On March 24th at Renaissance Fencing Club in Troy, five Honor Guards fencers competed to qualify for the USA Fencing Summer Nationals in July, and four of our five competitors made the cut! The HGFC patch will be on display at Nationals!
You can find all the results on AskFred here:
https://www.askfred.net/tournaments/633b1c23-53ec-44b2-aae6-f74dcbbd570d/results
Noelle Orr, fencing her second tournament in as many days, was the only one signed up for Y14 Women’s Sabre, so she automatically qualified there, and she stuck around to hold 5th place in Div 2 (“C and Under”) Senior Women’s Sabre, making her eligible to fence in TWO events at Nationals! Yay, Noelle!
Ava Nanu finished 5th in both Y-14 Women’s Foil and Div 2 Senior Women’s Foil, so she also qualified for Nationals in both events, impressing a lot of other coaches and fencers with her strong, aggressive style. I’m certain she’s going to put on a good show in Columbus this July!
Brayden Eaton put up an incredible fight in Div 2 Senior Men’s Foil. He won one pool bout against the very experienced Scott Green of BRFA, and lost at “la belle” to Michael Mienna of MSU. He wasn’t able to win his DE bout against Michael Ramlow (the Head Coach of the U of D/ Mercy NCAA fencing team), but I reminded Brayden that not only had he been away from fencing for many months, but he was in a field of 18 competitors with a LOT of experience (2 C’s, 4 D’s, and 5 E’s). His speed and aggressiveness impressed everyone, and I’m certain he’ll be at Nationals next year!
Lois Nanu went 3 – 3 in the pool round in Div 2 Senior Women’s Epee, and then won her DE bout against Isabella Pilon of MSU, 15 – 14! Lois finished 3rd, just making the cut and qualifying to fence at Nationals. Lois has really stepped up her game this year, and all of her extra effort is paying off – well done, Lois!
Tyler Peckens built on his E-rating silver medal performance at BRFA and finished 6th at the qualifier. He lost his DE bout 8 – 15 against UDM Head Coach Michael Ramlow, but his incredibly quick footwork and counterattacks kept all his opponents at bay. He’s going to have a great time in Columbus – go get ’em, Tyler!
To have so many of our fencers making such strong showings at tournaments is rewarding, and sending qualifiers to Nationals is a major accomplishment for our club. I expect next year to be even better!