The Carleton Ravens women’s fencing team captured the Kay Aoyama Trophy for the second year straight, following the OUA championships at Brock University Feb. 9-10.
After a number of key individual victories and a level of parity between usually more competitive teams, the Ravens gained the momentum necessary to put them on top.
Their score of 265 overall points humbled the Queen’s University Gaels and the Western University Mustangs, who finished with 194 and 172 points in second and third place respectively.
While the Ravens won important victories at pivotal moments, reputable teams like the University of Toronto Varsity Blues—who have won three championships in the last five years—could not get an edge on the competition.
“They sort of eliminated each other, while we performed,” Ravens head coach Eli Sukunda said.
“In one match, Toronto would beat Queen’s, but in the next match, with another weapon, Queen’s would beat Toronto, so neither one was able to make progress,” he said.
Adrienne Sukunda took home the Fred Wach Trophy, winning individual gold in the sabre, where points are scored by hitting the opponent above the waist. It was the Ravens’ sole individual gold medal, and complemented Melanie McCann’s bronze medal and Gillian Turnbull’s silver medal in the epee individual.
Turnbull and McCann had to settle for second and third place respectively, after barely succumbing twin losses by a score of 15-14, both to the eventual gold medalist.
At the end of two competitive days, the only disappointment felt by the Ravens was their fourth place finish in the foil.
However, no one could be disappointed by the commanding swordsmanship of the epee and sabre teams, with both teams winnning gold.
He praised his young sabre team— Adrienne Sukunda, Sofia Jain, and Brittany Roberts—for their highlight performance.
“As a coach, it was hard to believe how well they fenced,” he said.
Sukunda is a coach who understands an athlete’s mentality. He was once an athlete himself – an Olympic fencer. He competed in the summer games of 1976 and 1984 in men’s sabre, a weapon his daughter Adrienne showed authority with this past weekend.
At the back of his mind, Sukunda said he is stunned at the level of competition at this year’s tournament.
“It was international-calibre fencing at times. It was like the real thing,” he said.
Carleton boasts three OUA championship titles in the last four years.
