The Carleton Ravens fencing team did not disappoint their hometown crowd at the Carleton University Fencing Invitational Jan. 11-12, claiming medals in five of six events.
Carleton finished the two-day tournament with two gold and three bronze medals.
The tournament brought together teams such as the University of Ottawa, Western University, McGill University, McMaster University, Queen’s University, Brock University, and the Royal Military College. Private club teams also competed in the weekend event.
It is the last tournament for the Ravens and many other university teams before the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships in early February.
“This tournament is absolutely crucial to us but it’s absolutely crucial to everyone else that’s here,” Ravens coach Eli Sukunda said. “Not only do we look at our team, we are watching other teams and we are putting together plans for the OUAs.”
On the first day of the tournament, the Ravens team of Phil McCully, Alecs Tudor, Alexandre Salat, and Geoffrey Devaney defeated McGill to capture first place in men’s foil. In foil, points are awarded when a player hits their opponent in the torso area with the tip of their blade.
“I think we performed really well,” Tudor said. “The lucky thing for us was that the most difficult teams in this tournament were not university teams, they were teams privately from other clubs. So knowing that, our chances at OUAs are extremely high.”
The Ravens captured another first-place finish when the women’s épée team beat Royal Military College in the finals to claim Carleton’s second gold of the tournament.
Players score points in épée by hitting the opponent anywhere on their body with the tip of their blade.
“This is good prep for OUAs, to see what the competition is like,” women’s épée fencer Emese Dukai-Branscomb said. “I think we have pretty high expectations going into OUAs.”
Dukai-Branscomb, along with Sharon Schuppe, Valerie Robsinson-Kyle, and Isabelle Gauthier made up the winning women’s épée team.
In the final event of the day, men’s sabre, Carleton submitted two teams. Carleton (A) placed third, while Carleton (B) finished 15th.
In sabre, points are awarded when players hit an opponent above the waist with the edge or tip of their weapon.
“I could have fenced better in the semi-final, but overall it was where we expected and wanted to be,” sabre bronze medalist Matt Blundell said. “We wanted at least a medal and we’re happy that we got that.”
The following day, the Ravens added to their medal count with third-place finishes from both the women’s sabre and men’s épée teams. Carleton also finished eighth in women’s foil play Jan. 12.
Sukunda said he was pleased with the results, especially from the women’s side after they lost half their team to graduation last year.
“I wasn’t expecting the girls to do so well but the men’s team is fairly strong overall and this year we’re one of the better teams,” he said. “This year’s team, in women, we are rebuilding.”
The Ravens women’s fencing team are two-time reigning OUA champions. The women’s team will attempt a three-peat at the OUA Women’s Fencing Championship Feb. 8-9 at Royal Military College in Kingston.
The men will seek their first OUA team title since 2010 at McMaster University in Hamilton Feb. 1-2.
