NCS girls accounted for a record 25% of the GU 17 draw at the Mid-Atlantic Junior Championships (JCT), which were held in Charlottesville. This tournament is one of just five national championship-level tournaments used to select Team USA, and attracts the most elite juniors nationally.

Playing up an age group in GU 17, Isabella Tang reached the final without dropping a game. She pushed the winner in four tight games, showing substantial improvement compared to her previous match against the same opponent in October. She reached her first-ever #1 USA ranking in GU 17.

Calla Yim reached her second career JCT quarterfinal to score 2600 ranking points and maintain her #7 highest-ever USA ranking.

Playing in her first year as a GU 17, Makeda Moshi set a personal best 11-12 finish in that age group. She took a game off a player ranked #6 in the USA and pushed her to 11-9 scores in two other games.

Akaisha Bhatia also played up an age group into GU 17, finishing 17th. Along the way, she took a game off the eventual champion in the round of 16 and lost one of the games by a 13-11 score. She’s now ranked a personal best #17 USA.

Caroline Burg also set a personal best JCT finish at 19-20 and moved up to #38 in the USA, a personal best.

Uma Patnaik and Khadija Elhaddad finished 21-24. Khadija unfortunately lost one of the toughest matches in the GU17 draw, falling to the eventual 13-16 finisher in a marathon five-game match that included game scores of 14-12 and a pair of 12-10s. Elise Chung rounded out the record-setting NCS GU17 field.

BU19 Nathan Rosenzweig recorded a personal best third-place JCT finish, falling in the semis to the eventual winner in a five-game match. Trinity Moshi also took 3rd place, in GU15.

BU13 Eric Tang reached his second-ever JCT quarterfinals, while Daniel King notched a personal best 10th place BU19 JCT finish.

Elise Kang reached 11-12, tying her personal best GU 19 JCT finish, which moved her to a #12 national ranking, a personal best in that age group.

Indira Moshi set a personal best JCT finish at 19-20. She continued her steady climb up the national rankings to #33 in GU 19, a significant improvement from #46 in September.

Playing in his first-ever JCT, Inigo Jordan scored an impressive 25th-place BU15 finish by winning his final three matches, each in four games. He also scored career-best semifinals appearances at the Cincinnati junior Gold on January 21 and the Santa Barbara Gold January 27. He is now ranked #30 USA, his highest ranking ever.

Kian Patnaik finished 21-24 in the BU15s.

Shreya Vadlamani showed impressive grit in scoring a personal-best 25th GU15 finish by winning the final five-game match (9), 12, 6, (8), 7.