UCSD Fall 2024

Specialist events took center stage on November 23, 2024, as Brendyn Dunagan put together a commanding multi-discipline performance in San Diego, California, USA. The American standout swept five separate disciplines across the schedule, highlighted by decisive victories in Clock, Square-1, Skewb, and the massive 6x6x6 Cube. His standout display across the board anchored an action-packed Saturday that brought together 181 competitors to test their skills across six diverse categories.

Held on the campus at UC San Diego, UCSD Fall 2024 challenged solvers across 11 rounds of intense play. While the standard 3x3x3 Rubik's Cube often commands the primary attention at any speedcubing gathering, this gathering showcased an array of specialized puzzles that demand drastically different skill sets. From the turning mechanics of Skewb to the intricate gear alignments of Clock, puzzle specialists delivered fast times throughout the day.

In the Clock final, Brendyn Dunagan topped the standings with a winning average of 3.61 seconds, backed by a tournament-best single of 2.61 seconds. He finished ahead of China's Yunhao Lou, who logged a 4.01 average for second place, and Owen Yepeng Sun, who claimed third with a 4.49 average. Dunagan carried that momentum directly into Square-1, securing victory with a 7.06 average and a 5.94 best single, once again outpacing Lou who finished second at 10.05 seconds.

The hardware challenges continued with Skewb, where Dunagan captured yet another title with a 2.36 average and a blistering 1.14 single. Dean Jacob Adamo Susskind secured the runner-up spot with an average of 2.54 seconds, while Sid Shivnath rounded out the podium at 3.72. The large cubes delivered equally compelling drama. In the 6x6x6 Cube final, Dunagan logged a winning average of 1:27.63, holding off France's Peter Grassard at 1:30.46 and Kate Grahame at 1:31.10.

Big cube mastery shifted in the 7x7x7 Cube final, where Kate Grahame captured the gold with an average of 2:10.86 and a single solve of 2:04.32. Grassard earned his second silver of the tournament with an average of 2:16.35, while Dunagan secured bronze in 2:16.89. The competition featured a high concentration of podium finishes across nations, with the United States earning 13 podium places, China taking 3, and France claiming 2.

Away from the top steps of the podium, several solvers posted massive personal milestones across new disciplines. Alan I. Leyva logged a 3x3x3 Cube personal best of 24.60 seconds, which was 69.7% faster than his previous mark. Joseph Wu took on four events and delivered a Square-1 personal best of 20.43 seconds, cutting his prior best by 69.6%, while also recording personal records of 10.40 seconds in the 3x3x3 Cube and 10.03 in Clock. Manning Karahashi entered six events, securing 12th place in Clock while cutting his Clock personal best by 65.3% down to 4.64 seconds and logging his first ever 7x7x7 Cube attempt at 5:07.56. Arjun Iyer slashed his Clock personal best by 64.4% to 13.66 seconds.

Other solvers expanded their repertoires with ambitious debuts. Jacob Ramirez took on five events, logging his first official attempt at Square-1 with a 29.54 and his first 6x6x6 Cube attempt at 4:59.98, while improving his Clock personal best by 52.1% to 10.79 seconds. Felix Kurlat tackled all six events, recording his first official 7x7x7 Cube solve at 6:49.84, his first 6x6x6 Cube solve at 3:01.43, and an improved Square-1 mark of 40.29 seconds. Nathan Price made his first career official attempts in Clock with a 16.33 and Skewb with a 13.28. Andrea Nguyen logged three event debuts, recording her first attempts in Square-1 at 44.67, Clock at 35.04, and Skewb at 10.64.

The classic three-layered puzzle capped off the proceedings as 179 solvers battled through three rounds. Dunagan led the final 3x3 results with a 7.54 average and a 6.32 single solve to earn his fifth gold. Ethan Yeh pushed hard to take second place with a 7.66 average, and Dan Tran secured third at 8.25 seconds. The depth of the field was evident throughout the day at this sanctioned WCA competition, highlighting rapid growth and technical precision.

A full day of speed cubing at UCSD Fall 2024 showed the incredible versatility demanded at modern puzzle tournaments. From lightning-fast Skewb turns to the endurance required for 7x7x7 Cube solves, the San Diego event provided a stage for established champions and advancing solvers to test their limits. As the 2024 calendar heads toward the close of another busy year of cubing competition, the impressive times posted here set a high benchmark for the approaching season.