entered four events and cut her Square-1 personal best to 17.91, which was 48.1 percent faster than her prior 34.51 mark.

Andrew Hetrick took on three events and dropped his 5x5x5 Cube mark by 44.2 percent with a new personal best of 1:39.58, down from 2:58.51. Arjun Srinath tackled four events, cutting his 3x3x3 Cube personal best by 32.5 percent down to 26.82, while registering his first official marks in the 5x5x5 Cube at 3:02.26 and Square-1 at 55.36. Shane Rylan Senften improved his 3x3x3 Cube best by 30.1 percent to 11.59 and completed his first official attempts in Square-1 at 50.10 and 5x5x5 Cube at 2:32.82. Alexander Preston took fifth place in Square-1 with a debut 10.07 single and lowered his 5x5x5 Cube personal best to 2:03.36. In his first WCA competition, Jonathan Amrhein logged initial official marks of 13.19 in 3x3x3 Cube, 1:03.42 in Square-1, and 3:09.15 in 5x5x5 Cube.

The gathering inside Green Middle School stood as a memorable day of action for the regional scene, as every podium placement went to United States competitors across all six contested events. Bulldog Winter 2023 highlighted the depth of local talent, celebrating seasoned champions taking top prizes and emerging competitors charting massive personal gains across every table.