The Carleton Ravens fencing team hosted its annual invitational tournament on Jan. 9 and 10, which saw fencers from university and club teams around Ontario take over the Norm Fenn Gymnasium for a weekend of competition.
The two-day tournament featured teams of three to four fencers competing in relay format bouts in the epée, sabre, and foil divisions, which all involve different ways of earning points.
The Ravens put forth a strong showing, earning three medals out of six events.
On the men’s side, Ravens fencers Geoffrey Devaney, Philip McCully, and Alexandre Salat won Carleton’s lone gold medal at the tournament in the foil competition, after defeating the team from the University of Ottawa (U of O). Points are awarded in foil by hitting the opponent in the torso with the tip of the blade.
In epée, Liam Costello, Mitchell Gray, Joe Wright, and Zachary Zanussi won a team bronze medal for the Ravens. Fencers earn points in epée by hitting the opponent anywhere on the body with the tip of the blade.
“It’s very tactic-heavy, so definitely you spend a lot of time thinking about your opponent and coming up with a game plan to suit that opponent,” said Ravens fourth-year fencer Joe Wright.
Carleton fielded two teams in the men’s epée tournament, with Carleton B finishing seventh out of 15 teams.
The men’s sabre team was unable to medal in their respective event, with Carleton A placing sixth and Carleton B coming in tenth. In order to earn points in sabre, fencers must hit the opponent above the waist with the edge or tip of the blade.
On the women’s side, the epée team of Emese Dukai-Branscombe, Sharon Schuppe, and Madelyn Krasnay finished the weekend with a bronze medal.
The women’s sabre team finished just short of the podium with a fifth place finish.
For sabre competitor Emily Bolton, it was her first time competing in a tournament with the Ravens.
“I’m just excited to get that experience and see how I do and see how I rank next to other people,” she said.
At last year’s invitational, the Ravens dominated the competition, earning medals in five out of six events.
“We were pretty strong last year,” said head coach Eli Sukunda. “We’re nowhere near as strong this year, we had a lot of [players] graduate. We were especially hit hard with our women’s team, who seem to be like 80 per cent rookies. So we’re in the rebuilding stage in our cycle.”
The invitational marked the last official tournament before the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships in February.
“OUA’s is going to be my big tournament this year [and] we’ve won the last two years so definitely if we can repeat that would be a great accomplishment,” Wright said. “We’ve lost a few fencers over the last couple of years, so it’s going to be a challenge but I think we can do it.”
“We’re moderately strong this year—if we can get a few breaks we’ll be contenders, but it also could be, if we don’t get those breaks in some situations that we probably won’t be in the running, so it’s tough to call this year,” Sukunda said. “We’ve been strong the last five or six years, but again in both men and women we’re in the rebuilding section.”
The men’s team will look to earn a third straight OUA championship banner, as they head to the U of O on Feb. 13 and 14 to defend their title.
The women’s championship will be held over the course of Feb. 20 and 21 at Western University.
