Midwest Area Delegates
What is a delegate?
Delegates are the officials of the WCA, and they are responsible for ensuring the WCA Regulations are followed during the competition. They also handle incidents and are responsible for scrambles and results. If you ever have any doubts or questions, they should be your first choice for asking.

Illinois
Jake Buckley
Jake lives in Peoria, Illinois. He is studying music at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. Outside of cubing, Jake plays baseball, disc golf, and is also involved in community theater.

Illinois
Kit Clement
Kit has been cubing since 2008 and delegating since 2013. Kit served as the WCA Senior Delegate for US and Canada from 2017 to 2021 as well. He started delegating competitions in Michigan, then Oregon, and recently moved back to the Midwest in Illinois. His favorite event is 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, where he has won national championship podiums in 2015 and 2018. Outside of cubing, Kit enjoys disc golfing like many of the other delegates listed here, and is involved in statistics education as an instructor and researcher.
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Illinois
Lauren Clement
Lauren grew up in Michigan, moved to Portland, OR after college, and returned back to the Midwest (Illinois) in 2022. She started cubing in 2013 when she met Delegate Kit Clement at the University of Michigan and asked him about his WCA profile. Her first competition was at Hillsdale College where she not only was excited to compete but also began volunteering at the competition as a runner and judge. Kit and Lauren attended many competitions together and eventually planned a Rubik's Cube themed wedding to celebrate their love of each other and cubing. Lauren continued to help out at every competition she attended, including National and World Championships. Outside of competitions, Lauren joined the WCA Communication Team in 2017 and was the leader of the team from 2018 to 2022. She was appointed to be a Delegate in 2019 and continues to enjoy representing the cubing community any way she can!

Kansas
Dan Smith
Dan grew up in Ohio and got his first Rubik's Cube in 1981 while in middle school. He eventually averaged 75 seconds after reading "The Simple Solution to the Rubik's Cube". For the next 35+ years he solved it casually with terrible finger tricks and look ahead. In 1988, however, he wrote a computer program that could scramble and solve the 3x3x3 Cube then also wrote a program to model the 5x5x5 cube which didn't even exist then -- he was able to solve that 5x5x5 cube virtually with his own slow method. In 2018, in a mid-life crisis, he wondered if he could break his old high school record of 54 seconds. After learning Jeffrey Varasano's Corners First method then CFOP, Dan signed up for a local competition he saw online. He asked the delegate at the competition what it would take for him to be a delegate, then was given that chance in 2022 after competitions came back after COVID. Dan's passion in cubing is talking to young people and seeing the same enthusiasm in their eyes for solving the cube as he had as a kid!

Minnesota
Walker Welch
Walker grew up in Minnesota and started cubing casually in 2008 after being intrigued by seeing a Rubik's Cube at a local store. A few years later, Youtube videos of World Records and Tutorials peaked his interest and then decided to join his first competition in Fall of 2011. Over the years, Walker learned how welcoming and great the Cubing Community is and kept becoming more and more involved from Organizing to becoming a WCA Delegate in 2016. Walker also has served for the WCA Ethics Committee as a Leader and is currently a Board of Director for CubingUSA. Walker's favorite WCA events are 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, 7x7, and Clock with his proudest accomplishment being his 24.00 Fewest Moves World Record Average. Outside of Cubing, Walker works as a UPS Package Supervisor and in his free time enjoys getting outside and playing Disc Golf whenever he can!

Missouri
Katelyn Hinkley
Katelyn has been speed solving since 2012 and started competing in 2016. She hails from Springfield, Mo and works as a videographer & photographer at a music store. She hopes to also provide support for the North Arkansas area as well.

Ohio
Braden Richards
Braden is a speedcuber originally from Findlay Ohio, where he co-organized four competitions in 2018 and 2019. After a long break from competitions in 2020 and 2021, Braden sought to become more involved in the WCA and cubing community as a staff member and representative. Currently, Braden is the president of The Rubik's Cube Club at Ohio State, and has held multiple competitions on campus. Braden is also a member of the WCA Archive Team, where he researches WCA and speedcubing history including world records and historic competitions. While he considers himself to be an all-rounder, Braden's main event is not actually an official WCA event (yet!); Braden's favorite event is Mirror Blocks, where he holds the record at 7.96 seconds.

Ohio
Zach Garber
Zach has been cubing since 2009 and attended his first official competition in 2014. Since then he has competed in over 100 competitions in more than 20 states. Zach became a delegate in early 2017 and has helped delegate more than 50 competitions. Zach does the IT Work for a local school district in Ohio.

South Dakota
Carter Bitz
Carter is a cuber from South Dakota currently attending college in Florida! His main event has been 4x4 almost since he started cubing in 2016. Please reach out to Carter if you want to organize a competition in the South Dakota area during winter break or in the summer!

Wisconsin
Carter Kucala
Carter has been attending WCA competitions in 2015, and became a delegate in 2022. He is an impressive all-around cuber and also broke the Skewb world record average in December of 2021. In addition to being a delegate, Carter also works as a member of both the WCA Regulations Committee and WCA Disciplinary Committee. Although his primary home is in Minnesota, he is currently attending college at UW Madison. Carter is looking forward to helping grow the Midwest Cubing Community by bringing competitions to more areas that have not had them before.

Wisconsin
Josh Feran
Josh is from Madison and started cubing in 2009. He was the U.S. National Champion in Clock two years in a row (2016 and 2017). He also holds the current World Record for the most competitions and most completed solves in 1 year! Josh has delegated over 40 competitions.

Wisconsin
Zeke Mackay
Zeke is from the Milwaukee area and has been cubing since 2014. He has been attending WCA competitions since 2015 and has been regularly organizing competitions in Wisconsin since lockdown ended. He is currently a member of the WCA Competition Announcement Team and Advisory Council. He is primarily an all-rounder but his favorite event is Clock. Zeke is excited to help grow the Midwest cubing community in the coming years!