Master Khechen Tae Kwon-Do students receive awards

Students from the Master Khechen School of Tae Kwon-Do Association Williamsville location were presented with 2007 East Coast Championship awards at the East Coast Championship banquet on March 29 at Salvatore's Italian Gardens.

The banquet recognized all of the Master Khechen Association top performers from the prior year tournaments.

This year's award winners from the Williamsville School are:

First place: Mr. Samuel Bonk, Miss Julia Boyle, Anthony Campione, Dominic Campione, Mr. Peter Cherico, Mr. Noah Diebel, Miss Carolynn Garas, Danielle Garas, Miss Grace Garas, Mr. Paul Garas, Dyllan Gross, Olivia Heerdt, Alicia McManus, Alex Raymond, Joann Tripi, Mr. Wesley Tripi.

Second place: David Abelson, Mr. Ian Cherico, Mr. Raffaele D'avanzato, Michael Garafalo, Sean Gorman, Miss Kristine Khechen, Qazi Mehmood, Mr. Nathan Mutka, Mr. Anthony Pieber, Jodie Scherrer, Jenna Vandette.

Third place: Mr. Alex Griswold, Cole Beiter, Quinn Beiter, Mr. Marc Cange, Mona Garafalo, Laura Garas, Marianna Kowalewski, Mr. Adam Lobur, Nicole Mc- Manus, Nathan Moser, Sally Panepento, Julian Payne, Dean Robbins.

Fourth place: Dawn Berrafato, Mr. Joe Catalano, Kevin Du, Yvette Farrell, Miss Jessica Fox, Waylan Frears, Ms. Brenda Freedman, Evan Heerdt, Daniel Joseph, Stacey Joseph, Emma Knauer, Mary McManus, Joseph Nasr, Adam Pezzimenti, Kody Richardson, Jamie Robinson, Shane Rogers, Andrew Salem, Miss Kristy Schabert, Angelina Shanahan, Erika Taylor, Mr. Jonathan Trapp, Cathy Vandette, Maggie Weichert, Mydasia Woods.

The Williamsville school students train under head instructor Mr. Christopher D. Schiele, third-degree black belt and 2007 U. S. Open Martial Arts Tournament Grand Champion, among other U. S. titles.

The Master Khechen School of Tae Kwon-Do Association has four locations: 1630 Hopkins Road, Williamsville; 1200 Kenmore Ave., Buffalo; 1460 French Road, Depew/Lancaster; and 3170 Orchard Park Road, Orchard Park.