back

Summer National Championships

Sacramento, CA, July 1-10, 2005

Congratulation to our medalists!!!

Francesca Bassa - Gold Medal, Under-16 Women's Epee

John McDermott - Bronze Medal, Veteran-60, Men's Saber

Elizabeth Devine - 6 place, Women's Epee

Nathan Sorensen - 7 place, Youth-14, Men's Epee

Andrey Geva - Gold Coach's Medal

Our team went to Sacramento with great expectations and a strong group of fencers in all three weapons, but with our successes we also had a bit of bad luck. Francesca Bassa, one of the top fencers in the Youth-14 and cadet epee events had injured her hamstring and could not do her best in Y-14, but the next day she won the Under-16 competition. Unfortunately, the following day she had to withdraw from the junior competition and she missed Div I and the team event as well. The other two members of the Women's Junior Epee Team, Stephanie Wheeler and Bethlehem Witte, decided to compete with the courageous help of our beginner foil fencer Erin Pytel. They finished 10th out of 19. Joe Wysocki, ranked #10 in junior points standing, twisted his ankle while warming up before his DE's in Under-19. He finished 55th out of 76, but he could not compete in Div I.

On Cadet and Junior events our fencers had to fence each other in DE's three times. In Under-16 Women's Epee, Bethlehem and Stephanie fenced each other for top 16. The final score was 15-14 for Stephanie who then lost her bout for top 8 to Chan by two points. The next day in Under-19 Women's Epee, they had to fence each other again for top 32. This time the final score was once more 15-14, but for Bethlehem. She won to top 16 and lost to her former club member Neely Brandfield-Harvey for top 8 by one point!

In Under-16 Men's Epee, Dillon Smith and Daniel Trapani had to fence each other for top 16 and again the score was 15-14 for Daniel, who then lost for top 8 by few points finishing 13th.

In Y-12 Men's Epee, Zion Witte and Dominic Odom made it to top 16, Zion losing to top 8 by one point. They finished 11th and 13th respectively.

Our big expectation was with the Under-19 Team Men's Epee competition. Our team of Jonathan Bibb, Colin Eaton, Dillon Smith, and Daniel Trapani (captain) was seeded 4-th out of 37 teams. With four A-rated fencers, our guys made it easily to top 16 but then unexpectedly lost to Alaska by forgetting the team spirit and reverting to fencing as individuals. They finished 9th.

Few days later the Senior Team Men's Epee with Michael LoParco, Collin Eaton, and Jonathan Bibb did better and finished 5th out of 29 teams by losing in overtime by one point! The curse of the one point continued...

In Division I-A Men's Epee, Shawn Wright lost to top 8 to a strong fencer Greg Howard from Indiana finishing 11th out of 107 competitors. Jonathan Bibb finished 22nd, and Michael LoParco, at his first ever Div I-A competition made it to top 32 by losing his bout for top 16 by only two points.

A most welcome surprise came from our youth fencer Nathan Sorensen who did extremely well in a tough Under-19 Men's Epee field with 125 competitors, finishing 10th. Nathan, after leading for the first part of the bout, lost to Peter French by few points in the end only because of his lack of experience at this level of competition. Bravo Nathan!

For our young foil and saber fencers this was their first national competition. Preston Gray, 9 years old, finished 22nd out of 85 in Youth-10 Men's Foil. Christopher Devine finished 29th out of 91 in Youth-12 Men's Saber.

As a new developing club we are very proud of our fencers' achievements at the Summer Nationals this year. We the coaches see a lot of potential and opportunity to grow for our young fencers. We believe that many will have the chance to make national teams in the years to come.

Thank you all for your dedication and hard work and good luck to all for the next fencing season!

Sponsored by:
&