Charlottesville Fencing Alliance

Our fencers were out in force and fencing strong at one of the toughest events of the year, the 2014 Division Senior Championships! This year CFA hosted the event, so the venue was great! Our fencers earned medals in all events this year except Mens Foil this year, placing as follows:

Veronica Weser: Silver, Women’s Epee
Emily Brown: Silver, Women’s Saber
Emily Lien: Bronze, Womens Epee
Sarah Simmons: Bronze, Women’s Epee
Grayson Katzenbach: Bronze, Women’s Foil
Nathaniel Lilly: Bronze, Men’s Saber
Steven Pressendo: Bronze, Men’s Saber
Matt Olowin: Bronze, Men’s Epee

Congrats to all of our fencers and medalists. CFA fencers you make us proud!

This past weekend the VA division held our Summer National Championship qualifiers, hosted by our friends at Richmond Fencing Club.

Our medalists from the tourney were:

Sarah Simmons: Gold, D2WE and updating to an E14!
Matt Stephen: Gold, D2MS
Nathaniel Lilly: Silver, D2MS
Steven Pressendo: Bronze, D2MS
Emily Brown: Bronze, D2WS
Grayson Katzenbach: Bronze, D2WF
Daniel Hothem: Bronze, D2MF and earning his E14!

Congrats to our medalists, our qualifiers to the National Championships and all our fencers who went.

Our younger fencers were out in force and fencing well at this event, and having it on home turf did not hurt at all. This event was a good size for the region, with split mens and womens events in most weapons. Our medalists from this event were:

Michael Gett, 3rd Place Y12 Epee & 3rd Place Foil
Jared Knights, 3rd Place Y12 Foil
Tristan Johnson, 3rd Y14 Epee
Charlie Schuler, Bronze Y14 Foil
Ian Stasko, Bronze Y14 Saber
Paula Petersen, Bronze Y14 Foil

Congrats to our medalists and all our fencers who made it out, you make us proud! Also a huge thanks to our referees for getting the event knocked out in record time and to our concession stand volunteers for keeping everyone hydrated and fed!

Grayson Katzenbach and our Staunton HS and Beginners classes were great providing information and video to reporters from the Staunton News Leader. It is one of the better written local media articles I have seen, so be sure to check it out and the video as well! We are looking into a couple of other options in the valley and the surrounding areas so stay tuned for more CFA Satellite programs coming to the central and southern VA!

http://www.newsleader.com/interactive/article/20140216/LIFESTYLE/302160004/Touch-Students-Staunton-learn-swordplay-fencing-class

Our fencers had a very strong showing at the JMU Open this past weekend:

Douglas Daniels: Gold, Open Saber
Steven Pressendo: Gold, D3 Saber
Nathaniel Lilly: Bronze, Open and D3 Saber
Veronica Wesser: Bronze, Open Epee
Daniel Hothem: Bronze, D3 Foil
Nathaniel Sides: Bronze, Open Foil

It is good to have our friends at JMU back in the tourney rotation. The more USFA events in Central VA the better! (did you notice the subtle hint to UVA Fencing) As always a huge congrats to our medalists and all of our fencers who came out and represented the club, you make us proud!

The annual Hangover Open Tourney was both well attended and very strong this year. It was effectively at ROC levels (hint to the Division and USA Fencing) in both size and quality of fencing. Several of our fencers had exceptional results in a tough field:

Anya Michaelsen: Gold, Womens Foil and updating to a B14

Veronica Weser: Silver, Womens Epee and earning her C14

Douglas Daniels: Bronze, Mixed Saber

Nathaniel Lilly: Updating to an E14

Grayson Katzenbach also earned her stripes as a USA Fencing Rated Referee! Congrats to our medalists, our fencers who earned or updated ratings and a big thanks to everyone that came out to make a great event. CFA fencers you make us proud!

It has been a busy few weeks to say the lease, with back to back tournament weekends, just after the Opens at Tech and W&M. CFA fencers were up for the challenge however and had an excellent run at the Junior Olympic Qualifiers. Grayson Katzenbach dominated the Cadet Womens Foil event and fenced wonderfully in the Junior, taking a Gold and Bronze respectively. In the Junior Mens Foil Nathaniel Sides had a great run as well, taking 3rd place. For the saber, Douglas Daniels took silver in the Junior Mens event, and Steven Pressendo took a Bronze in the Junior and the Cadet. Emily Brown shined in the Womens Saber, earning a Bronze in the Junior event and auto qualifying for the Cadet based on her top 3 showing in Junior. Cierra Filla, Tristan Johnson, Chandler Hamilton, Sarah Simmons and Nathaniel Lilly also all turned in top 8 performances at the event.

This past weekend at the Thanksgiving Throwdown Ratings Rally hosted by our friends at RFC, our fencers once again had some wonderful results. Douglas Daniels crushed the Open Saber event, taking Gold and updating to a C13. Steven Pressendo had another very strong tourney showing taking a Bronze and earning his D13, only a few weeks after earning his E! In foil Jared Knight fenced great in the Y12 event, finishing in a strong 3rd place. Micheal Gett also finished in the top eight of the Y12 and Daniel Hothem placed in the top eight of the Open Foil.

Awesome fencing CFAers, you most definitely make us proud!

CFA had some great results from the W&M tourney this past weekend. This was one of the larger Open tourneys so far this season, and I was very happy to see a strong CFA turnout for the event. Saturday was our standout day, claiming 4 medals over the saber and foil events. Grayson also had some strong bouts before running into the winner of the event, Seth Daily in the 32. On the epee on Sunday, our fencers had a very strong day as well, with Chandler Hamilton, Rosie Purvis and Dustin Salz having some very strong wins and finishes overall.

Matt Steppan: Gold, Open Saber and earning a C13
Doug Daniels: Silver, Open Saber
Nathaniel Sides: Bronze, Open Foil and earning his C13
Steven Pressendo: Bronze, Open Saber and earning his E13

Congrats to all of our fencers who came out to represent CFA. You make us proud!

CFA Fencers took home trophies at all events from the Tech Open this weekend! Some very excellent fencing by all of our athletes at one of the largest Tech Tourneys I can remember. Douglas Daniels: Gold, Open Saber Dustin Salz: … Continue reading →

The Kickoff ROC is one of the largest tournaments in the country that are not full blown NAC’s and they are also possible qualifiers to the Summer National Championships. This weekend over the two day event CFA fencers had some … Continue reading →