Both the Carleton Ravens men’s and women’s fencing teams competed at their respective Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships this past week, earning a combined five medals.
Men’s fencing
The men’s team—two-time defending OUA champions—was looking to bring home another banner as they headed to the University of Ottawa (U of O) on Feb. 13 and 14.
Despite a strong showing in both the individual and team events the Ravens came up short, finishing in second place overall behind the University of Toronto (U of T).
In the individual tournament on Feb. 13, Ravens fourth-year fencer Joe Wright earned a silver medal in the men’s foil event, Carleton’s best individual result at the tournament.
In the épée event, Ravens third-year fencer Zac Zanussi finished in fifth place, after a second round defeat, to top seed William Kinney from U of T. Kinney would go on to win the event.
Despite missing out on an individual medal, Zanussi said he is still pleased with his performance.
“I’ve been hurt the last little while and I fenced really well this weekend—so yeah, overall I’d say I’m happy,” he said.
Carleton’s defending OUA champion Geoff Devaney had to settle for fourth place in the foil division after being defeated 15-6 by Sam Hardwicke, the eventual champion from Ryerson University.
Devaney went on to face off against his teammate, fellow third-year fencer Philip McCully in the bronze medal match. McCully would go on to win by a score of 15-6, taking home his second individual OUA championship medal after winning gold in 2014.
Despite winning silver at last year’s OUA’s in the épée division, Ravens fifth-year fencer Alexandre Salat finished the tournament in seventh place.
“Our team from last year when we won, we lost a couple of graduating members, so our team was a little bit weaker going into [OUA’s] than we were last year,” Zanussi said.
The Ravens came out strong in the team competition on Feb. 14, with the men’s epee team of Wright, Zanussi, Mitch Gray, and Liam Costello taking home the gold medal for the third consecutive year.
In the foil division, the top seeded team of McCully, Devaney, and Salat defeated the team from the U of O by a score of 44-37 to capture their third straight gold at the OUA’s.
“Overall we came up just 20 points short of getting first place so that was disappointing too,” Zanussi said. “Each individual team event we were impressed at how we did, but overall as a team we’re a little disappointed because we just came really close to getting first.”
Women’s fencing
The women’s team headed to Western University on Feb. 20 and 21 to compete in their OUA championships, seeking to match their terrific performance at last year’s event.
In 2015, the Ravens earned two individual gold medals in the épée and sabre divisions while also taking home a team gold in epee and a team bronze in sabre.
The Ravens were unable to beat their third place finish at last year’s OUA’s, finishing in sixth place this year.
Carleton’s sole medal at the event came in the épée team event, with Emese Dukai-Branscombe, Sharon Schuppe, and first-year fencer Madelyn Krasnay bringing home a bronze medal.
In the team competition, fencers compete in a relay-style bout in five point increments, for a total of 45 points. The last five points of the bout are fought by the anchor, typically the strongest fencer on the team.
The Ravens secured their bronze medal after a come-from-behind win against the team from Queen’s University. As the anchor, Dukai-Branscombe delivered a strong performance, outscoring her opponent 11-2 to seal the victory for the Ravens.
“For the épée team we didn’t have very high expectations because we lost a very good fencer last year,” Dukai-Branscombe said. “So it was actually really exciting to be on the podium, and [Krasnay] did really incredibly well.”
Dukai-Branscombe was also named an OUA All-Star in the team épée division at the event.
