Michael Dudey won the silver medal at the Challenge C.E.P. (Cercle des Escrimeurs Parisiens) - Marathon Fleuret Cadets 2010.  The tournament, one of the USFA’s three cadet-designated, international events, was held on February 6-7, 2010 in Paris, France.  It attracted over 200 competitors from around the world.  A complete list of the results, and more photos, can be found at http://www.escrime-cep.com/marathon_fleuret/index.html.

All photos from http://www.escrime-cep.com/marathon_fleuret/index.html.

Salle Mauro would like to congratulate two of our team champions.  Ben Parkins and Colin Sutter left this past year to attend Ohio State University.  Ben is on a full scholarship and Colin is on a partial scholarship.  This weekend as our current team  fencers were fighting for their points, Ohio State won the 2008 NCAA Fencing National Championship. Well done guys.

Emma Buckingham

Emma Buckingham of Haverford College finished 15th in women’s epee at the 2008 NCAA National Fencing Championships. She had the highest finish of any woman from an NCAA Division III school in any of the three weapons.

Her performance at the NCAAs capped a season in which she won nearly 80% of her bouts in team competition, won the epee gold medal at the National Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association (NIWFA) Christmas Invitational and the silver at the NIWFA Championships, and won the epee at the Eastern Women’s Fencing Conference (EWFC) Championships, becoming the EWFC epee fencer of the year.

She had qualified for the NCAA National Championships field of 24 by the strength of her season record and her sixth-place finish at the NCAA Regional Qualifiers, behind five fencers from top-ten Division I teams.

Emma Buckingham Haverford university made it to the final round at the NCAA championship Read more>

Haverford came in second in the team competition at the NIWFA championships, with Emma going 9-2. Emma then got the silver medal in the individual competition:
http://www.haverford.edu/news/stories/5261/3

Emma won the epee competition at the Eastern Womens Fencing Conference individual championships. Here is the link:
http://www.haverford.edu/news/stories/4991/3

Emma’s performance at the Brandeis meet. http://www.haverford.edu/news/stories/4501/3

Emma on strip at NCAA Championships

The city of Houston was host to a Super Youth Circuit (SYC) the weekend of March 14-16. An SYC is a route for some fencers to earn National Rolling Points and qualify for Summer Nationals. Salle Mauro had 43 entries and earned 23 medals. Salle Mauro fencers earned 3 gold, 2 silver, and 6 bronze medals. Salle Mauro fencers medaled in 15 of the 18 events.

The following fencers earned gold in their events:
Marwan Charafeddine Y10 Men’s Epee
Ally Micek Y10 Women’s Epee
Brandon Merz Y12 Men’s Epee.

Silver medals went to:
Michael Dudey Y14 Men’s Foil
Sarah Followill Y14 Women’s Foil.

Bronze Medalists were:
Evin Heintz Y10 Men’s Saber
Alarice Chen Y10 Women’s Foil
Chafic Charafeddine Y12 Men’s Foil
Ally Micek Y12 Women’s Epee
Hayley Gillen Y12 Women’s Saber
Denes Marton Y14 Men’s Foil

Additionally, many of our fencers earned national rolling points. National points are used to improve a fencer’s initial seeding at national tournaments. Points also qualify a fencer automatically for Summer Nationals and allow a fencer to qualify for one age group higher even if younger than otherwise allowed. This means any of our fencers with Y14 points are qualified for Y14 Championships in San Jose this summer. A Y10 fencer with Y12 points is eligible to try to qualify for the Y14 Championships.

Once more our fencers showed good sportsmanship and fought hard in their events. Logan Somera embodied this in his run in the Y14 direct eliminations, in which he upset the number 6 seed. This earned him national points and a D08 rating. Congratulations to Logan.

On a different note, we would like to congratulate two of our past youth champions. Ben Parkins and Colin Sutter left this past year to attend Ohio State University. Ben is on a full scholarship and Colin is on a partial scholarship. This weekend as our current youth fencers were fighting for their points, Ohio State won the 2008 NCAA Fencing National Championship. Well done guys. While her team went home without a medal, Emma Buckingham also fenced in the NCAA Championships. Congrats to her as well.

Finally, the coaches would like to thank the fencers and parents at Salle Mauro. Without the hard work of the fencers, none of these results would be possible. Without the support of the parents, we wouldn’t have the fencers who work so hard. We look forward to continued excellence in fencing and working with all our fencers in the future.

Houston was host to the first Regional Youth Circuit (RYC) of the season on December 1-2. Salle Mauro fielded 46 fencers who earned 32 medals. The Salle Mauro entries doubled those of the next largest club and our fencers earned more medals than the next 3 clubs combined. Nearly 70% of our fencers earned medals, which was the largest percentage of clubs with at least 10 entrants. Finally, Salle Mauro brought home the largest numbers of gold (5), silver (5) and bronze (7) medals.

The RYC consisted of 18 events: foil, epee, and saber in men’s and women’s Y-10, Y-12, and Y-14. Most these events were fenced mixed (only Y-12 and Y-14 epee being separate events) with separate medal ceremonies. Salle Mauro fencers medaled in 15 of the 18 events (with no fencers in 2 and a near miss in the third) and had a dominating performance in the Y-14 foil with 6 of 8 finalists in the men’s (including gold, silver, and a bronze) and the gold in the women’s as well. No club matched this performance in any other event.

Most importantly, our fencers showed poise in victory and defeat. While emotions ran high, our fencers fought through all their bouts and showed good sportsmanship. Club mates cheered for each other, helped coach each other, shared equipment and snacks, and showed our club to lead the region in class. The coaches are proud of all our fencers from this weekend. With continued hard work in practice and dedication to winning right, our results can only improve through the season. Our coaches feel we have the best fencers in the nation and look forward to proving it at more tournaments throughout the year.

Finally, the coaching staff would like to thank those parents who have supported and thanked us. Several of you have written us very nice notes thanking our efforts. We can’t do it without your support and the hard work of your children. We look forward to doing all we can to ensure the continued success of the club. Thank you for your support.

The following fencers earned gold in their events:

Marwan Charafeddine Y10 Boy’s Epee
Alarice Chen Y10 Girl’s Foil
Logan Somera Y12 Boy’s Foil
Michael Dudey Y14 Boy’s Foil
Sarah Followill Y14 Girl’s Foil.

Silver medals went to:
Ally Micek Y10 Girl’s Epee
Alex Donnenberg Y10 Boy’s Saber
Hayley Gillen Y12 Girl’s Saber
Ira Schlossberg Y14 Boy’s Foil
Joseph BrookDeVita Y14 Boy’s Epee.

Salle Mauro’s bronze medalists are:
Evin Heinz Y10 Boy’s Saber
Chafic Charafeddine Y12 Boy’s Foil
Hayley Gillen Y12 Girl’s Foil
Max Therond Y12 Boy’s Foil
Thomas Dudey Y14 Boy’s Foil
Mexi Gremillion Y14 Girl’s Epee.
Anna VanBrummen Y14 Girl’s Epee.

Junior Men’s Foil event had 200 of the nations finest foilists. All four of Salle Mauro’s fencers placed well, but Sutter surpassed everyone by taking 5th place.

5. Sutter, Colin
20. Parkins, Benjamin B
65. Nichols, Benjamin
110. El-Saleh Michael

Almost as large a field was the Junior Men’s Epee event which had 153 fencers. Greg Micek end up 128 after Missing the DE by three spots. Greg had strong pool and he dropped 4 bouts 4/5.

At the Junior Women’s Foil Elizabeth Rhodes Won two bouts in her pool before losing her first DE 13-15 and she end up 75, at the Div 1 Elizabeth end up 86 in the field.

At the Women’s epee event our young Elizabeth Donnenberg at Div I she fenced well in the pool and she made it to the DE for the first time, and at the Junior event she won two bouts .Unfortunately she lost her first DE due to a bad call .

Div I Men’s foil in a field of 203 fencers our three fencers fenced very well .

15. Parkins, Benjamin B
46. Sutter, Colin
75. El-Saleh Michael

Congratulations to all our 45 athletes who represented Salle Mauro at Summer Nationals.

Salle Mauro coaches proudly returned back from the 2007 Summer National Championships in Miami, FL with a great showing in all three weapons!

Congratulations to all our Medalists

Benjamin Parkins — 6 Place U19 Men’s Foil; Bronze Medal Div I Men’s Foil Team

Sarah Followill — 6th Place DivII Women’s Foil; Bronze Medal DivIII Women’s Foil

Thomas Dudey — Silver Medal, U10 Boy’s Foil

Elizabeth Donnenberg — Bronze Medal, U17 Girl’s Epee

Michael El-Saleh — Bronze Medal Div I Men’s Foil Team

Colin Sutter — Bronze Medal Div I Men’s Foil Team

Benjamin Nichols — Bronze Medal Div I Men’s Foil Team

The club was well represented with many other fencers turning in strong performances. The work they’ve put in through the season showed in their performances at Nationals and the bar has been raised for this coming year. Many of our fencers earned points in their age groups as well as the group ahead. Thomas Dudey finished the year atop the Y 10 Boy’s Foil, and Chris Ahn and Elizabeth Donnenberg finished third in the Y-12 Boy’s Saber and Y-14 Girl’s Epee point lists respectively. Allie Micek placed 4th in Y-10 Girl’s Epee, and Ben Parkins placed 5th on the Junior Men’s Foil. Elizabeth Donnenberg’s 6th on the Cadet Women’s Epee list closed the top-8s for the club.

The coaches would like to thank the parents for the support they’ve given this past season. The effort and support you show inspires your children and directly affects their results. These medals wouldn’t be possible without you.

By: Elizabeth Donnenberg

I would like to share with all of you my experience at the NAC in Albuquerque Nov 9-13th, In Cadet, I didn’t do very well in the pools. I didn’t recognize any of the fencers except for one of my friends, Barrette. I lost three and won three of my bouts. I only remember my bout against Barrette, which ended 5-3. I won. I don’t remember all of my DE’s either. I won a few and then had to fence Hurley and lost pretty badly. I need to get stronger and quicker if I hope to beat her. Then I fenced Gagen and won 15-14. Making actions with sixes really helped and staying active. My last bout was against D’Agostino. I know that if I took a strong enough six I could have win but my wrist was tired and I couldn’t execute the action.

In Youth 14, I had I nice pool and won all of my bouts. My first DE was against this girl named Young. She was kind of difficult because she was quick but I was finally able to get her and finish the bout 15-11. My next DE was against Foster, she used a French grip and liked to lunge. I beat her 15-6. After that I got into the top eight and lost to English from Los Angeles. She goes to the same club as Gagen. With her, my wrist started to hurt and it was hard for me to avoid getting my blade hit and still be able to get the point.

Juniors went much better than expected. I won all of my pool bouts, even the one against Kristin Howell. I was eighth after pools. My first DE was against a strong fencer. I had a hard time with her and barely won 15-14. After that I fenced Barrette again, but this time she was lunging faster and stronger and I lost. Unfortunately I then fenced again against a Canadian, Lavoie, She beat me. I am going to have to get faster and stronger. Overall it was a great experience and I am training more to keep up the good result for the rest of the season.

The Junior Olympics is one of the most competitive and largest events in the nation. Salle Mauro fielded a crew of 16 fencers, all representing the club admirably.

Junior Men’s Foil - Silver Medal
Colin Sutter took the silver medal with a strong performance

Mike El-Saleh had strong start with 5-1 victors but he had a poor draw in DEs and lost a hard fought bout.

Benjamin Parkins, had good start with 5-1 and made up to top 16 before falling short 14-15 to the gold medal winner. this result put Ben on the US world team competing next April at the world championships.

Benjamin Nichols, had strong start with 6-0 and made up to the top 64 with unexpected lost.

Cadet Women’s Foil
In a tough field, Sarah Followill did well winning 4-2 bouts in pools. She had by then lost 13-15.

Cadet Men’s Saber.

Our Fencers Travis Overton win 4-2 in his pool then advance to the DE winning his first DE and later on lost to make it up the top 32 and Carl Howley Win 2-4 and made up to the DE and had strong bout against the Bronze medal winner.

Junior Men’s Epee
We fielded 3 fencers: Patrick Gremillion, Ben McDonald and Greg Micek. All very young for this event (15 years) even so they fenced very well all winning some bouts in their pools and made it to the D.E.

Junior Women’s Epee
Our team, Elizabeth Donnenberg and Rebecca Rea, though young, are no strangers to the Cadet age group. All advanced through their first DEs, Elizabeth was 5-1 after the pools Made it up to the top 16 with wonderful showing before losing to Neely Brandfield-Harvey the gold medal winner and Cadet world team member 13-15 . Teammates Rebecca Rea fenced well the pool with 4-2 wins before losing tough bout 14-15.

We would like to congratulate Neely on making the US World Cadet Team.

Cadet Women’s Epee
In this event Elizabeth Donnenberg did well in the first round and moved on to DE. and she made up to the top 32 good Job!!!.Rebecca Rea had a tough day at that event and she is now practicing so hard to prepare for the summer national in July.

Cadet Men’s Epee
15 year old Greg Micek, Ben McDonald and Patrick Gremillion they all went up with %50 or more wins to make it up to the DE’s after winning 2 DE the competed admirably in this event learning allot from the much older and experienced fencers.

Special congratulations to the US Junior World Team member: Benjamin Parkins, good luck at the World Championships next April!

It’s hard to believe that 2006 is over. It’s been a great year for Sarah and her fencing. It was her last year in the Y12 age category, and she really showed how hard work can pay off. She began 2006 traveling to Birmingham to fence in one of the Southeast RYCs where she finished 2nd and 3rd in Y12 and Y14 mixed foil, respectively. She then went on a traveling spree and fenced in two Super RYCs and the Youth NAC all within a month. She placed 2nd and 5th in the two SRYCs and 6th at the NAC in women’s Y12 foil. As one of the Moms of one of Sarah’s competitors and friend said, “It was nice to see a new face on the medal stand for once.” Sometimes with success comes pain. I know that Sarah would like to issue a word of caution to all young fencers since she injured her back during the NAC. The word of caution would be to STRETCH! It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, stretching plays a very important role for any competitive fencer. Sarah did not fence hard or competitively again until after a lot of therapy, advil and core muscle exercises (2½ months). She fenced in the Summer Nationals and placed 10th in women’s Y12 foil.

Starting in September, Sarah was out of the Y12 category, but now eligible for cadet and any of the open tournaments. She went to Memphis to fence in the Div II and Div III NAC where she placed 26th and 12th, respectively. In the Div III competition, Sarah lost to a very close friend, 15-13 to not get in the top 8, but winning isn’t always a priority. When you watch the two girls give each other a warm hug after the last touch, you know that our young fencers are learning more about life than just fencing. She finished tied for 3rd at the Longhorn open in Austin and 2nd at the Bayou City Fencing Academy “D and under” tournament. Recently at the NAC in Albuquerque, she came out of pools in the women’s Y14 foil seeded 56th and ended up placing in the top 16. Perseverance and hard work does pay off in the end.

Sarah just returned form the super RYC held in New Hampshire where she fenced in the women’s Y14 foil event which was a rated a B2 event. She did well in the pools coming out of them seeded 6th. She breezed through her first two Des 15 - 2 and 15 - 4, but to get in the top four, she was defeated 15-11 by the young lady who won the gold medal. To Sarah’s credit, no one else scored as many touches on the gold medal winner as Sarah did. Sarah ended up placing eighth which will help boost her National ranking. We hope to see her continue to do well this year.