The virtual championship
The USA Memory Championship's champions list records the 2020 winner as Makenna Good, with the designation virtual champion. That label is the whole of what the official record says about the format: the competition was held remotely rather than in a hall.
The years on either side give the context. Lance Tschirhart won the 21st championship in 2019 in person, beating four-time champion Nelson Dellis in a sudden-death card round. Dellis returned in 2021 to take a fifth title. Good's name sits between them.
Twenty years between women champions
The official list is the evidence for the claim that made her win notable. Tatiana Cooley-Marquardt appears as champion in 1997, 1999 and 2000. After that the list runs through Scott Hagwood, Ram Kolli, Joshua Foer, David Thomas, Chester Santos, Ron White, Nelson Dellis, Alex Mullen, John Graham and Tschirhart without another woman's name until 2020.
The sources differ slightly on Cooley-Marquardt's years. The championship's own list gives 1997, 1999 and 2000, while Wikipedia describes three consecutive titles from 1998 to 2000. Either way, two decades separate the last woman to win before Good from Good herself.
What winning the title involves
The championship was founded in 1997 by Tony Dottino and Marshall Tarley. Wikipedia describes the modern competition as nine events: five online qualifying rounds, each 300 seconds long, covering 52 cards, 30 images, 30 names and faces, 80 digits and 50 words, followed by four live finals for the top twelve competitors.
Those finals are elimination contests. Words to Remember gives competitors 300 randomised words in 15 minutes and then 15 seconds to produce each one on demand. The Tea Party requires recall of six guests' personal details. Double Deck or Bust, the finale, sets 104 shuffled cards in five minutes and eliminates a competitor on a single error.
What is documented - and what is not
The documentation for this page is thin and entirely official: the championship's list of champions, plus the Wikipedia article on the competition, which also records Good as the 2020 winner.
Nothing else has been found. No birth year, age, home city, occupation, interview or photograph appears in the sources used here, and no Wikipedia article of her own exists. Her name is also rendered as Mackenna Good in some listings, a spelling variant rather than a second competitor.
Why the 2020 title reads differently
A championship held online is not the same event as one held in a hall, and the championship's own label acknowledges that by naming her virtual champion rather than simply champion. The list does not say how many competitors took part or which events were contested that year.
What the record does support is the plain statement: in a competition that has run since 1997 and been won overwhelmingly by men, the 2020 title went to Makenna Good, and no woman had won it in the twenty years before her.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Reinhard | Germany | Winning the Extreme Memory Tournament in 2014 and 2016 | Age 35 |
| Makenna Good | United States | Winning the 2020 USA Memory Championship | — |
| Scott Hagwood | United States | Winning the USA Memory Championship four years running | — |
| Oyun-Erdene Tsengelbayar | Mongolia | Spoken-numbers gold at Memoriad 2024 | — |
| Tatiana Cooley-Marquardt | United States | Winning the USA Memory Championship three times | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Listed as the 2020 USA Memory Championship winner, with the designation virtual champion (USAMC champions list)
- The same list shows Tatiana Cooley-Marquardt as the previous woman champion, last winning in 2000
- Wikipedia's article on the championship also records Good as the 2020 winner
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- No published age, birth year, home city or occupation
- The official list and Wikipedia differ on the years of Cooley-Marquardt's titles
- No report of the 2020 event's field size, scores or format has been found
Questions people ask about Makenna Good
What is Makenna Good known for?
Winning the USA Memory Championship in 2020, the year the competition was held virtually.
Was she the first woman to win?
No. Tatiana Cooley-Marquardt won earlier titles. Good was the first woman to win since Cooley-Marquardt's last championship, which the official list dates to 2000.
What does virtual champion mean?
The championship's own list attaches that designation to her 2020 title, recording that the competition was held remotely that year.
How old is Makenna Good?
No source used here gives an age or birth year.
What events does the championship include?
Wikipedia describes five online qualifiers of 300 seconds each and four live final events, ending in Double Deck or Bust, a sudden-death round with 104 shuffled cards.
Why is her name sometimes spelled Mackenna?
Some listings use that spelling. It refers to the same 2020 champion.
Is Makenna Good on Wikipedia?
She has no article of her own. She appears as the 2020 winner in the Wikipedia article on the USA Memory Championship.
Where is Makenna Good now?
Nothing after the 2020 championship appears in the sources used here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Makenna’s story?
In which year did Makenna Good win the USA Memory Championship?
What was unusual about that championship?
Who was the previous woman to win the title?
Sources
- Champions - USA Memory Championship — USA Memory Championship (official), n.d.
- USA Memory Championship — Wikipedia, n.d.
- USAMC Crowns Lance Tschirhart 21st Champion — USA Memory Championship (official), 2019-05-03
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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