IlliNxNois Spring 2025

Sixty-four competitors gathered at the Illini Union for IlliNxNois Spring 2025, setting the stage for a day of relentless solving across twelve rounds of play. Staged on March 23, 2025, in Urbana, Illinois, USA, the gathering brought together talent from across the region to test their speed in six core events. The tournament atmosphere was sharp from the morning heats to the late-round finals, delivering a showcase of elite execution on home soil.

American competitor Luke Garrett authored one of the most commanding runs of the year, claiming five out of six event titles. Garrett set the pace in the premier Rubik's Cube event, leading the 3x3 results with an average of 6.13 seconds in the final and posting the weekend's best single solve at 4.11. Ben Zhao finished second with a 6.92 average, while India's Amey Gaba secured third place with 7.69 in a field of 62 competitors.

Garrett's sweep through the larger puzzles began in 4x4x4 Cube, where he delivered a winning average of 24.16 seconds alongside a single of 22.00 across two rounds. Amey Gaba captured the runner-up spot in the event with a 26.97 average, while Akshaansh Chilakapati reached the podium in third with a 32.59 average. Garrett remained untouchable in 5x5x5 Cube, registering a 51.40 average to edge Ben Zhao's 51.50 by a tenth of a second, as Gaba took third in 52.69.

The big-cube mastery continued into the 6x6x6 Cube final, where Garrett posted a winning 1:35.29 average, comfortably ahead of Ben Zhao at 1:46.10 and Akshaansh Chilakapati at 1:50.65. Garrett then wrapped up the heavy-puzzle schedule with a dominant 7x7x7 Cube victory, logging a 2:07.58 average and a single of 2:05.71. Zhao secured second place at 2:39.64, while Chilakapati rounded out the podium at 2:59.54.

The only title that eluded Garrett came in the lightning-fast 2x2x2 Cube division, where Sujan Feist claimed first place with an impressive 1.23 average and an event-best 0.66 single. Garrett took the silver medal with a 1.58 average, while Ellery Dillon earned the bronze step at 2:07. The event generated significant activity across both rounds, highlighted by a 0.79 single and a 1.17 average from Feist during the tournament.

Behind the headline sweeps, the speedcubing community saw meaningful breakthroughs from athletes testing their capabilities across unfamiliar disciplines. Michael Allison entered four events, posting personal first-ever marks of 49.74 in 4x4x4 Cube and 2:07.25 in 5x5x5 Cube, while trimming his 2x2x2 Cube personal best to 1.48 seconds, which was 71 percent faster than his previous mark. Kaustubh Prakash logged his first attempts in 5x5x5 Cube at 2:03.99 and 4x4x4 Cube at 55.19, along with a 2x2x2 Cube best of 4.08 that was 63.5 percent faster. Tyler Newey took on all six events, recording first-time attempts in 7x7x7 Cube at 8:37.22, 6x6x6 Cube at 4:58.15, and 5x5x5 Cube at 2:20.99. Elijah Kurcz notched a first 6x6x6 Cube time of 8:14.14, while cutting his 2x2x2 Cube personal best by 72.4 percent to 2.51 seconds.

Sammy Feliz entered four events, recording first-ever competition marks of 1:14.27 in 4x4x4 Cube and 1:99 in 2x2x2 Cube. Jancsi Wang marked a first 2x2x2 Cube attempt of 7.18 and improved his 3x3x3 Cube personal best by 31.1 percent down to 22.12 seconds. Jammir Aloya expanded his repertoire across five events with debut attempts of 1:34.97 in 5x5x5 Cube and 5:18.24 in 7x7x7 Cube. Josiah Zeifang delivered notable drops, achieving a 2.15 personal best in 2x2x2 Cube that was 46 percent faster and a 50.49 personal best in 4x4x4 Cube that improved on his previous mark by 33.3 percent.

Across the twelve total rounds at this WCA competition, competitors from the USA claimed 12 podium positions while representatives from India collected 6. The speed cubing action demonstrated exceptional depth across all six featured events, closing the chapter on IlliNxNois Spring 2025 as a standout cubing competition for the Midwest circuit in 2025.