Author: dkho

Categories
NIWFA

NIWFA 2024

3.2.24

Women’s Foil

Lucia “Gecko” Kasper ‘24, Karino Gibson ‘24, Sarah “Medusa” Terpenning ‘27, and Delia “Nightshade” Figlozzi ‘27 each competed valiantly for women’s foil. Gecko did a bang up job using sneaky parry ripostes so extraordinarily that an opponent cried in anguish. She then proceeded to qualify for the individual event, finishing in the top 16 women’s foilists! Medusa’s decisive blade actions and fantastic footwork led her to victory in more than half her bouts at her second collegiate tournament! Karino fenced her heart out, consistently scoring against varsity fencers and winning 4 out of 7 bouts after proposing marriage to an opponent! Coming back from an injury, Nightshade fearlessly competed in her first collegiate tournament and won half of her bouts! Together the four fenced ferociously, putting their blood, sweat, and tears into their incredible defeat of 6 other teams! Go woil! 

Women’s Sabre

Katie “Sparrow” Richardson , Angela “Luna” Liu, and Sophia “Barracuda” Lee on C strip learned a lot about saber as they flew, slashed and got touches. Sparrow, a mostly epee fencer, carried the A strip with her speed and quick thinking. Luna and Barracuda, grafted from the foil squad, grew in their sabre skills as they won touches against club teams. Luna, in the B strip, kept cool and used her understanding of parries in addition to sabre speed. In the C strip, Barracuda, like machine learning artificial intelligence, improved throughout the tournament, increases her amount of touches against each team. Overall, the women’s sabre had a fantastic time bonding and learning a new weapon!

Women’s Epee

NIWFA champs! Sarah “Tarot” Gresham ‘25, Rebekah “Opal” Gresham ‘25 and Anna “Lotus” Saal ‘27 emerged from the team event with a whopping 40 victories, 89% win rate, and an indicator of +108. Defeating every other school (including numerous NCAA competitors), the W&M women’s epee team were responsible for a major upset through their defeat of the fifteen other competitors. All three had powerful individual win rates and indicators, allowing Tarot, Opal, and Lotus to all advance to the individual rounds (the only school to have all three of their epee fencers advance). In the table of 16, Opal defeated Lotus and placed sixth. Tarot had a strong performance that took her into the finals and a second place medal. With an impressive medal count and a trophy, W&M wepee has proved to be a dominating force this season!

Categories
MACFA

MACFA BvC 2024

2.18.24

Men’s Foil

Men’s Foil had quite an eventful time at MACFA BvC. Patrick “Apostle” Feagin, Jawand “Bronco” Singh, and Dale “Sandman” DeVinney made up the all freshman foil squad, and they gave their all against the fierce MACFA competition. Patrick and Jawand used their Epee skills to land decisive counterattacks and fleches in order to win valuable bouts, while Dale used every trick in his bag to land any touch he could. The real opponent, however, was not the collegiate fencers that Men’s Foil faced. Instead the real enemy was their own gear, as blades snapped, white lighted, and just gave up throughout the tournament. By the end, four of their five foils were broken and the boys were bouting on a single foil and a prayer. Regardless, Men’s Foil fought through the adversity and are looking forward to bigger and better things!

Men’s Sabre

William and Mary Saber did not mess around at Stevens Institute of Technology. Justin “Gizmo” Feira and Ni “Vulcan” Hao took their talents to Hoboken, New Jersey and fearlessly fought fellow club but mostly other varsity fencing programs. Leo “Viking” Wallace was slated to come as the third member of the sabre B team but unfortunately contracted a near fatal illness just days before the tournament. Our two remaining soldiers fought valiantly and managed to come away with a 5-4 victory against Hunter and two other narrow 4-5 defeats against Army and Yeshiva. The B team gained invaluable experience and is ready to come back better than ever next year.

Men’s Epee

Epee squad’s impressive depth was on full display at BvC. With the regular starters competing in Atlanta, the “B” team of Henry “Falcon” Hermes ‘25, Eric “Helios” Montesi ‘26, and Luke “Mojave” Miller ‘27, posted a 5-2 record against NCAA varsity teams, highlighted by an impressive 6-3 win over Stevens and a 9-0 sweep of Hunter. No hand was safe from Falcon’s precise flicks, and his long attacks kept his opponents on their toes when they grew wary of his counters. His cutting journalism during timeouts provided important information on the boys’s lunch orders. Helios used dominating parries and lightning fast redoublements to overwhelm his opponents, shutting down attacks and giving varsity opponents crazy work while flexing the coldest sock game in MACFA. It was Miller Time for Mojave at his first collegiate competition, as the freshman controlled his opponents with impeccable timing and distance. He was the only fencer to take wins against every school, promising greatness in the future. With a strong result at BvC, the Tribe’s epee dynasty shows no signs of slowing down.

Categories
SIFA

SIFA 2024

2.17.24 – 2.18.24

Women’s Epee

On February 17, William & Mary women’s epee defended their title as 2022 and 2023 SIFA champions. William & Mary women’s epee started Saturday out strong. In their individual event, Rebekah ‘Opal’ Gresham ’25 Anna ‘Lotus’ Saal ’27 both came out of pools with 5 victories each while Sarah ‘Tarot’ Gresham ’25 swept her pool with 6 victories. These three strong records allowed all three wepeeists to advance into the direct elimination round of only eight fencers. In the round of 8, tragic William on Mary violence occurred when Opal defeated Lotus to advance to the semi-finals and face Tarot. Tarot went on to the finals where she gained a decisive victory and the gold medal. Wepee’s strong performance in the individual event awarded them first seed in the team event, advancing them directly into the semifinals. From there, they defeated the University of Florida reaching the necessary 5 victories to advance with only 1 loss. Then, Opal, Tarot, and Lotus fought back from an initial 2 losses against the University of Georgia to win 5-3 in the finals. As if that weren’t impressive enough, this isn’t the first SIFA victory for W&M women’s epee. Opal and Tarot have led the team to victory for the third year in a row. Wepee is returning to Williamsburg victorious, with a bronze and gold medal in the individual event and 3 gold medals for their team performance.

Women’s Foil

On February 18, the Women’s Foil team won first place at the SIFA championships. Sarah Terpenning ‘27 and Kate Ingle ‘27 tied for 12th place, while Lucy Kasper ‘24 took gold in an intense bout against an Emory fencer. Following individual tournaments, the three girls pooled their skills together in the team tournaments. They managed to keep their cool as they fought through tough competitors, illegal calls, and unfair referees, ultimately leading to a victorious win for gold. This resulted in an overall SIFA win for the William & Mary Women’s Foil team, making it the first wins for freshmen Sarah and Kate, as well as senior Lucy Kasper’s final medal at SIFA champs.

Women’s Sabre

Women’s Sabre was victorious as they flew down the strips at SIFA! Karino Gibson ‘24, Angela ‘Luna’ Liu ‘25, and Debbie ‘Prism’ Ho ‘26, primarily foilists, tried their hand at sabre for the first time in a collegiate tournament. They each claimed their first sabre varsity wins.  The three fencers developed their understanding and sabre senses throughout the tournament and ultimately came in fifth place overall! 

Men’s Epee

Men’s Épée, comprised of Jake Schapiro ’24, Nolan Coughlin ’25, Armin Bagha ’24, took home gold at SIFA this year! Individually, Jake won fifth place, Armin came in second, and Nolan got first, with Nolan and Armin fencing off in an epic finals match. Deploying his parry 4-riposte against fleches, Jake won bouts against Emory and Kennesaw State. Nolan used his lightning reflexes to hit his opponents before they even had time to react. Coming through at the end, Armin used his speed and long reach to win the tie-breaking match against Kennesaw to get the team first place. Men’s Épée is thrilled with their victory and eagerly looking forward to MACFA Champs. 

Men’s Foil

Men’s foil brought the heat to Atlanta and the gold back to Williamsburg. Nick ‘Osiris’ Reeder ‘24, Jack ‘Yeti’ Bratton ‘24, and Thomas ‘Vice’ Mahnken ‘24 came first in Men’s Foil contributing to the overall William & Mary SIFA win. Yeti’s decisive distance also delivered him the individual gold medal! Osiris’s methodical marches cleared the way to a 5th place finish in individuals. Vice’s powerful parries clutched the final win against Emory to bring William & Mary gold. Men’s foil is looking forward to a rest week followed by MACFA champs!

Men’s Sabre

Men’s Sabre started off the season with an impressive performance in Atlanta earning each squad member their first medal at a collegiate tournament! Consisting of Connor “Lancelot” Cassidy ‘25, Evan “Duke” Jackson ‘25, and Ryan “Chronos” Rauscher ‘27, William and Mary’s Sabre squad fought tooth and nail against their fellow southern schools for a second place finish in the Southern Intercollegiate Fencing Association. Earlier in the day, Lance’s signature lockouts scored point after point for the team securing the second seed for the team event. In individuals, Duke’s tactical decision making and expert box actions earned him an 8th place finish, and Chronos’ lightning fast reflexes, Olympian-level blade work, and superhuman agility triumphantly carried him to the podium, bringing home bronze. Combined, the three showed off men’s Sabre as a powerful presence on the strip and a definite force to be reckoned with!

Categories
MACFA

MACFA AvC 2024

2.11.24

Men’s Foil

Foil started the competitive season strong with a decisive performance at MACFA A versus C. Nick ‘Osiris’ Reeder ‘24, Jack ‘Yeti’ Bratton ‘24, and Thomas ‘Vice’ Mahnken ‘24 brought home 5 school wins, dropping rounds only to Johns Hopkins and Cornell. Yeti kept his attacks clean and precise, bringing home wins against every school and sweeping every school in the back half of the day. Osiris marched his opponents down and kept them back with long attacks, bringing home a win against all schools but Hopkins. Vice’s parries held his opponents at bay, picking up multiple wins during the day.

Men’s Sabre

Men’s Saber starts the season with a solid performance beating 4 out of the 7 varsity teams. The team consisting of  Connor “Lancelot” Cassidy ‘25, Evan “Duke” Jackson ‘25, Ryan “Chronos” Rauscher ‘27, and  Justin “Gizmo” Feira ‘27 cemented itself as a serious contender amongst the other schools. All these fencers brought forth their own unique styles and talents on the strip which allowed them to decisively win many bouts to the surprise of  their opponents. Not only has this competition showcased the ability of Men’s Saber this year, but ignites a newfound fervor towards their performance in future collegiate events.

Men’s Epee

Men’s Épée, comprised of Jake Schapiro ’24, Nolan Coughlin ’25, Armin Bagha ’24, and Eric Montesi ‘26 gave it their all at MACFA AvC, fighting hard for every touch. Jake made good use of timing to defeat a Johns Hopkins fencer. With his characteristic long reach, Armin dominated his opponents, winning bouts against every school. Nolan deployed his trademark speed, hitting fencers before they could even react. Eric, a lefty, confused his adversaries and triumphed in all of his bouts. Men’s épée ended the day tired but excited for the next tournament.