Charlottesville Fencing Alliance

This past weekend at the 2013 Junior Olympics CFA’s fencers did exceptionally well! Douglas Daniels exploded into the Junior Saber event, earning national points in an incredibly strong field. Doug is our first CFA saber fencer to earn National Points and if all that were not spiffy enough, he was also the highest placing Virginia fencer in the saber event! Anya Michaelsen earned Junior and Cadet points in the womens foil, further adding to her national points. Sarah Simmons represented us in the Cadet and Junior Womens Epee and was the second highest placing VA fencer in the event, despite fencing hurt. Nathaniel (Bob) Lilly represented us in the Cadet Saber as well, placing 3rd highest among VA saber fencers behind Doug and Jacob Asch.

All in all one of our best JO’s yet. A huge congrats to our fencers who worked hard to qualify and then represent CFA and the VA Division so well on the National Stage. Most assuredly Doug, Sarah, Bob and Anya, you make us very proud!

CFA had a good number of fencers come out to attend the first Open in some time hosted by our friends at JMU Fencing Club. We were absent several of our “usual suspect” fencers in some events, so it is great to see some other club members beginning to compete more regularly. Congrats to JMU and Cyndi Lucente for a well-run and fun tournament. CFA brought back four medals from the event:

Nathaniel Sides, Silver and a D13! (D Foil)
Nathaniel “Bob” Lilly, Bronze (D Saber)
Sarah Simmons, Bronze (D Epee)
Anya Michaelsen, Bronze (Open Foil)

Congrats to our medalists and all our fencers who went out to compete in the event. You make us proud!

A huge congratulations to Anya Michaelsen for taking the gold (and updating to a B13) at the Capital Clash SYC in the Cadet Womens Foil! The Clash is the largest SYC in the country and her win over fencers from all across the country is a huge success. Be sure to congratulate her when you see her at the club. Great job Anya, you make us all proud!

We had several CFA fencers make their tournament debut at the River City Rumble. We are always happy to attend tourneys hosted by RFC, as we know they will be well ran and offer great competition. Speaking of which, Nathaniel sides brought back the silver and his E13 in the E&Under foil! Congrats to Nathaniel and all the fencers who made their away tourney debut. Stepping out of the club into USFA competition is a brave thing and you all make us proud.

CFA fencers had a wonderful showing at the JO Qualifiers and Division Junior and Cadet Championships this weekend! The Junior Olympic Championships is the highest level Cadet and Junior event for US Fencing. To qualify ahead of all the other fencers in your division is an honor in and off itself. Getting to represent your club and your Division on the national stage is just the icing on the cake.

Nathaniel Lily, Silver Cadet Mens Saber. Qualifing for Cadet JO’s
Anya Michaelsen, Silver Junior Womens Foil. Qualifying for Cadet and Junior JO’s
Sarah Simmons, Bronze Junior Womens Epee. Qualifying for Cadet and Junior JO’s
Douglas Daniels, Bronze Junior Mens Saber. Qualifying for Cadet and Junior JO’s

Congrats to all our fencers that came out and represented CFA. You make us proud!

CFA fencers had some great finishes at the events hosted by our friends at RFC this summer! In the Tune Up Open Douglas Daniels brought home the gold in the Mens saber, which was a good warm up before Summer Nationals. At the VA Commonwealth Games, also hosted at RFC, Emily Lien’s team won the Gold and kept the tradition of CFA bringing home the gold in that events team epee alive for yet another season! Wade Goodrich also had a great day in the Open Epee event, taking a bronze medal and third place after defeating Scott O’neal in the round of 8 to advance to the semi’s.

Congrats to all our CFA fencers, you make us proud!

Anya brought home more national medals from this years Summer National Championships, taking a Bronze in the Div II Women’s foil. Her Junior Team, consisting of Anya, Phoebe Whitmore, Simone Unwalla and Stephanie Deschner finished 4th out of a very strong field. Also note that the VA girls were all fencing up at least one age category. She also had a top 16 finish in Div 1A and Cadet women’s Foil.

Congrats to Anya and all the fencers who made the track out to California this year, you make us proud!

Congrats to Emily, Sarah, Rosie, Nathanial, Emily B and Mary for their medal worthy fencing this weekend!
VA Women’s Epee Team Champions! Emily Lien, Rosie Purvis, Sarah Simmons
Y14 Men’s Saber Champion: Nathaniel Lily
Y14WE Bronze: Sarah Simmons
Y14WF Bronze: Mary Stelow
Y14WS Bronze: Emily Brown
Great fencing CFAer’s, you make us proud!

A huge congrats to Anya Michaelsen for her silver medal finish in the Div II women’s foil event at the Cincinnati NAC. In addition to a spiffy silver medal she also earned her B12! She is one of only a handful of B rated women’s foil fencers in the country, and at 14 she is one of the youngest as well. Anya has only been fencing for about 3 years now, having started in our school fencing program. She is a wonderful role model for other fencers in the club and a great example of what a fencer can achieve at CFA with hard work and dedication. Congratulations Anya, you make us all proud!

CFA had another wonderful showing this past weekend at the Div II/III qualifiers for Summer Nationals this past weekend. Our fencers had very strong showings and earned medals in every event CFA fencers participated in. Some notable highlights:

Emily Lien: Gold D2WE
Anya Michaelsen: Gold D2WF
Ken Fales: Gold D2MS and Bronze D2ME
Sarah Simmons: Bronze D2WE
Doug Daniels: Bronze D2MS
Wade Goodrich: Bronze D2ME
Dorothy Carney: Bronze D2WF and D2WE

Congrats to all our medalists and to everyone who came out and made it a wonderful event. CFA fencers, you make us proud!