UConn Places Well in Wesleyan’s 2014 Tournament

On the day before Easter, this Saturday of April 19th, the UConn Fencing Club participated in its last tournament of the semester. Hosted at Wesleyan’s Bacon Field House, the 2014 Wesleyan Open may have been a tournament comprised of a small gathering of local schools, but it was packed with great fencing ability.

Fencers from Wesleyan, Amherst College, Smith College, Williams College, Mount Holyoke and UConn represented their schools in all three weapons: epee, sabre and foil.

It was a long day, but UConn proved to have some of the best fencers here- our members placed in the top three for each weapon! The following UConn fencers received Easter eggs filled with candies for their outstanding abilities and amazing effort placed into their bouts:

For Epee:

Taking second place, Brian Ogle demonstrated a great fencing technique along with a steady confidence by making it to second place in the epee weapon- no matter how many weapons were broken that day, he kept going and was able to make awesome touches in all of his bouts!

Following closely behind Brian, Nick Kraus was able to place third in the weapon of epee! Demonstrating both strong ability and  persistence in his weapon, Nick made the team proud during this early portion of the tournament. Even when the bouts became more challenging, he analyzed his opponents well and executed brilliant touches!

For Foil:

Taking first place in foil was Chris Grabinsky; by making himself a commitment of being the highest-ranked, purple-socked fencer at this tournament, he followed through with the final rounds’ most challenging bout. Purple sock well-matched against purple sock, Chris was able to score the final touch and end up as first place in foil!

Also placing in the top three, our own Mike Motley was able to take third place in the tournament for foil! He took the time to figure out his opponents and adapt his ability to succeed against his most challenging foes (which included a few other UConn fencers)- making him one of the best left-handed fencers at the tournament.

For Sabre:

Taking first place was UConn’s Maurice Wallace; by maintaining a high-energy level and being highly skilled in his unpredictability during his bouts, Maurice was able to fence to the best of his ability and rightfully take the lead in the sabre portion of the tournament.

Also placing, as third, in this weapon was UConn’s Scott Walker; having fenced in all three weapons at this tournament, he was constantly running from pools to DEs all day, yet he was able to put the energy into his final sabre bout and take third overall in this weapon.

 

This Wesleyan Open of 2014 was highly successful and gave all of the participating fencers a chance to practice with other skilled fencers in a relatively relaxed, but still competitive, setting. Congratulations to all of UConn’s fencers for a job well done!!

UConn Fencing Club Excels at ECSU

This past weekend, the UConn Fencing Club participated in ECSU’s annual Three Blades of Charity tournament held on ECSU’s campus in the Geissler Gymnasium. Although there was no third weapon, sabre, offered, the club still put in the best effort and did extremely well throughout the entire competition!

Out of the two mixed weapons bouts, of foil and epee, a couple of our members were able to make it into the final four individuals! In foil, Chris Grabinsky was titled the Ironman Champion- placing first overall in finals.

Likewise, in epee, both Chris Grabinsky and Nick Kraus excelled and were able to achieve a tie in third place.

The competition was fun, for a good cause, and allowed for a more relaxed environment for honing all of our fencing skills; UCFC looks forward to participating in this event again in the future.

 

UConn Fencing Club Participating in Charity Tournament

Taking place this upcoming Saturday, April 12, a more informal tournament for charity will be held at Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU). Eastern is hosting this event in order to support the local community and allow fencers from surrounding schools as well as non-sponsored fencers to participate in a good-natured competition. For those interested in fencing as individuals based on gender, and who are not affiliated with the school/club, there will be a chance to sign up and pay the $5 per weapon (choice of foil and/or epee) on the day of the event- or non-fencers can donate on-site while enjoying the fencing bouts.

The event‘s registration will begin at 7:00 am, bouts will commence at around 9:00 am, and the event is expected to end by 7:00 pm at the latest. The event will take place in the ECSU Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.