On the Road to the 2013 US Fencing Nationals

[Blueridge]

On October 27th I competed at the Crescent City Open in New Orleans in the Veteran Men's Combined Epee and Division II Men's Epee events. This event was the first opportunity for me to qualify for the 2013 US Nationals that will be held in Memphis TN this coming July.

Both events were on the same day, which made it a long day for me and tested my physical reserves.

In the Veteran event I finished 5th out of 9 in the seeding pools going into the direct elimination brackets. I made it to the semi-final bracket where I was defeated. I finished with bronze, losing to the eventual winner of the event. This competition qualified me for the Veterans (40+) event in the coming US Nationals. This event started at just after 8am and finished at about 12:15pm.

The Division II event started at about 2:15pm, which of course gave me two hours for my muscles to get cold (yea! [NOT]). I came out of the seeding pools for the direct elimination brackets 5th out of 7. I made it to the bracket of 16 where I lost by ONE POINT, keeping me from making the bracket of 8. I would have had to made it to the top 3 to qualify through this event to the Division II Mens Epee event at the US Nationals.

I have one more chance to qualify this season to the US Nationals in epee, and have set my sights on that next qualifying event. In addition I am lighting a fire under my fellow clubmates to get them excited about qualifying for team events at the US Nationals.

As it stands I have qualifyied for one of two events that I have set my sights on (excluding team events), and have some work to do to be ready for the next qualifying event. My ultimate goal is to have a veteran's mens teams in epee and foil, open mens teams in epee and foil, division II mens epee, and possibly compete in division II and/or III foil.

Achieving all that will be a tall order I know, but I have nothing to lose trying.