red door fencing

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!

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

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

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

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

We held our December youth tournament today at the club, and 13 of our fencers competed in the epee events. In the 12 & Under group, Jack and Graham tied for 3rd, Ben R. was 5th, Atticus came in 6th (in his first tournament), Chantal finished 7th, Kalina was 9th, and Ben S. came in 10th (also his first tournament). In 19 & Under, Evan won the gold medal, Alex took silver, Weston tied for 3rd, Selathiel was 6th (in his first tournament), Jazz came in 8th, and Campbell finished 9th (also his first tournament). We were joined by several fencers from area clubs, and we also ran a foil and saber event.

Thanks to all who came! We especially appreciate our those who helped out with refereeing and photography duties! Our next tournament with youth events is the Equinox Epee the last weekend in March.

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=45262

Yesterday, four of our fencers competed at Iowa State University Fencing Club’s Cantaloupe Open. In Mixed Epee, Daniel took 8th place, Sarah was 9th, Weston came in 23rd, and Jazz finished 25th at his first senior age category event. Sarah also won Women’s Epee and a cantaloupe!

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=45231