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Salle Updates

Fencers often refer to their club as a salle (pronounced 'sal'). The word comes from the French "salle d'armes" which translates to "room of weapons."

Wednesday, April 30th

Sophie Russo went to Portland, OR to compete in a North American Cup (NAC). In her event, Youth 12 womens foil, there were 51 entrants, 16 of whom were rated fencers. Sophie fought hard, winning 40% of her pool bouts and her first direct elimination, but ended up losing to the 7th-ranked girl.

The size of the NAC was daunting. This was the Division 1 Championships, so we had a chance to watch the United States' Olympians competing on their home turf. It was all very exciting, and definitely puts us in the right mind-set for Summer Nationals.

Tuesday, April 22nd

On Sunday, Presidio Fencing Club qualified athletes to 6 more events at the US Fencing Summer National Championships. After qualifying to the Under 16 Championships, Christiana Lyman finished 6th in the Y14 womens epee, allowing her to compete nationally in that event as well. T.J. Jan and Paul Wintz earned tickets to the Y14 mens epee event, with T.J. finishing 5th and Paul taking 1st. This is Paul's second gold medal, having also won the Y14 foil qualifier two weeks ago. He is the only individual fencer to win gold medals in both foil and epee in this year's Southern California Divisional Qualifiers.

In the 51-person Division II mens epee qualifier, Presidio fencer Tom Pingel went undefeated to win the Gold Medal. This was the second year in a row that Tom has won this event. 31st seed Keric Moore qualified to the Division III mens epee after upsetting the #2 seed.

Presidio also qualified its Senior Womens Epee and Mens Foil Teams to the Summer Championships. The womens team of Sophie Rubenstein, Lydia Kaestner, and Kellie Windenburg (Captain) won the silver medal in their qualifier, beating CalTech's womens epee team 45-33. The mens team of Chris Noyes, Keric Moore, Tom Pingel, and Tim Robinson (Captain), scrapped for their bronze medal, winning it 43-42 in sudden-death overtime.

Good luck to all the Presidio fencers at National Championships in San Jose in July! Here is an updated list of those who have qualified so far:

Gage Delany, Div II Mens Foil, Div III Mens Foil

T.J. Jan, Youth 14 Mens Epee

Lydia Kaestner, Junior Womens Team Epee, Senior Team Epee

Matt Kuiken, Div II Mens Saber, Div III Mens Saber

Christiana Lyman, Cdt Wmns Epee, Jr Wmns Team Epee, Y14 Womens Epee

Keric Moore, Div II Mens Foil, Div III Epee, Senior Team Foil

Chris Noyes, Div II Mens Foil, Senior Team Foil

Tom Pingel, Div II Mens Foil, Div II Mens Epee, Senior Team Foil

Sophie Rubenstein, Junior Womens Team Epee, Senior Team Epee

Sophie Russo, Youth 12 Womens Foil

Sabrina Sorich, Junior Womens Team Epee

Timo Stanton, Youth 12 Mens Foil

Kellie Windenburg, Senior Team Epee

Mary Alice Wintz, Div II Womens Foil, Div III Womens Foil

Paul Wintz, Youth 14 Mens Foil, Youth 14 Mens Epee

Tuesday, April 15th

We weren't very lucky with our DE seedings at the Okawa Open. Matt Kuiken and Randy Bublitz met in the very first round of elimination, with Matt winning 15-14. Then Tom Pingel and Tim Robinson met in the second round of elimination, with Tom also winning 15-14. Tom then went on to face Eric Hansen, ranked 13th in the U.S., in the quarter finals. It was a close match, but Tom lost 14-15 to finish 6th overall.

We've got the Summer Nationals Qualifiers for epee this Sunday. Be sure to sign up on askfred.net by Friday to get the early registration discount.

And finally, for those of you looking for a fencing summer camp, we're happy to announce that there will be two day camps at Presidio. The first will be held in the third week of July. The second will be in the first week of August. Camps are $250/week and will go from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm. Space is limited, so let us know if you're interested.

Tuesday, April 8th

The dust has settled from the weekend's fencing, and there is so much to report. After a great turnout from Presidio Fencing Club (16 athletes in 7 events) we have 13 people qualified to represent our club and Southern California in the Summer National Championships. Some highlights from the qualifiers: Christiana Lyman upset two higher seeds to finish 3rd in the Cadet Womens Epee; Matt Kuiken also took 3rd in the Div. II Mens Saber to qualify and earn his D'08; and 4 of the 8 finalists in the Div. II Mens Foil hailed from Presidio: Keric Moore, Chris Noyes, Tom Pingel, and Gage Delany.

In other news, our club tournament and the first Central Coast Veterans Epee was a success. Gene Olson, from Conejo Fencers in Thousand Oaks, went home with the gold and a bottle of wine from Presidio Wineries in Solvang. Mark Soler, of UCSB, won the Silver, and Mike Secorsky won the Bronze. Paul Wintz won the Y14 foil, with Jeff Campbell winning his first Bronze medal, coming in 3rd. Timo Stanton won the Y12 event, followed by Sophie Russo and Daniel Finnegan. And Sean Strong silvered in the Y10 event, followed by Graham Mills, who won the Bronze. The next Central Coast Circuit event will likely be held in San Luis Obispo in May. More on that soon...

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