Archive for the ‘Summer Nationals 2008’ Category

More Fencing Results

Friday, July 11th, 2008

In Women’s Veteran Epee, Tina won two of her pool bouts but unfortunately missed the cut for DE’s by 1 touch (again). Sally fenced valiantly but did not make DE’s.

In Division 2 Men’s Epee, Alex was 3-3 in pools earning a promotion into the next round. Alex jumped on his opponent in his first DE and came out victorious. In the next round, Alex was not able to repeat the crushing and lost the bout. His performance earned him a 62nd place finish.

Division 2 Men’s Foil had Julio going 4-2 in pools and seeding 22 out of about 102. Earning himself a first round bye but he lost his first DE in what he called a “fun war of attrition/chess match” which resulting in the “better fencer” winning. Yves was 3-3 in pools but was knocked out in the round of 16.

In Division 3 Men’s Sabre, Ben bounced his way to a 4-1 finish out of pools earning a 18th seed. In his DE bout, the coach of his opponent was screaming “HE IS FENCING EPEE!! USE RIGHT OF WAY!!” and during the minute break was seen to be demonstrating the “Epee bounce”. This apparently was enough information for as opponent as Ben lost the bout 15-14.

In Division 3 Men’s Epee, Alex came out of pools with 3-3 record again making the promotion to DE’s. What happened in Alex’s DE is unclear, according to Amy Yu it “happened too fast”.

Division 2 Women’s Epee arrived with Tina sick and not able to participate.  Sally had an educational experience in pools while fencing many well adjectived opponents (bouncy, pokey and twirley) but did make the cut for DE’s.  Judi did her best to behave but was picto-stupid in her fencing (read: moving a little more than she should have) and was 3-2.  However, she lost her first DE despite Ben’s coaching with an accent (“Go for da toe, eh!”) and his own demonstration of the “epee bounce”

In Veteran’s Men’s Foil, Julio was 4-2 in pools earning a 15th seed. His first DE bout was a nail biting bout resulting in him making a massive come back to win 3-2 in the second period. Unfortunately, he was not able to repeat this feat in his next DE and was knocked out. Jon counter-blustered his way through his first DE. Jon skillfully recognized the parameters under which the referee’s would throw cards and used them to his advantage (read: He realized that the refs were allowing “bumper fencing” and used it to win). In his next DE, Jon’s opponent was able to bend space-time in such a manner as to not allow Jon’s point to land. Jon’s fencing did result in his earning of a medal as he finished in 6th place. Great job, Jon!!

Fencing Results!

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Yesterday we had some great performances by UFO fencers starting with the Men’s Epee Team.  Julio, Ben and Alex started with an initial seeding of 33 out of 45 teams.  The team was matched up against the Chico Creek Fencing Club.  The UFO Team fought hard, but was not able to pull out the win and ended up losing the match 45-39.

In Division 3 Women’s Epee, Sally Lee showed great tenaciousness and fenced very well in the pools going 1-5.  Unfortunately her efforts did not result in her moving on to the DE Round. Tina O’Brien came out of pools 2-4 with some very good fencing.  Tina missed the 80% promotion into the DE round by 1 touch.  Judi Issacson stood tall (pun intended) and finished 3-3 for a seed of 47 and promotion into the next round.   In her first DE, Judi came out with a victory and a crying opponent.  However, Judi’s lack of mobility was not able to carry her through her next DE giving her a 29th place finish out of 90 fencers.
In Division 2 Men’s Foil, Yves LeBlanc made it out of pools and earned a DE bout.  He was victorious in his first DE but was taken out in the next round.

In Women’s Team Foil Amy, Tina and Judi started with an intial seed of 17 and fenced the Chicago Lakeshore Fencers Club.  The ladies were able to hang in until the end but the they were not able pull out the win losing the match 45-39.  Good fencing ladies.

In Veteran’s Men’s Epee, Julio was able to come out of pools seeded 11th out of 55 fencers.  Earning himself not only a DE but a bye out of the first round.  In his DE, Julio had a 7-3 lead after 1 period but unfortunately was not able to turn on his light for the remaining period (Veterans events go for 2 periods or 10 points) and allowed his opponent a 7 point run to lose the bout.  This resulted in Julio finishing out the event in 20th place.  Upon further review in Julio’s mind, Julio not only managed to turn on his light the 3 times necessary to win the bout but went on to win the entire event.  Unfortunately, the rest of the world is not changing the results because of this.

In Division 1-A Foil, Yves LeBlanc won 1 pool bout and did not make the cut for DE’s.  Jon Zelkowski went 2-3 in his pool which earned him promotion into the next round.  Jon’s DE was well fenced.  Unfortunately, the director missed multiple covering targets (Jon did ask for hand judges but most of the damage was already done) and Jon was not able to pull out the victory.

In Division 1-A Women’s Epee, Judi Isaacson won 3 of her pool bouts earning a 40th seed going into the pools rounds.  Unfortunately, Judi is still back to full mobility and was not able to defeat her opponent in the DE round.  Judi did have some good hand and wrist picks and kept her opponent from getting the toe touch that she wanted so much.

Overall, UFO fencers performed quite well the last two days though everyone was finished fencing before they wanted the day to end.

Friends of UFO, Olivia Dobbs and Haley Conover did quite well today in Division 2 Women’s Foil.  Olivia came out of pools seeded 2nd but was not able to keep her seed as she was knocked out for the round of 8 for a 9th place finish.  Haley Conover did make the round of 8 and earned her C08 in the process.  Great Fencing ladies!!!

Red Shirts and Happy Cows

Monday, July 7th, 2008

One of the cool things about Summer Nationals is being able to peruse multiple vendors and checking the different deals. American Fencing Supply had a really cool special on lames. Allowing UFO to acquire TEN NEW LAMES for a really good deal!!!
Really Good Deals!!

Today was Women’s Team Epee consisting of Judi, Tina and Amy. The UFO Women seeded 17 out of 24 teams. Drawing the 16th seed, Salle Santa Cruz, in the first round. The match started out with UFO taking the lead but unfortunately they were not able to hold on and lost the match 29-45. The ladies exceeded their expectations with Amy scoring the most touches much to everyone’s (including her’s) amazement.

In Div 1-A Men’s Epee, Ben was initially seeded 96 out of 114 going into pools. Coming out of pools, Ben finished with a 1-5 record and seeded 110 (below the 80% cut to get to DE’s). Ben does not want to speak anymore about his fencing in this event.

[Non Michigan UFO Fencer Mikol Ryon seeded 40th out of pools and unfortunately lost his first DE for a 65th place finish.  Former Michigan Fencer Adam Maczik finished 62nd.]

After losing sooner than most of us were hoping for. Comfort Crepes were procured at a local eatery, Flour Sugar Butter.

Ben aimed for Sympathy Wings and Hoppy Beverage to lift his spirits.

Along the lines of things “happy”, Julio arrived bearing items from the California Dairy Association.

Julio found a “California Happy Cow” puppet. This puppet also speaks multiple phrases, one of which disparaging the state of Wisconsin.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

The lead party of UFO has landed in San Jose, California for the USFA Summer National Championships. The Rabid Hamster will be posting updates the rest of this week letting everyone know how UFO is doing.

Ben, Amy and Judi arrived in San Jose and after deciphering San Jose Light Rail system made it to the hotel. Wherein it was determined that Ben needed a beer (as he was the one carrying the most stuff). Close to the hotel is the Rock Bottom Brewery.
In honor of Tom Evangelisti an Artichoke was ordered.
California Artichoke

Because of being in the Pacific Timezone and everyone’s internal clock 3 hours ahead of the local time. We crashed early.