Crossing Swords for Charity

Ben Wilbanks of UConn, left, fences a pool bout during the tournament.

The UConn Fencing Club brought home three medals from its first tournament of the 2010-2011 competitive season on Saturday, Oct. 30.

Seven fencers with experience ranging from less than two months to more than seven years, took part in three events – épée, sabre and foil – at Sword in the Scroll Fencing Academy (SITS) in Willimantic.

The event was held as a charity tournament for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which uses donated money to grant wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses, according to the Make-a-Wish website.

The highest finisher was John Kennedy, who lost, 15 to 12, in the final bout against Aaron Hughes of the Thames River Fencing Club. Kennedy finished second overall out of 11 foil fencers.

“I was winning for a while with straight parry ripostes,” said Kennedy, the club’s vice president. “Then he figured me out and I stopped landing as many touches as I had been.”

Coming out of pools, Kennedy was seeded No. 2, behind Ben Donnel of ECSU. Kennedy’s only loss in pools came against Brian Helfer of UConn, who finished sixth overall.

The two nearly met up again during the direct elimination round, but Helfer lost to William Covill of Eastern Connecticut State University, 15 to 14. Kennedy then defeated Covill by a score of 15 to seven.

Walker Seaver gets a touch on the arm of his opponent.

Walker Seaver, fencing épée for the first time, finished third out of 19 épée fencers. Since his work schedule prevented him from competing in foil, his usual weapon, Seaver suited up for épée and promptly lost all six of his pool bouts. His 0-6 record resulted in his being named the No. 18 seed going into direct elimination bouts.

After defeating the No. 15 seed by a score of 15 to five, Seaver eliminated the No. 2 seed, Covill, who fenced in the épée tournament prior to competing in foil, 15 to 10. He continued his run of success against the No. 10 seed, before losing to the third seed, Nicholas Fry of SITS, by a score of 15 to nine.

Between the épée and foil events, the small sabre competition featured only five fencers, enough for one pool. Helfer was the only UConn fencer to enter this event, and he brought home the bronze medal, losing to Joseph Cherepon from SITS by a score of 15 to nine.

The other four fencers from UConn participated in the foil event and finished, for the most part, in the middle of the pack. Ben Wilbanks finished fifth, Christian Moy finished seventh, David Kim finished eighth and Jordan Hegel finished 10th.