This year, the Cornhusker State Games was opened to fencers from other states, so 3 RDF athletes traveled to Nebraska to compete on Friday! The location – a shopping mall – was a bit unconventional, but it was kind of fun to have an audience of passers-by. In Y10 Epee, Graham tied for 3rd, and then he earned the silver medal in Y12. Weston fenced Y14 and tied for 3rd. In Cadet, Weston was 2nd and Jazz finished 5th.

Daniel and Nick also attempted to fence in the epee event at Iowa Games this weekend, but partway through pools, a large chunk of the city of Ames – including the Beyer Hall gym – lost power, so the tournament was canceled!

Jazz scores a touch on his opponent’s hand

Weston lunges at the Cornhusker State Games

Graham attacks with a fleche in Y10 Epee

Four RDF fencers and Coach Kevin traveled to Columbus, OH for USA Fencing’s Summer National Championships last week.

On Saturday, Sarah fenced Div 1A Women’s Epee. She was a bit disappointed with her pool round performance (1-5) and did not make the cut into the Direct Elimination round, ending 107th of 126.

Next, on Sunday, Cheryl fenced Vet 40 Women’s Epee at her first national-level tournament. She got in her own head a little and ended 25th of 25. While Cheryl was fencing, Sarah refereed Vet 60 WE and Junior ME. She also refereed a couple events on Monday.

Brothers Evan and Jared took the strip in Div 2 Men’s Epee on Wednesday. Jared placed 54th, and Evan tied for 154th of 239 in his first national-level event. Sarah had a long day of refereeing.

Cheryl fenced again Thursday afternoon, this time in Div 3 WE. She was tied for 128th after pools, but lost a close DE match to a fencer from the Twin Cities Fencing Club, ending 136th of 179.

Friday was a busy day with Sarah fencing in Div 2 WE and Evan and Jared in Div 3 ME. Sarah went 5-0 in pools to be seeded 4th, but lost in the round of 64, ending 34th of 179. Evan was 1-5 out of pools, just one touch away from making the cut into the DE round, so he ended up 163rd of 197. Jared was 5-1 out of pools and won a string of 15-point matches, before finally going out in the semifinals after several weapon issues. He tied for 3rd, took home a bronze medal, and earned his C19 rating!

Full results: https://www.usafencing.org/2019-champ-julychal-results

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Last Sunday, Evan and Sarah traveled to Iowa City to fencing the Titanium Man Epee tournament. It’s called this because it’s a little more intensive than most tournament formats – normally there is one round of 4-7 five-point bouts and then 15-point bouts until you lose, but here you fence everyone to 15 points. Sarah dropped out, but Evan finished 12th and was very tired the next day.

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=42948&FREDSID=onku6oqqt0v2cn7m6g03b3srn7

Today was our May Youth Tournament! We had 7 fencers in Junior/Y14 and 8 in Y12/Y10 Mixed Epee, from RDF and the Des Moines Fencing Club. It was the first epee tournament for several kids, and good practice for everyone. There some excellent fencing and we were especially happy to see a fencer cheer on a new teammate who was having a bit of a rough day. Thanks to all who attended!

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=43569

Junior/Y14 Mixed Epee medalists (minus 1)

Y12/Y10 Mixed Epee medalists (minus 2)

Last Saturday, Ben traveled to Lincoln, NE to compete at the May the 4th Be With You Youth Tournament. He made some new friends and brought home the silver medal in Y10 Epee!

Last weekend, 3 RDF athletes traveled to Minneapolis for the Minnesota Open. In Mixed Epee, Sarah placed 13th, Evan was 19th, and Cheryl was 26th. In Women’s Epee, Sarah took the silver medal, and Cheryl was 6th.

Thanks to the Minnesota Division for hosting a great event!

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=41231

On Sunday, four of our fencers competed at the Bengal Invitational, run by the high school kids of the Valley Fencing Club.

In Weston’s first 15-point bout, his opponent was Sarah, and he fenced better than he expected to, getting a lot of nice hand touches. Alex did a good job making an initial action to short target, followed by a deeper attack in his first 15-point bout and kept the score close for much of the bout. Sarah and Evan both defeated their opponents from the Iowa State University Fencing Club to make it to the final bout, which was a close 15-14. Sarah earned the gold medal, Evan took home the silver medal, Alex was 6th, and Weston was 8th. Sarah also won Women’s Epee.

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=42961

Alex and Weston fence in Mixed Epee at the Bengal Invitational

Evan and Sarah fence for gold at the Bengal Invitational

Women’s Epee medalists

Mixed Epee medalists