Quilon sisters win multiple medals at Taekwondo event

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Two sisters from Menifee dominated not only the 2024 USA Taekwondo-sanctioned California State Championships but also the Arizona State Championships and Nevada State Championships recently, taking home seven gold medals and one silver between them.

The California State Championships were held the first week of April at the Selland Arena within the Convention Center in Fresno. Sisters Audrey and Natalie Quilon came home with gold medals in sparring along with their teammates from Quest Taekwondo of Temecula and their sister team from Redondo Beach.

Dana Vargas and Isa Conklin, who also train at Quest Taekwondo, won gold, earning them a spot on the California team. They will travel later this year to Baja California to participate in the 2024 Binational. Three other male athletes from Menifee also won medals in Arizona, Nevada and California.

All the competitors were coached by Walter Dean Vargas, a 10-time Philippine National Champion, former Olympian, and multi-medalist in SEA Games, Asian Taekwondo Championships and World Taekwondo Championships, which is considered as the world’s most prestigious and most competitive taekwondo competitions outside of the Olympics. He was also ranked number 3 of the world in his division when he retired in the late 1990s.

Audrey, who is 10 years old and a fourth-grader student at Santa Rosa Academy, won gold in the 10–11-year-old lightweight division. She had seven opponents in her division and had to defeat two athletes en route to the gold medal match. She defeated her first two competitors quite easily, winning both via point gap, which is a 12-point difference between athletes. She also dominated her last opponent in the finals round, which she also won via point gap (12-0; 12-0), earning her a gold and qualifying her for the U.S. Nationals in Texas. She also won gold medals in sparring in Arizona and Nevada, winning most rounds via point gap.

Natalie, age 8, also won the gold medal in sparring, winning all her three matchups in the quarterfinals, semifinal and final matchup via point gap. She won gold medals in poomsae and sparring in Arizona. She also competed in Nevada last weekend and won gold in poomsae and silver in sparring. Natalie is a third grader at Santa Rosa Academy; both she and her sister train at Quest Taekwondo in Temecula and have been practicing the sport since they were preschoolers. Their numerous wins are a success at the highest-level state competitions.

The sisters were among 13 competitors from Quest Taekwondo of Temecula who travelled for the highly and fiercely competitive events. Quest Taekwondo athletes collected 26 medals in the event: 13 golds, 6 silvers, and 7 bronzes. They also collected more than 30 combined gold medals in Arizona and Nevada.