History was made on home turf,as the Carleton Ravens’ fencing team captured both the men’s and women’s Ontario University Athletics (OUA) titles Feb. 13-14 at the 2010 OUA fencing championship.
This is the first time both teams have won the championship simultaneously in the history of Carleton’s fencing program.
“This is the strongest team I had ever put forth,” said Raven head coach Eli Sukunda. “It was our year.”
Overall, the Ravens won seven medals in individual events and five in team events.
It was the Ravens women who could do no wrong though, placing first in five of their six events, and winning the overall title by a gap of more than sixty points.
“We knew [the women] were strong but they really just did everything,” said Eli Sukunda. “We won by an enormous margin.”
Rookies Kelleigh Ryan and Jennifer Dunev finished first and second respectively in women’s foil. In women’s epée, rookie Gillian Turnbull won first followed by Raven veteran Rachael Gardener in second, and Adrienne Sukunda took home the women’s sabre title.
The women’s foil and women’s epée teams captured first place, while the women’s sabre team finished third behind the University of Toronto and Royal Military College.
The weekend was not without suspense though as the men narrowly took the top spot over Toronto by a single point.
“We didn’t make it easy on ourselves,” said Raven veteran Scott McNeil, who captured gold in the foil competition. “The banner was our goal and as a team we had some upsets and some problems, but we ended up pulling it out in the end.”
The men’s sabre team successfully defended their title, while the men’s foil team finished second behind the defending champions, Toronto’s Varsity Blues.
For the third year in a row, a Raven was awarded the George Tully Trophy for the fencer most proficient in skill, style and sportsmanship. Despite injuries this season, Mike Ivancovic, who placed second in men’s sabre, shared the award year with Queen’s University fencer Scott Bowman.
“[Ivancovic] exemplifies the ability to fence well and sportsmanship,” said Eli Sukunda. “He was a worthy recipient.”
Eli Sukunda was also recognized for the part he played in the Ravens’ championship wins with the Christian Vidosa Trophy for OUA coach of the year.
“It was good to see Eli win,” said McNeil. “He’s worked hard all year and he has been overlooked before.”
Finally winning simultaneous championships has left the team with a lot to live up to for next year, and with the loss of some key players, the pressure is on to recruit and train harder.
“Defending the banner won’t be easy, but if we work hard and play a full season like this year we should have a shot at it,” McNeil said. “We’ll be continuing to train and work hard.”