Mid-West Regional Logo
The Mid-West Regional Yo-Yo Contest is held annually at the Mall of America in Minnesota. It is one of the member contests of the National Yo-Yo League. It encompasses the following states; Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. The top finisher from the Midwest Regional contest who resides in one of the above states, gets an automatic seed into the National Yo-Yo contest finals. Dazzling Dave Schulte ran the first contest in 1998, and is still the organizer today.
The Midwest Regional Yo-Yo Championships was one of the first "Regional" contests held. A few other annual contests were around, but did not have the "Regional" title or the breadth of competitors. There were almost 50 competitors, from 6 different states that first year. Since then it has grown both in competitors, and level of play. It is now held every June at the Mall of America.
The history of the event is quite fun, in 1998 it was a fixed axle contest only, as the AYYA membership voted back then to make transaxles be in their own division if someone wanted to use a bearing or plastic sleeve yo-yo. No one even requested to use a transaxle in the contest. Obviously since that date major changes in technology and trick design have occurred to make transaxles more popular and accepted at all contests. Fixed axles are still around, but greatly outnumbered in a contest.
The 2020, 2021 and 2022 contests were cancelled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Current Champions (2019)
- 1A - Connor Seals
- 2A - Hans Yim
- 3A - Darrel Dai
- 4A - Patrick Canny
- 5A - no entry
- amateur 1a - Tyler Duffy
Past Champions
2018
- 1A - Connor Seals
- 2A - Justin Perez
- 3A - Andrew Lim
- 4A - Elijah Stroot
- 5A - Jared Marcus
- amateur 1a - Levi White
2017
- 1A - Connor Seals
- 2A - no entry
- 3A - Andrew Lim
- 4A - Christopher Chunn
- 5A - Jared Marcus
- amateur 1a - Noah Summers
2016
- 1A - Eric Tranton
- 2A - Antonio Serna
- 3A - Andrew Lim
- 4A - Christopher Chunn
- 5A - Antonio Serna
- amateur 1a - Tyler Brooks
2015
- 1A - Colin Beckford
- 2A - Jayden Vosseller
- 3A - Colin Beckford
- 4A - John Narum
- 5A - Antonio Serna
- amateur 1a - Hayden Fraser
2014
- 1A - Eric Tranton
- 2A - no entry
- 3A - no entry
- 4A - John Narum
- 5A - Robbie Graham
- amatuer 1a - Jacob Gustafson
2013
- 1A - Eric Koloski
- 2A - John Narum
- 3A - Patrick Borgerding
- 4A - Ian Johnson
- 5A - Shane Lubecker
2012
- 1A - Alex Berenguel
- 2A - Yu Tsumura
- 3A - Eric Tranton
- 4A - Ben Conde
- 5A - AJ Kirk
2011
- 1A - John Narum
- 2A - Connor Scholten
- 3A - John Narum
- 4A - Connor Scholten
- 5A - Connor Scholten
2010
- 1A - Chris Fraser
- 2A - Grant Johnson
- 3A - No entry
- 4A - John Narum
- 5A - Connor Scholten
2009
- 1A - John Narum
- 2A - no entry
- 3A - no entry
- 4A - John Narum
- 5A - Ian Johnson
2008
- 1A - Tyler Severance
- 2A - John Narum
- 3A - no entry
- 4A - John Narum
- 5A - Tyler Severance
2007
- 1A - Sebastian Brock
- 2A - no entry
- 3A - no entry
- 4A - John Narum
- 5A - Tyler Severance
2006
- 1A - Alex Berenguel
- Y - AJ Kirk
2005
- 1A - John Narum
- Y - John Narum
2004
- 1A - Alex Berenguel
- Y - Rob Kitts
2003
- 1A - Jake Maloney
- 2A - Paul Han
2002
- 1A - Conway Yung
- 2A - Rob Kitts
2001
- 1A - Brent Dillinger
- 2A - Matt Harlow
2000
- Novice - Colton Mollerud
- Advanced - Charlie Abbott
- Expert - Matt Compton
- Championship - Matt Harlow
1999
- Novice - Daniel Balogh
- Advanced (16-) - Ben Byers
- Advanced (16+) - Dave Wells
- Expert - Patrick Heinonen
- Championship - Matt Harlow
1998
- Novice - Nick Vu
- Advanced (14-) - Ryan Higgins
- Advanced (15+) - Brad Arndt
- Masters - Ryan McQuilian
- Pro-Am - Dave Schulte
