Don't be Fooled Colorado 2023

Brayden Wroten set an unyielding standard on the sprinting tables at Eagleview Middle School, posting a blistering 2.33 winning average in the 2x2x2 Cube final and capturing top honors in the 3x3x3 Cube with a 7.72 mark. The performance headlined an action-packed day of speedcubing at Don't be Fooled Colorado 2023, where 64 competitors converged in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA on April 1, 2023. Across twelve rounds and seven distinct disciplines, the speed events proved to be the ultimate battleground for sharp turns and split-second decisions.

The premier 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube drew 63 entrants through three intense stages of elimination. Wroten led the pack into the final round, delivering the day's best single solve of 6.92 seconds alongside his tournament-winning 7.72 average. Jacob Nokes secured second place with an 8.30 average, while Oliver Michael Sitja Sichel rounded out the podium in third with an 8.73. The deep roster made the 3x3 results a showcase of consistency, as solving times regularly dipped below the ten-second mark on the main stage.

In the 2x2x2 Cube, Wroten was equally unstoppable through two rounds of fierce competition. His decisive 2.33 average earned him a second gold medal of the weekend, backed by a rapid 1.78 single solve. Sitja Sichel pushed the pace to claim the silver medal with a 2.60 average, while Miles Walcott locked down the third spot on the podium at 3.17. The event proved to be a popular playground for personal progression across the entire roster of 58 competitors.

Beyond the standard three-layered puzzle, Wroten added a third gold medal to his tally in 3x3x3 Blindfolded, where memorisation and execution without sight yielded a winning single time of 47.95 seconds. Elizabeth Cutting placed second with a successful 1:00.10 solve, and Stone Amsbaugh secured third place at 1:09.57. Wroten's versatile mastery across both sight-based sprints and memory-driven solves established him as a premier competitor throughout the tournament.

While Wroten commanded the shortest solves, Jacob Nokes staged a dominant sweep across the big cubes. Nokes captured the 4x4x4 Cube crown with a 31.33 average and a 27.32 single, finishing ahead of Wroten's 34.09 and Dylan Hughlett's 35.06. In the 5x5x5 Cube, Nokes repeated the feat, putting together a 51.02 average to top Wroten at 55.64 and Hughlett at 1:02.01. Nokes then completed the large-puzzle trifecta in the 6x6x6 Cube, recording a winning average of 1:30.74 over Hughlett's 1:50.94 and Wroten's 1:52.29.

The mechanical challenge of Clock brought another tightly contested single-round battle featuring 35 solvers. Raymos Castillo took the victory with a 6.34 average and a 5.96 best single. Miles Walcott finished closely behind in second place with a 6.53 average, while Alayna Garrett earned third place with a 6.90 mark. Castillo also made a notable splash in the 2x2x2 Cube, advancing through the brackets with personal best marks of 3.23 in the single and 5.61 on average.

Away from the top steps of the podium, Don't be Fooled Colorado 2023 featured remarkable breakthroughs across all experience levels. Dax Pedotto delivered one of the weekend's largest leaps, chopping his 2x2x2 Cube personal best down to 11.01 seconds from 24.34, an improvement of 54.8 percent. Jace Clawson took on four events, slashing his 2x2x2 Cube mark by 43.6 percent to 4.46 seconds, cutting 33.1 percent off his 6x6x6 Cube time to 4:30.48, and trimming his 4x4x4 Cube mark to 1:08.99. Karthikeyan Natarajan carved 45.5 percent off his Clock mark to reach 19.98 seconds while dropping his 3x3x3 Cube best to 29.74. Jackson Nielsen tackled four events, completing his first ever official attempts in both the 4x4x4 Cube in 2:28.57 and the 5x5x5 Cube in 3:09.88 alongside a 37.6 percent improvement on 2x2x2 to 5.60 seconds.

First-time event entries continued to fuel the energy across the venue floor. Colton Schluter contested six events, registering his first ever 6x6x6 Cube solve at 7:28.32 and his first 4x4x4 Cube solve at 1:49.95. Lincoln A. Gray marked his first attempts in 2x2x2 Cube at 3.89 seconds and 4x4x4 Cube at 1:13.44, finishing 11th in the 2x2x2 event. Stephen Cowan logged his first 4x4x4 Cube attempt at 1:52.84, while Taren White completed his first 4x4x4 Cube attempt at 2:19.55 and lowered his 3x3x3 Cube best by 13 percent to 26.33 seconds.

The day also welcomed first-time competitors stepping onto the official floor for their debut WCA competition. Solvers including Kade Saffold, Jonathan Callihan, Aidan Smith, and Austin Kyle Truex registered their inaugural official times in both the 2x2x2 Cube and 3x3x3 Cube. Their presence contributed to an active and diverse field that kept the judging stations running without pause through morning heats and late-afternoon finals.

As the final timers stopped at Don't be Fooled Colorado 2023, the event closed out a packed 2023 calendar date for speed cubing in the Rocky Mountain region. Between Wroten's rapid double victory in the short sprints, Nokes's command of the big cubes, and Castillo's precise Clock triumph, the cubing competition provided an extensive test of puzzle-solving skill that will carry momentum into upcoming tournaments.