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In October, the U.S. sent ten girls from across the country to Budapest, Hungary to represent USA in a Cadet "A" International Women’s Epee Tournament.

Alliance Head Coach Andrey Geva accompanied the U.S. delegation.

Five of the girls invited were native Houstonians: Francesca Bassa, Neely Brandfield-Harvey, Elizabeth Donnenberg, Rebecca Rea, and Stephanie Wheeler. Three of them - Francesca, Neely and Stephanie - currently train at Alliance. Sadly, Francesca could not attend the event because of an injury sustained at Summer Nationals.

The team performed very well in Budapest with 2 U.S. representatives making the finals out of 137 competitors. Courtney Hurley came in 1st place and Neely Brandfield-Harvey came in 6th.
Neely got 5 victories out of 6 bout pools and lost only one D.E. bout on her way to the top 4.

Neely was defeated by a strong experienced fencer from Russia who ended up finishing third in the competition. Stephanie finished well in pools winning 4 out of 6 bouts. She ranked well after pools and won her 1st D.E. In her 2nd D.E, she faced the same Russian National Team member who defeated Neely. She fenced a good bout but ended up losing 15-12. Rebecca and Elizabeth also fenced very well finishing 15-th and 26-th respectively.

 
All the Houston fencers had a good time before and after the tournament touring the city and going shopping together.

Congratulations to all our Houston fencers for their impressive performances. We hope to have the pleasure of hearing more positive results in the coming season!
 

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