Today, 8 RDF fencers competed at the Jack-O-Lantern Tournament hosted by the Des Moines Fencing Club.

In unsanctioned Y12 Mixed Epee, Jack narrowly defeated Graham to win the gold medal, Graham – who won all of his 5-point bouts – took the silver, Chantal and Ben tied for 3rd, and Kalina was 5th of 6. It was the first tournament for Chantal and Kalina (the youngest fencer), who both overcame some nerves, fenced well, and learned a lot. Ben stayed focused and didn’t give up and won his first 15-point bout 15-14.

Later, in Open Mixed Epee, Daniel fenced clubmate Weston in the first round, then went on to upset clubmate Carl and an opponent from DMFC before his 15-14 loss to an Iowa State fencer in the final. He finished with a silver medal, Carl was 5th, and Weston was 10th of 16.

Thanks to DMFC for providing this good opportunity to compete locally!

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=44968

Last Sunday, Rilee, Cheryl, and Sarah fenced in the Glitter Open tournament at the Iowa City Fencing Center. In Women’s Epee, Sarah earned the silver medal, Cheryl tied for 3rd, and Rilee was 9th. It was Rilee’s first real, sanctioned tournament outside the club and she gained some valuable experience learning to adapt to fencers she’s never seen before.

While in Minneapolis this weekend, Ben fenced in the Youth Athos Challenge tournament. He was 5th in Y14 and 2nd in Y12. It was a long day, but he fenced especially well in his Y14 DE.

Last weekend, Sarah fenced Div 1A Women’s Epee at the Remenyik Regional Open Circuit tournament at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She finished 42nd of 52. Full results here.

Last Saturday, we held our season kick-off tournament at the club. We had 7 fencers, so everyone fenced one event in order to get more practice (because an event of 3 people isn’t terribly fun), but we gave awards separately to the older and younger kids. We saw a lot of great fencing and learned some valuable lessons! Thanks to all of our participants and supporters!

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