Fencing in the News

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Women's Fencing freshmen impressive in debut
Hauck dominates; three other Knights win individual matches[/b][/color]
CollegeSportsTV.com
Nov. 11, 2005

www.cstv.com/sports/c-fenc/stories/111105aaa.html

MANHATTAN, NY - The Fairleigh Dickinson University women's fencing team posted exceptional individual showings by three freshmen Thursday, Nov. 10 at New York University's Cole's Sports Center.

Freshman Amanda Hauck recorded an undefeated saber debut, at 3-0, in the Knights' first duel meet of the 2005-06 season. Freshman Alison Luckhardt also notched a 2-1 sabre win.

In foil, freshman Rebecca Kellogg led the way, tallying a 2-1 victory.

"It's fantastic for our freshmen to start off their college career with a win," Knights Assistant Coach Gladys Berardi said. "The college level poses quite a transition, with pressure coming from all angles."

Junior Zena Coulombe led the three-girl epee squad with a 2-1 win.

The Violets narrowly edged FDU 5-4 in all three events, en route to a 15-12 win.

The Knights (0-1) travel to Haverford (Pa.) on Sunday, Nov. 20 for a six-team meet. Fairleigh Dickinson will square off against Drew University, Hunter College, The University of Virginia, The United States Military Academy at West Point and host Haverford.

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Women Fencers Fair Well at Big One Invitational
Moredecai finishes 12th in the saber[/b] [/color]
CollegeSportsTV.com
Nov. 5, 2005

www.cstv.com/sports/c-fenc/stories/111005aaa.html

NORTHAMPTON, MA - The SHU Women's fencing team kicked off its competitive season by competing in the BIG ONE collegiate individual tournament on November 5 at Smith College in Northampton, MA. The Pioneers were represented by eight fencers in a field of 12 universities.


Liz Mordecai

The team's performance was led by Liz Mordecai who finished 12th in a strong saber competition. Team captain Christie Zeleznik also made it to the round of 32 in the saber.

In epee, walk on freshman Mary Dannegger reached the round of 32, being eliminated by all American Ruth Schneider of Brown.

The women kick off their dual meet season by travelling to New Jersey Institute of Technology on Sunday, November 13 at 10:00 AM.

[LongBlade]

M. Fencing gets ready for D-1 foes
By Alena Geffner-Mihlsten
The Johns Hopkins News-Letter
November 18, 2005

www.jhunewsletter.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/11/18/437d241beb18e

A team that is more than 50 percent freshmen must be expecting change. And the Hopkins' men's fencing team is expecting just that. After winning first place in the Middle Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association (MACFA) championships, the Blue Jays are out to challenge new teams such as University of North Carolina, University of California, San Diego and even Notre Dame.

Hopkins started this season with impressive results at the Temple Open. Freshman Daniel Zielinski placed the highest, taking eighth out of 75 players in 5fp5fe. In the saber, sophomore Aaron Fernandes placed 10th and senior Jason Park placed 11th out of 65 fencers. In foil, freshmen David Ferguson and James Einsielder placed 10th and 12th, respectively. The Temple Open was an individual meet, rather than the usual team meet.

These high results are only the beginning for the team.

"We have a lot of plans for improvement," said head coach Austin Young. "We have a lot of freshmen, and it's a young team, but hopefully we'll be able to beat some of the powerhouses out there."

The team has a lot to live up to this year. Last year, the team won their league's championship, and qualified two players for the NCAA Fencing Championships. Junior Nick Marchuk and Fernandes placed 24th in foil and saber, respectively, at the NCAA championships. Also, the team performed very well within their league. Six players were all named to the first and second all-conference fencing team at the end of last year. This year, however, the team is looking to qualify six players, or two players in each weapon, the maximum allowed at NCAAs.

The dynamics of the fencing team began to change three years ago when head coach Richard Oles left the team after 40 years. With the arrival of Young, the team began to recruit talented high school fencers.

"The team used to be recruited just from Hopkins," said team captain Marchuk. "Now people are recruited prior to coming here and they generally fenced in high school or nationals."

The team will be playing against several of the strongest fencing teams this weekend at the huge Northwestern Invitational. Almost half of this season's matches will played this weekend.

During the course of the meet, Hopkins will face several Division I teams. The Blue Jays are hoping to beat University of North Caroloina, UCSD and Notre Dame.

The last time that Hopkins played against UCSD, the Blue Jays lost 14-12. Hopkins has also played against and subsequently lost to UNC before.

"UNC has beaten us narrowly every time that we've played against them recently," said Young. "However, this year we have a stronger team, and we're hoping to break that record."

Notre Dame, the 2004-05 national champions, will likely be the Jays' most formidable opponent. The last two times that Hopkins played against Notre Dame, the Blue Jays lost 24-3 and18-9.

"It'll be pretty rough," said Young. "But, we're hoping to improve. We've definitely got a shot because they're not unbeatable."

While half the team is in Evanston, Ill. for the Northwestern tournament, the other half will be in New Jersey for a Centennial Conference meet at Stevens Institute of Technology.

There the team will be playing Stevens Institute of Technology, Army and Haverford, among other schools. Hopkins played most of these teams last year en route to winning their conference. Since the arrival of Young, the team has not lost to a Centennial foe. The Stevens meet, however, will be the first time that Hopkins will play against Army.

"Army is a hard school, and it'll be difficult with half of our team in Chicago," said Young.

Despite the difficulties, the team members feel confident in their team.

"Although this will be the first real meet for the freshmen, I feel that our performance at the meet this weekend will be very impressive," said Marchuk. The team heads to Evanston on Saturday and Hoboken, N.J. on Sunday.

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Fencing: Norris represents Great Britain in Monte Carlo
The King's Lynn News
King's Lynn, Norfolk, England,UK
November 18, 2005

www.lynnnews.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=993&ArticleID=1259385

Lynn Fencing Club's Paul Norris represented Great Britain at the Monaco International Epee Tournament in the tiny principality of Monte Carlo.

This was Norris' fourth time in an overseas international, and although he found himself up against some of the best swordsmen in Southern Europe he still managed an encouraging result.

Despite a shaky start in the opening round pools, he was able to produce a good performance, which included a string of victories over Noselli of France 5-2, Alberani of Italy 5-0 and Bersia of Monaco 5-0.

This put him through to the direct elimination knockout stage with a seeding of 62 out of 161 entrants.

His first direct elimination fight, against Matthieu Virot, looked as though it was slipping away with the young Frenchman taking an early lead. But Norris began to pull the scores back with a series of fast, deep lunges.

With the scores tied at 14-all, a tidy parry riposte gave Norris the winning hit to put him through to the last 64 and the points scoring stage.

Norris then encountered the eventual bronze medallist Marius Alvarado from Spain.

Despite a brave effort, Norris had no answer to Alvarado's fast and fluent style in a 15-9 defeat.

Norris said: "I've fenced better today than I think I ever have, but he was just too good.

"This is the most challenging tournament I've ever done, so I can't complain. It really means something to be in the points here."

His final placing of 50th overall saw Norris, who was the highest placed Britsh fencer, match his achievement of the other two internationals he has contested this year in Holland and Sweden.

"The tournament was fantastic, but so was Monaco itself," said Norris.

"It seemed to have more zillionnaires per square centimetre than anywhere else in the world.

"My wife and I loved all the glitz and glamour. It's all rather different from life in Downham."

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Nittany Lion Women's Fencing Team Notches Key Recruit as Keri Byerts Signs National Letter of Intent
Coach Kaidanov inks another of nation's top fencers[/b]
GoPSUSports.com
November 17, 2005

www.gopsusports.com/pressreleases/pressrelease.cfm?anncid=9004&spID=6

State College, Pa. - The Penn State women's fencing team, already boasting a talented squad, saw its fortunes for future success grow richer with the signing of Keri Byerts (Webster, N.Y.) to a National Letter of Intent. Byerts will be a freshman for Penn State in 2006-07 and compete in the epee.

An outstanding performer on the national and international level, Byerts is currently ranked No. 13 in the world in junior women's epee and fourth in the United States. She was the Silver Medalist at the 2005 Women's Epee U.S. National Championships and placed sixth at the 2005 Junior World Championships in Linz, Austria.

A year earlier, Byerts won the Bronze Medal at the 2004 Cadet World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Byerts is the daughter of Darrell and Anne Byerts. She fences for the Northwest Fencing Center in Beaverton, Ore., and coach Michael Marx.

Penn State, under the guidance of veteran head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov, will host its annual Alumni/Alumnae Meet this Saturday at 11 a.m. and then return to action in full on December 3 when it hosts New York University, Rutgers, North Carolina, Princeton and Harvard in dual action beginning at 9 a.m.

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Heavy Metal tourney hosts TXST fencers
The San Marcos Daily Record
From Staff Reports
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Page 5B

Several San Marcos fencers went on the road last weekend to compete in the Heavy Metal Open fencing tournament at Texas A&M University in College Station. The Aggies marked the 100th anniversary of fencing at their school on November 12 and 13 by hosting a three-weapon tournament with both individual and team events.

In the individual events, the Aggies held an A2 nationally-rated Mixed Epee event. Events are graded according to their strength of the field fencing, with an A4 being the highest. Ray Sexton, fencing with the All Texas Athletic Center (ATAC), took a tie for third in the Direct Elimination rounds, Texas State’s Daniel Bayarena landed the sixth place win, and ATAC’s Kyle Maysel took eighth in that event.

In the B1 rated Mixed Sabre competition, Ray Sexton took the silver and Daniel Bayarena tied for the bronze medal. Texas State’s Daniel Bayarena also pulled out a seventh place finish in the C1 rated Mixed Foil event.

In the Team competitions, which do not earn national ratings, locals also made their presence felt by placing four teams in the top three places in three different events.

In Team Foil, the Texas State “A Team”, a composite group consisting of Ray Sexton, Daniel Bayarena, Texas State Fencing Club President, Will Cisler, and Texas State’s Victoria Ingalls as alternate, battled late into the night on Saturday to defeat the “Edgebrook School” team by a score of 45-38, to win first place in that event. In the Team Epee event, The Texas State “Animals” consisting of Texas State’s Daniel Bayarena, Will Cisler, Callie Woolam, and Michael Lauderdale as alternate, narrowly lost by a score of 45-40 to A&M composite group, “Pat’s Team”, to take second place. The Texas State “Beasts”, a composite team consisting of ATAC’s Kyle Maysel, the Texas State Head Coach, and Texas State fencers Amy Crawford and Kevin Beahan, landed the third place trophy.

The “Bushwackers”, a composite team consisting of Daniel Bayarena, Kyle Maysel, and Will Cisler, narrowly lost to “BBK” an A&M composite team, by a score of 45-41, to take the second place trophy in the Team Sabre event.

For information about fencing in the San Marcos area contact the Division Chairman, Oscar Barrera, at [e-mail].

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CCNY splits first fencing meet
Newsday
Long Island, NY, USA
November 21, 2005

www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/ny-qnycol214522843nov21,0,6707793.story?coll=ny-basketball-headlines

Vanessa Joseph won all three of her bouts, Semaria Joseph won two of three in epee, Kathy Zhang and Keshwa Shah each took two of three in saber, and Allison Chatham and Andrea Gaye each took two of three in foil as CCNY (1-1) defeated Marist, 15-12, in a women's fencing tri-meet yesterday.

In the other match, Jennifer Ortiz won two of three in her first collegiate epee competition as CCNY lost to Vassar, 20-7.

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Boring Exercise Cure? Fencing For Fitness
Even seasoned fencers, however, concede that their sport has an image problem.[/b][/color]
By TOM DUNKEL
Hartford Courant/The Baltimore Sun
November 20, 2005

www.courant.com/news/health/hc-sundayfencing.artnov20,0,5808962.story?coll=hc-headlines-health

"This past January, I was desperately seeking some physical activity," says Dr. Joanne Watson, a 37-year-old family medicine physician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore.

Her husband, Bruce, also a doctor, had been dispatched to Kentucky with his Army Reserve unit. Suddenly, Joanne was sole caregiver for their three young children and in need of an occasional sanity-saving energy burn.

She also recently had dropped 53 pounds dieting and wanted to keep the weight off.

"I hate the treadmill," says Watson. "I hate the gym. And I hate walking."

She spotted an ad in a community newspaper for the Chesapeake Fencing Club and decided to check it out. The club leases space inside a Knights of Columbus hall in North Baltimore and has about 60 saber-rattling active members.

Even seasoned fencers, however, concede that their sport has an image problem. Maybe it's the snow-white uniforms that remind you of cavalrymen dipped in powdered sugar. Maybe it's the French-laced terminology. Or the minimalist action.

Most people might think the toughest part of the sport is squeezing into those tight pants.

Au contraire.

"There's a lot of legwork. We call it physical chess," Watson says. "Getting yourself into position, the lunging. It's aerobic and it's anaerobic."

Ray Gordon, a 43-year-old professional fencing instructor who serves as club president, says you work the quad muscles and hamstrings especially hard. "Fencing is very high intensity," he adds, "so it's more like sprinting than jogging."

Longtime member Dan Collins, senior director of media relations at Mercy Medical Center, says fencing also develops upper body strength and balance.

"You burn calories at a higher rate than a professional football player," says Collins.

Fencing probably will never be a staple of ESPN coverage. Roughly 500,000 Americans fence recreationally, according to Mike May, spokesman for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. But in 2000 the association dropped fencing from its annual Super Study of Sports Participation.

"It's one of those sports that's sort of a niche activity," says May, putting fencing in the company of wind surfing and squash.

The good news is that membership in the tournament-oriented U.S. Fencing Association stands at 25,000, up about 50 percent in four years.

"We are seeing rapid growth," says Cindy Bent Findlay, the association's media relations officer. She attributes that spike to the proliferation of coaches and the U.S. women's team having won gold and bronze medals in saber fencing at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Very few Chesapeake Fencing Club members dream of someday striking Olympic gold. They practice two nights a week for the fun of it. Joanne Watson did drills for more than a month before proceeding to an actual bout, whereupon, she recalls, a 12-year-old fencer "kicked my butt."

There are three weapons of choice: foil, epee and saber. The swords vary slightly in weight and grip, but, most critically, in the size of the target area on an opponent's body. With the epee, everything is fair game; with the foil, just the torso. A saber scores anywhere above the waist, including the head and arms.

A point is awarded every time a sword tip touches a hot spot on the body, which is wired to record electronic hits. The standard match lasts 9 minutes - or until a fencer registers 15 touches.

Watching Gordon and Collins spar is like watching a mating ritual in the animal kingdom. There's lots of fancy footwork and parrying punctuated by split seconds of frenzied, meaningful action.

They stutter-step up and back on a 40-foot-long, 6-foot-wide strip marked by colored tape on the wood floor - their truncated battlefield.

"I'm still in the think-too-much stage," says Watson, pointing out instinctive moves the two men employ that are invisible to the untrained eye.

There's little of the swashbuckling flash and clash that characterize Hollywood sword fights. "In movies, what they're doing is trying not to hit each other," says club member Jay Glenn, who is also looking on. "Here you want to make your blade movements as small as possible."

Collins, dripping sweat, takes a seat on a folding chair after he and Gordon finish. He says he grew up chubby, "the last-kid-picked-for-dodge ball type of thing."

In 1986, he intended to sign up for a course on automobile maintenance at the Towson YMCA and instead wound up taking a fencing course Gordon was teaching.

Back then, Collins was overweight and plagued by high blood pressure. Twenty years later, he's more than 40 pounds lighter and part of what he calls "this underground society of fencers."

He owes that transformation to now-best friend Ray Gordon, who has stripped off his workout clothes and walks by wearing a favorite Descartes-inspired T-shirt.

It reads: "I fence, therefore I am."

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Irish Fencing Teams Open With 5-0 Sweeps At The Northwestern Duals
Five Notre Dame fencers lead the way with double-digit wins and 0-1 losses; Irish women score key early win over regional rival Northwestern (21-6), men hold off Stanford for 15-12 win.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish website
November 20, 2005

und.collegesports.com/sports/c-fenc/spec-rel/112105aaa.html


Junior sabre Valerie Providenza (17-1) was one of five Notre Dame fencers to post double-digit wins and 0-1 losses as both Irish teams swept to 6-0 records at the Northwestern Duals.

EVANSTON, Ill. - The Notre Dame fencing teams once again participated in a fall tournament, with the Irish men and women's teams both going 6-0 on Sunday, Nov. 20, at the Northwestern Duals. The remainder of the team's dual-meet schedule will fall in the traditional time during the second semester, with the first national polls expected out shortly after the New Year.

The Irish men - led by three returning All-Americans and two others with NCAA Tournament experience - won 125 of their 162 bouts (77%) on Sunday en route to posting wins over Stanford (15-12), North Carolina (22-5), Johns Hopkins (18-9), Cal State Fullerton (24-3), UC San Diego (21-6) and the host Wildcats (25-2).

The Notre Dame women - who likewise return three All-Americans plus another fencer who has competed in the NCAA Tournament - were more dominant while winning 136 of their bouts (84%), topping JHU by a 26-1 score to go along with 23-4 wins over UNC and Fullerton, a 22-5 margin over Stanford and 21-6 vs. both Northwestern and UCSD.

Sophomore women's sabre Mariel Zagunis (18-0) and freshman women's foilist Emilie Prot (16-0) each posted double-digit wins without a loss while another youngster, freshman men's epeeist Karol Kostka, had an impressive 15-1 debut. Junior Valerie Providenza (17-1) joined Zagunis as part of a strong day from the women's sabre squad (45-9) but the women's foilists emerged with the top showing (49-5), including a 15-1 record from freshman Adrienne Nott and 14-3 from sophomore Melanie Bautista.

Other top records at the Northwestern Duals included: sophomore epeeist Greg Howard (13-2), junior sabres Patrick Ghattas (11-2) and Matt Stearns (13-3) and juniors epeeist Aaron Adjemian (14-3) and Amy Orlando (12-3). The men's epeeists totaled the second-most wins among the six Irish weapons, with Kostka, Howard, Adjemian and junior Jesse Laeuchli (5-1) combining for a 47-7 record.

The day's most-anticipated matchup was the Notre Dame women vs. the hosts from Northwestern but the Irish quickly claimed a 6-0 lead that included a 5-1 win by freshman epeeist Madeline Stephan over NU veteran Sharon Sullivan and four quick wins in sabre (two by Providenza and one each from Zagunis and freshman Ashley Serrette).

The Wildcats have added one of the nation's most sought-after women's foilists, Samantha Nemecek, but the Notre Dame contingent impressively swept the highly-regarded newcomer. Nott's 5-2 win over Nemecek produced a 7-1 lead for the Irish women and Prot later added a 5-4 win before Bautista topped Nemecek in a 3-2 overtime battle (Nemecek had "priority" and would have won if the OT ended without a touch).

The women's foilists also took two bouts from All-American Jessica Florendo, as Bautista's 5-4 win yielded an 11-2 lead while Prot added an easy 5-1 win over Florendo. Freshman epeeist Kimberlee Montoya's 7-1 record on Sunday included a 5-4 win over Sullivan in the sudden-death overtime.

The Notre Dame men's win over Stanford included a 3-0 record from Howard, plus 2-1 from Ghattas, Stearns, freshman sabre Bill Thanhouser (13-3 overall) and freshman foilist Mark Kubik (14-4 overall).

Stanford's more noteworthy veterans include foilist Steve Gerberman, sabre Curtis Andrus and epeeist Martin Lee. Those three fencers combined to go 7-2 vs. the Irish but Ghattas beat Andrus mid-match (5-3) for a 6-5 Irish lead and Kostka added a key 5-3 win over Lee moments later for an 8-5 cushion. Adjemian lost an overtime bout to Lee (3-4) that cut ND's lead to 11-9 but he later secured the clinching win, 5-1 over Sergey Levine (14-11).

RECORD BOOK UPDATE - Providenza pushed her career regular-season record to 103-16, the 5th-most wins in ND women's sabre history and a .866 career win pct. that ranks 12th all-time among all ND women's fencers (2nd among women's sabres) ... Zagunis now has dominated college fencing to the tune of a 47-1 record in regular-season bouts (.979), putting her on pace to challenge the ND record for career win pct. (.980, by foilist Maria Panyi who went 146-3 from '94-'95) ... Bautista's .859 career win pct. (61-10) ranks 15th in the ND record book (among all women's fencers) ... Orlando still ranks 6th in career women's epee win pct. (.789, 97-26) ... 5th-year senior Becca Chimahusky went 10-4 on Sunday, pushing her career record over 100 wins (105-47) ... Ghattas (91-13/.875), Stearns (84-21) and junior foilist Frank Bontempo (9-4 on Sunday; 94-34) also are nearing their 100th career wins ... Jedrkowiak is 56-11 with the Irish while Howard now owns a 49-10 career record.

[LongBlade]

Fencing Turns In Strong Performance At The NFC
In an all around team effort the fencing team finished the day going undefeated.
Brownbears.com
Brown University Official Website
Providence, RI, USA
November 20, 2005

brownbears.collegesports.com/sports/c-fenc/recaps/112005aab.html

Providence, RI - The Brown men's and women's fencing team both ended the day undefeated after their only home meet of the season. The men defeated BU, Tufts, UNH and UMass in order, while the women's team also defeated Wellesley. Both teams faced only one serious challenge. The women's team beat Tufts 14-13, while the men's' team's closest score was 15-12 against UMass.


The Brown fencing team went udefeated in their only home match of the season.


Brown opened the day against BU, with both the men and women winning 20-7. Next up was Tufts, which has a varsity women's squad and a club men's squad. The Bruno women's epee squad carried the team, posting an 8-1 record, resulting in a close 14-13 win. After defeating Tufts, Brown faced UNH. Brown rested many of its starters, and the alternates carried Brown to a 20-7 win for the men and a 19-8 win for the women.

After a bye, Brown faced UMass, the defending club national champions, without the injured sabrist and tri-captain Jeremy Adler '06, who left with an injury. Brown men's saber took four of nine to help the Brown men to a 15-12 win. Men's foil also took four of nine, and men's epee went 7-2 against the strongest opposition they faced all day. Brown's women had no trouble with UMass, winning 22-5.

The final team Brown faced was Wellesley, which inexplicably forgot their men's squad. The women won 20-7, including a 9-0 victory by the women's saber squad.

Individual highlights on the day include both Christine Livoti '08 and Ruth Schneider '06 beating Sarah Abraham of Wellesley, who placed 15th at last year's NCAA national championships. Epeeist Adrian Martni '06 also was undefeated on the day. Several squads put up perfect numbers, including the men's saber squad beating Tufts 9-0, the women's epee squad beating UMass 9-0, and the women's saber squad beating Wellesley 9-0.

Brown fencing is next in action on December fourth, at the Brandeis invitational.

Complete Results:
Brown vs BU - Brown vs Tufts
MF 7-2 / MF 3-6
MS 7-2 / MS 9-0
ME 6-3 / ME 7-2
WF 7-2 / WF 1-8
WS 6-3 / WS 5-4
WE 7-2 / WE 8-1

Brown vs UNH - Brown vs UMass
MF 7-2 / MF 4-5
MS 8-1 / MS 4-5
ME 5-4 / ME 7-2
WF 4-5 / WF 6-3
WS 7-2 / WS 7-2
WE 8-1 / WE 9-0

Brown vs Wellesley
WF 4-5
WS 9-0
WE 7-2

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Fencing making mark 'Clint Eastwood' style
Club gaining recognition, experience[/color][/b]
by Steven Bohner
Arizona State University Web Devil
Tempe, AZ, USA
November 22, 2005

www.asuwebdevil.com/issues/2005/11/22/sports/club/695048

Clint Eastwood has nothing on the ASU fencing club.

Like the spaghetti-western star, the Sun Devils ride into tournaments relatively unknown, upset a few traditional powerhouses and ride out.

"They've been calling us the Clint Eastwood team because we blow in out of the desert, kill everybody and then we vanish again," head coach Jim Barbour said.

The team started fencing at the collegiate level last January when it went to a 15-team tournament at UCLA. In its debut, the fencing club finished in the top six, winning second place in two events and fourth place in two others.

"That just doesn't happen," Barbour said. "Not when you're playing UC San Diego, Stanford and Temple."

While the club has been in existence since 1976, it only recently joined the West Coast Conference in January, allowing it to compete in more tournaments by forming a separate college team.

While the club's 30 to 40 members include several alumni fencers, the college team is restricted to current ASU students.

"You can either be a recreational member and come in and fence for fun, or you can be competitive," junior club president Olivia Knouff said.

Knouff is in her third year with the club and first year as president.

"One of my goals this year was to get the club more organized," Knouff said. "So we got the Web site up, started a collegiate team and things are starting to come together."

"We want to try to build up all of our squads," Barbour added. "We'd like ideally to have at least an A and a B squad for each team, but right now, we can't fill them all."

The sport of fencing is divided into three distinct weapons: the foil, the sabre and the epee.

The most notable differences come not in the physical swords, but in how the matches are scored.

Fencers wear electronic vests that form a circuit with the opponent's sword when touched, signaling a point scored.

The target area for each sword is different. In foil matches, the vest area (front and back) is the target. For sabre duels, the entire upper body is fair game, and for epee fencers, the full body counts.

"That results in them having a different style and different setups on the electrical-score system," Knouff said.

For foil and sabre matches, the referee plays a crucial part in determining which fencer has the "right of way" in the event of a simultaneous tag.

The right of way refers to which fencer is considered on the attack and which is on the defensive. Only the attacker can score a touch.

"I don't think there is any other sport where the referee is as important as it is here," sophomore Natalie Vie said.

Vie, an epeeist, has only been fencing for a year and a half but is nationally ranked.

"I love that the fencing community is so small and everyone knows each other," Vie said. "I'll go to a tournament in New York and Pittsburgh, and I'll have friends there to visit."

The club has a men's and women's team for each sword, with three members on each team.

In the event, each member fights three times, making nine total bouts to score. The first team to win five bouts wins the match.

"It's a huge hand-eye coordination, and it actually takes part of your brain that you wouldn't expect it to," law student Ana Bennett said.

Bennett, who fences with the foil, is the smallest member of the club, but experiences no disadvantage due to the game's mental nature.

"It doesn't take muscle, it takes a lot of technique and mind power," Bennett said. "It's totally a mental game sometimes."

The Sun Devils sent the men's and women's sabre teams and a mixed foil team to the Couturier Open in Burbank, Calif., last weekend.

ASU alumnus Paul Hicha took fifth out of 38 overall in sabre, and senior Nathan Caldwell finished 10th out of 37 in foil.

[LongBlade]

132-member team for Doha
Gulf Daily News
Manama, Bahrain
22 November, 2005

www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=127556&Sn=SPOR&IssueID=28247

Bahrain Olympic Committee secretary general Shaikh Abdulrahman bin Rashid Al Khalifa will lead Bahrain's 132-strong delegation to the West Asian Games to be held in Doha from December 1 to 15.

Bahrain will be participating in football, volleyball, handball, athletics, shooting, bowling, and fencing.

[LongBlade]

Men's, Women's Fencing Teams Easily Defeat Area Universities
By Suki Dorfman
Assistant Coach
The MIT Tech
Boston, MA, USA
November 22, 2005

www-tech.mit.edu/V125/N56/56fencing.html

The MIT men’s and women’s fencing teams opened the Northeast Fencing Conference season this Saturday with matches against Boston University, Wellesley (women’s only), University of Massachusetts, University of New Hampshire, and Tufts University. Both teams swept away all of these opponents by decisive margins.

Each team is composed of three squads, one for each event: foil, epee, and sabre. In each match, three fencers per squad duel the opposing team, for a total of nine bouts per squad per match, twenty-seven bouts per team per match. No team scored more than 10 out of 27 wins against MIT on Saturday.

MIT’s squad with the strongest performance at this meet was men’s epee, with a record of 31-5. This year’s men’s epee squad has unprecedented depth and promises success for MIT this year and looking forward, having added experienced freshmen Matt L. Gethers and Gabe A. Chan to an already distinguished roster.

Last year’s Northeast Fencing Conference Fencer of the Year, Trevor T. Chang ’07, and squad leader Mike N. Beregovsky ’06, tied for the best individual records on the men’s team, each winning eleven bouts and losing only one all day. Rookie Gethers posted an 8-1 record in his first college meet.

Brian J. Quattrochi ’06 led the men’s sabre squad at 10-2, closely trailed by new addition Igor Kopylov ’09 (9-2) and captain Bill T. Walsh ’06 (8-3). Kopylov and Walsh also recently earned silver and bronze at the season opening Big One tournament.

Not to be overlooked is men’s foil, where Big One champion Spencer R. Sugimoto ’08 and squad leader Jason Chen ’07 both amassed 10 wins and one loss.

Closely trailing men’s epee in winning percentage was women’s epee. Women’s epee is celebrating the return from Cambridge of Mika A. Tomczak ’06, who went 10-1 against her opponents. All told the squad won by the wide margin of 33-6, achieving their goal for the day of never losing more than three bouts to any one school. Men’s epee and women’s sabre both matched this feat.

MIT’s women’s sabre squad also dominated, winning by a score of 36-9. The highlight of the day for sabre was the match against Tufts, home of the gold and silver medalists in sabre from the season opening individual tournament two weeks ago. Drew A. Reese ’07, Shauna Jin ’06, and squad leader Lynn H. Wang ’06 overcame these tough opponents and snatched a 7-1 win. Reese’s and Jin’s final records of 14-1 and 13-2, boosted by both of their sweeps of Tufts, set the pace for the MIT team.

Finally, the women’s foil squad was led by Gemma L. Mendel ’06, both in her role as squad leader and in her impressive 10-3 finish.

This article originally appeared in The Tech, issue 125, volume 56.

[LongBlade]

Fencing Club has hectic start
Observer Tribune
Chester, N.J., USA
November 23, 2005

www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15631888&BRD=1918&PAG=461&dept_id=506872&rfi=6

MENDHAM - The Mendham Fencing Club and its members have had a busy fall to date, competing in various tournaments in the area.

Last weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 19-20, six club fencers -- all members of the Mendham High School team - participated in the Denise O’Connor New Jersey State Fencing Championships held at Hackettstown High School.

On Saturday, Alice Jacobson fenced in the women’s foil tournament, Jess Wallace competed in women’s epee, and Salim short competed in men’s epee.

Each won at least two bouts to advance to the direct elimination portion of the tournament where all three lost in the first round.

On Sunday, Janelle Krannick, Shannon Cooley and Jill Mahen fenced in the women’s sabre competition and all finished in the top half of their pool to advance to the direct eliminations.

Krannick won her first elimination bout before being eliminated and finished the tournament in the top 16 of her group.

Cooley and Mahen each lost in the first round of eliminations.

The next competition involving the club and its members will be a club-sponsored mens and womens sabre tournament on Friday, Dec. 2, at the Mountainview School.

The competition starts at 6:30 p.m. and visitors are welcome.

A complete listing of the Mendham Fencing Club’s tournaments as well as pre-registration instructions appear on the website of the New Jersey Division of the United State Fencing Association at nj-fencing.org/schedule.html.

In previous tournaments, Jacobson competed in a foil tournament in Morristown and finished 10th in her class.

Short traveled to New Mexico where he competed in the North American Cup for junior (under 20) and cadet (under 17) fencers.

The competition included top college and high school fencers from the United States and Canada.

Short did pick up one victory against the tough competition but it wasn’t enough for him to qualify for the direct elimination portion of the tournament.

Short’s victory came against a Junior A fencer who finished 16th in the 211-man field.

In an epee tournament sponsored by the club at the beginning of the month, Short finished sixth in the 20-man men’s division field and Wallace placed 11th and Maria Julian 12th among the 16 fencers whom competed in the women’s field.

In the consolation tournament, Wallace was third in the 11-fencer field.

The Mendham Fencing Club is a member of the United States Fencing Association in the New Jersey Division.

It was formed to provide more fencing opportunities for Mendham fencers and their colleagues.

The club was formed and is now run Tom Tichman, Vince Paragano, Steve Dultz, Patric Wallace and Skip Short, all USFA fencers.

For more info, call [phone] or [phone].

[LongBlade]

Nationally Ranked Fencers at North Shore Fencing Competition
Great Neck Record
Great Neck, NY, USA
11/25/05

www.antonnews.com/greatneckrecord/2005/11/25/sports/

Scholastic and senior local fencers participating in the North Shore Fencer's Club Autumn Open Epée competition got the chance to fence against two-time NCAA national collegiate champion Arpad Horvath and last year's Junior Pan-American Games winner Stanley Vaksman.

The competition held at the new home of the North Shore Fencer's Club, 240 Community Drive, Lake Success, on Nov. 5 brought together novice and experienced high school and senior (20 years or older) fencers from around the tri-state area. Club owner and head coach Valdimir Gofman realizes that for local fencers to progress they must fight a varied but talented pool of fencers. Vladimir put out the call. Many talented fencers made the trip for a chance to compete and to spend a pleasant weekend afternoon with intelligent people who love the sport. Courtesy is an inherent part of fencing. One frequently saw more experienced fencers taking the time to explain to a novice why he or she lost the point. Competitive yes, but also you find a common bond. Additionally, there is no "sitting on the bench" in fencing. All who show up for a competition are given as much of an opportunity to compete as a future Olympic hopeful. However, as in all competitions, in the end, only one remains standing.

In the women's competition first place went to Alyssia Lombardi. Second place went to Great Neck High School student Rebecca Shore. Young Great Neck fencer Julia Klepner put in a fine performance. Vladimir teaches his young fencers that even if the competition is such that you have no chance to win, the experience itself makes you a winner as you will be a stronger fencer next time.

The women's field mixed very competitive fencing with camaraderie and fun. They all seemed to be really enjoying the afternoon. Congratulations to the two finalists.

The much larger men's field included world-class fencers Arpad Horvath and Stanley Vaksman. The smart money won. Both Mr. Horvath and Mr. Vaksman were in the finals, fighting it out for first-place honors. Arpad Horvath, exhibiting the speed and precision which helped him achieve two National NCAA championships, took first place. Stanley Vaksman was glad for this high level warm-up as he was about to leave for Germany for an international competition. Stanley's father, Boris Vaksman, was a Russian national champion and is still highly thought of in the international fencing community. Arpad Horvath, who learned to fence in Hungary, recently graduated from the university and is now working in finance.

This competition gave strong local high school fencers Scott Yakaitis and Michael Elfassy and up-and-coming fencers Noah Blanich (Noah's brother, Adam, also a North Shore Fencer's Club member, now fences at Dartmouth College) and Eric Fidel a real chance to stretch their abilities.

All especially thanked Vladimir Gofman whose eternal good humor, easy-going manner and love for fencing was the catalyst to bring the group together. A native of the former Soviet Union, Vladimir was a highly respected national coach when he emigrated to the United States. He has been a youth coach for the past 12 years. It is his dream to produce a national champion from his work at the North Shore Fencer's Club.

Additionally, club member Scott Yakaitis, an all Long Island and All Nassau County high school fencer, and club member Michael Elfassy, another highly regarded junior fencer, would like everyone to know that they would be happy to give demonstrations to any youth groups interested in learning about this fast-paced sport known as physical chess.