South Huntington Student Medals At 2023 Poomsae Championships

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC — Preston Park, an eighth grader in the South Huntington School District, won four medals in poomsae in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in April, his father, Jay Park, announced.

He won two gold medals, a silver and a bronze between April 23 and 25.

Preston Park, a Team USA National Sparring Team member in the 123.5 pound weight class, defeated Nicholas Knight of Trinidad and Tobago, 2-0 (first round: 14-4; second round: 8-6) in the quarter-final, defeated Nilmar Padilla Carrasco of Peru, 2-0 (first round: 18-6; second round: 12-7) in the semifinal, and defeated Fallos Franco Klaython of Ecuador, 2-1 (first round: 1-10; second round: 10-5; and third round: 9-6) in the final match of the 2023 Pan-American Taekwondo Championships, Jay Park said.

Park's come-from-behind win against Klaython secured the gold medal for Team USA. His father called the comeback "incredible."

"It is an honor to see [Preston] on the top of the podium with the American Flag," Jay Park told Patch.

The day before, Park competed in the 2023 Pan-American Poomsae Championships as the wildcard of the Team USA National Poomsae Team in male individual recognized poomsae, where he won silver.

Park was the only national team member who medaled in sparring and poomsae at the 2023 Pan-American Taekwondo Championships, according to Jay Park.

Park also competed in the 2023 Dominican Republic Open International Taekwondo Championships (G1) on April 23. He only participated in poomsae at the 2023 Dominican Republic Open International Taekwondo Championships (G1) to prepare for the continental championships at the venue. He won the gold in mixed pair poomsae with Abigail Skrabak of the Team USA National Poomsae, who is from North Carolina.

Park also won the bronze in male individual recognized poomsae at the 2023 Dominican Republic Open on April 23.

Park took 11 months to recover from his injuries last year and went to Korea Republic to treat his injuries at the Sejong Sports Medicine and Performance Center in Sejong University, Korea Republic, his father said.

His injuries forced him to withdraw from the 2022 Pan-American Championships as a Team USA National Poomsae member.

"I was very heartbroken and I had a hard time overcoming the injury situations," Preston Park said. "Being able to represent the United States in any way is an honor. I am back in the ring now and I return as the true Taekwondo Athlete as the member of Team USA National Team Member."

Champions are not made in gyms, Jay Park said of Preston.

"Champion is made from something he has deep inside him―a desire, a dream, a vision," he said of his son. "He has to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill. I and Preston talk very often regarding the mental everyday and make it as positive ideas to help him to practice harder."

Before Preston spars, Jay always tells him to enjoy the match.

"It does not matter you win or lose. You are here perform and make more friends from other places. I keep telling him positive situations and it delivers him to do better performance and make better results from each competition."

Preston cares how he can perform at the highest level of the competition as the USA National team member, his father said, and Preston is looking forward to representing the United States at the Sarajevo 2023 World Taekwondo Championships, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in August.