Last Saturday was our fun little in-club youth tournament! In Y12 Mixed Epee, Ben won and Kalina was 2nd. In Y14 Mixed Epee, Ben was our champion, Chantal was 2nd, Sophia came in 3rd, and Alexis finished 4th. With such limited opportunities for competition this past year, it was good to practice being in a competitive situation and mindset again or, for some, the first time!
Duel in Des Moines Tournament Results
Last weekend, fencers from around the state and a few from neighboring states joined us for the Duel in Des Moines, which we jointly hosted with the Des Moines Fencing Club. They ran the foil and saber events in the gym at Fairmeadows Elementary and we ran the epee events outdoors in the parking lot. Full results are available here on askfred: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=47752.
In Open Mixed Epee, Daniel was 2nd, Sarah tied for 3rd, Evan placed 5th, Nick finished 8th, and Ava was 10th.
In Cadet Mixed Epee, Ava earned the gold after a close 15-13 match with Jack, who took home silver. In his first ever tournament, Ben placed 6th, and Campbell – in his first tournament outside the club – finished 7th.
In Unrated Mixed Epee, Jack earned his 2nd silver medal of the weekend, Steve tied for 3rd, Campbell was 5th, Ava finished 6th, and Cindy was 7th.
Everyone fenced hard, learned some good things, and has a lot to be proud of. We especially liked seeing the growth of several of our fencers who used to get very discouraged by a tough loss in pools. This time, they were able to shake off those bouts and get back on track mentally – a really important skill in fencing!
Although traditionally summer tends to be sparse for tournaments (most people are training for summer nationals in July, and after that they take a break or scale back), we are planning on hosting some more small tournaments at the club this summer, and the new fencing season starts in August.


Jack-O-Lantern Tournament Results
On Saturday, 3 RDF fencers competed in Y-14 Epee at the Jack-O-Lantern Tournament at the old Franklin Jr. High. Ben tied for 3rd, Jocelyn finished 5th, and Cruz finished 6th. It was the first tournament for both Jocelyn and Cruz!
Equinox Epee Tournament Results
We finally got to have our (now not accurately named) Equinox Epee tournament the second weekend of October! It was a little smaller than usual, with 30 individual fencers participating in 4 events, but everyone was grateful for a chance to compete even though the circumstances were less-than-ideal. The tournament was held outdoors in the parking lot at Hillside Elementary, and everyone did a great job wearing their masks, keeping their distance from others, and not shaking hands! Thank you to everyone who helped make this event possible!
Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=44116
In Open Mixed Epee, Evan tied for 3rd, Nick was 7th, Alex was 9th, with Daniel right behind in 10th. In Women’s Epee, Sarah tied for 3rd. In Div 3 (D & Under) Mixed Epee, Evan took home the silver medal, Daniel tied for 3rd, Alex came in 7th, Nick took 10th, Weston was 11th, and Rilee was 16th. In Cadet Mixed Epee, Jack tied for 3rd and Weston was 5th. We think everyone’s hard work in lessons and practice over the last 6 months showed!
Also congratulations to RDF fencers Evan on earning his C, Daniel on earning his E, and Nick on renewing his E!





Youth Porthos Challenge Results
Jack traveled to Minnesota to fence in the Youth Porthos Challenge today. He tied for 3rd in Y12 Mixed Epee and was 6th in Y14 Mixed Epee.
Iowa Caucus Tournament Results
Alrighty, folks, the swords have spoken and we’re predicting Pete Buttigieg will win the Iowa caucus on Feb. 3 (even though technically the fencer representing John Delaney won the tournament – Delaney dropped out of the race yesterday)! Tied for 3rd was Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar! Then we had Tom Steyer, Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Deval Patrick, Andrew Yang, and Bernie Sanders.
Thank you to all the campaigns that donated items to decorate our wall and our fencers! Thanks to the fencers for coming out to represent a randomly-drawn candidate! We had a lot of fun fencing to predict a caucus winner and it was nice to briefly lighten the seriousness of political issues.
Remember to caucus on Monday, Feb. 3 and good luck to all of the actual candidates!

Icicle Invitational Results
Sarah, Cheryl, and Jared (now in grad school in Omaha) competed at the Icicle Invitational in Lincoln, NE today. In Mixed Epee, Jared finished 8th and renewed his C rating, and Sarah came in 9th. In Women’s Epee, Cheryl finished 6th.
Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=44051
RDF E & Under Results
Today, we held an E & Under tournament at the club. (“E” is the first level of classification or rating a fencer can earn in USA Fencing’s system [the highest being “A”], and is a rough approximation of skill/experience.) This means entries are limited to fencers who have an E rating or are unrated (U).
Five of our fencers competed; Daniel A. earned the silver medal, Lance tied for 3rd, Alex was 5th, Selathiel came in 13th in his first real (sanctioned) tournament, and Weston finished 14th. We saw a lot of close bouts, good sportsmanship, and nice fencing.
Thank you to all of the fencers, families, referees, and coaches from around Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota who came out and made it a great event! Special congratulations to Srikanth, from the Omaha Fencing Club, who earned his E20 rating!
Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=45786
If you’re curious about how ratings/classifications work, here’s a chart: https://askfred.net/Info/eventClass.php
January NAC Results
To kick off a new year of tournaments, Sarah fenced at the January North American Cup in Charlotte, NC yesterday. She was 3-3 in round 1 pools, which was good enough to make the cut into the first round of direct eliminations. However, she lost her direct elimination match 15-14 and finished 134th of 199. Full results: https://www.usafencing.org/2020-jan-nac-results
Yu Challenge Results
Yesterday, Kalina competed in the Yu Challenge at the Peoria Fencing Academy in Illinois. She won the gold medal in Y8 mixed epee and tied for bronze in Y10. This was also her first time traveling for a tournament.
Results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=44797
