EFA Fencers had a strong showing on Sunday, October 9th, with participation occurring in several events at two separate locations. Encinitas Fencing Academy held the first Youth Epee event for the 2016-2017 San Diego Cup, while Team Touche Fencing Center (TTFC) held the first Junior event for the San Diego Cup. EFA Fencers snagged a 3rd place medal in the Women's Junior Epee event at TTFC as well as 1st and 3rd in the Y14 Mixed Epee at EFA.
Youth Fencing at the Encinitas Fencing Academy
EFA hosted the first Youth Epee event of the season which saw participation from many clubs in the San Diego area as well as fencers from Baja California. In Y14 Epee (for fencers born between '02-'05), Michael Sakaguchi had a strong showing in pools, losing only 2 of 7 bouts by a single touch. He would continue that trend in the Elimination round where no fencer scored more than 10 points on him, landing him the gold. Aslan Choi also had a remarkable performance. In his first tournament, he notched a 5-2 record in pools, and won a DE to place third overall in the competition. This places the two fencers first and third, respectively, on the points standings for the Y14 SD Cup Championship. Great work, all!
In the Y12 event, Talan Dunn competed for the first time and was the sole fencer representing EFA. She was able to notch a victory in pools and was not shut out a single time. This is an excellent showing for a fencer's first tournament! We expect to see great results moving forward.
Junior Epee at Team Touche Fencing Center
Meanwhile, down the coast, several EFA Fencers competed in Men's and Women's Junior Epee events at Team Touche. The field in the Men's competition was very competitive, but Jonathan Chan fought hard to secure a 3-3 record. He met his teammate Roark Harris in the first round, and won the bout to move on to fence the eventual winner of the tournament. Chan managed to score 10 points against his opponent, Jesus Campo, which would turn out to be the most scored against the fencer in the rest of the Elimination round. Excellent work! Jonathan eventually placed 6th, with Morgan Wicklund behind him in 7th, Roark Harris in 11th, and Lucas Hendricks in 13th place.
The women faced equally stiff competition, despite a smaller field, and brought home some hardware for their efforts. Michelle Chan overcame a 1-5 record coming out of pools to take out the 3rd-seeded Alexa Avalos, ultimately earning her 3rd place in the competition. Allison Chan had a similarly tough time in pools (2-4), and lost a heartbreaking bout 14-15 to place 6th.
Full event results can be seen at AskFRED.net. Excellent work to all who competed, and congratulations to those who placed. On to the next tournament!