KS Air Capital Cubing 2024

Inside Hope Community Church, stacks of puzzle boxes lined the registration tables as timers flickered to life under bright indoor lights. Judges readied stopwatches and competitors smoothed out their timing mats in preparation for a packed schedule of speedcubing. The atmosphere in Andover, Kansas, USA was charged with quiet anticipation on August 24, 2024, as fifty-four entrants gathered for a single day of intense solving across fourteen rounds and seven official events.

When the final solve times settled, United States competitors completed a total clean sweep across the podiums, capturing all twenty-one available top-three positions. The KS Air Capital Cubing 2024 served as a showcase of national depth, with local and traveling solvers claiming every single medal up for grabs. From the traditional Rubik's Cube to towering big cubes, American competitors demonstrated consistent precision throughout every phase of the cubing competition.

Aaron Huynh delivered a commanding weekend performance, taking home three gold medals and two additional podium finishes. In the marquee 3x3x3 Cube event, which brought together fifty-three competitors over three rounds, Huynh captured the title with a 7.10 winning average and a lightning-quick 5.73 best single. The classic 3x3 results saw Isaiah Baker secure second place with an 8.07 average, while Jake Maddox followed closely in third with an 8.34 mark.

Huynh extended his winning run into the specialty disciplines, claiming first place in 3x3x3 One-Handed with a 14.90 average and best single of 13.58 across two rounds. Zachary Walden earned second place at 15.88, and Isaiah Baker took third with 24.93. Huynh also topped the forty-eight solver Pyraminx field with a 3.39 winning average, followed by Connor Lyons in second at 4.39 and Max McGill in third at 4.68, confirming Huynh as the most decorated competitor at KS Air Capital Cubing 2024.

Beyond the top steps, the weekend featured remarkable personal breakthroughs that defined the character of the WCA competition. Trevor Formy-Duval took on seven events, posting a personal best of 20.27 in 3x3x3 One-Handed that was 60.7 percent faster than his previous 51.57 mark, alongside a Pyraminx personal best of 5.57, a 43 percent improvement, and a first ever Skewb attempt of 4.76 to earn a best finish of fifth in 7x7x7 Cube. Hunter Johnson made huge leaps as well, slashing his Skewb best by 43.6 percent to 7.33, cutting his 3x3x3 Cube time to 27.02, and logging an 11.12 Pyraminx single. Riley Halloran improved by 43.3 percent in Skewb with a 12.37 personal best, while Brayden Oetting tackled seven events and logged first attempts in the 7x7x7 Cube at 6:00.94, the 6x6x6 Cube at 4:08.47, and One-Handed at 44.39.

Other dedicated competitors embraced heavy schedules and major milestones throughout the day. Nicolas Bell set three massive personal bests across seven events, dropping his 7x7x7 Cube mark by 33.3 percent to 5:25.70, his Pyraminx time by 31.8 percent to 4.32, and his Megaminx mark by 30.6 percent to 1:10.17 on the way to a seventh-place Megaminx finish. Wade Buhrman took on seven events, logging first attempts in Skewb at 5.39, 7x7x7 Cube at 5:41.10, and 6x6x6 Cube at 3:42.12. First-time speed cubing entrants also made their mark, as Gabriel Norton tackled seven events with a best finish of eleventh in 7x7x7 Cube alongside an initial 14.58 3x3x3 Cube attempt, while Ethan Herrill completed his first competition attempts in Pyraminx at 8.60, Skewb at 14.13, and 3x3x3 Cube at 42.34.

The big cube battles produced fierce competition across the long solve tables. In the 7x7x7 Cube, Lydia Workman secured gold with a 2:38.32 average and a best single of 2:34.59, outlasting Zachary Walden in second with 3:06.89 and Connor Lyons in third with 3:30.23. The 6x6x6 Cube event saw Walden flip the order to win in 1:50.98, with Workman placing second at 1:54.92 and Huynh stepping onto the podium once again in third place with 2:19.69.

Short-format puzzles and geometric challenges rounded out the day's drama. Dominic Brungardt triumphed over forty competitors across three rounds of Skewb, taking first place with a 4.32 average and a best single of 3.68, narrowly edging Huynh's 4.55 second-place effort and Dylan Buie's 5.00 third-place finish. In Megaminx, Isaac Lindsey dominated the field with a 51.79 average and 44.17 single, leading Jake Maddox in second at 1:03.47 and Connor Lyons in third at 1:05.13.

As the final timers were packed away in Andover, the sweep across all twenty-one podium spots stood as an impressive conclusion to the 2024 meet. With fifty-four solvers testing their limits across multiple disciplines, KS Air Capital Cubing 2024 highlighted the talent and dedication present throughout the regional speedcubing community.