Lawrence University’s men’s and women’s fencing hosted an exciting weekend of competition in the Buchanan Kiewit Wellness Center on Saturday, Jan. 20 and Sunday, Jan. 21. The first day started with the Lawrence Duals, which is a collegiate competition between teams from schools across the Midwest, while Sunday was the Lawrence USA Fencing Open which featured fencers of all ages.
The Lawrence Duals featured the varsity fencing team from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University as well as club fencing teams from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Iowa on the women’s side of the competition. The Lawrence women won against each opponent to post a 4-0 mark on the day. They beat Wisconsin 25-2 going 9-0 in epée, 8-1 in foil and 8-1 in sabre. They were prefect against Northwestern, winning 27-0 and going 9-0 in all three weapons. The Lady Vikes cruised to a victory over the University of Chicago, 23-4 going 9-0 in epée, 9-0 in foil and 5-4 in sabre. They won the final dual of the day against the University of Iowa 25-2 going 8-1 in epée, a perfect 9-0 in foil and 8-1 in sabre.
On the men’s side of the competition, the University of Chicago was the only other varsity fencing team, but it also featured club teams from Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Iowa. The Lawrence men posted a 3-1 record on the day. They beat Iowa 23-4 going 5-4 in epée and a perfect 9-0 in both foil and sabre. The Vikings took home a close victory against the University of Chicago 15-12. Lawrence was 5-4 in epée, 5-4 in foil and 6-3 in sabre. The Viking’s third win of the day came against Wisconsin by a margin of 20-7. Lawrence was 7-2 in epée, 6-3 in foil and 7-2 in sabre. However, Lawrence narrowly lost to Northwestern 13-14 and went 6-3 in epée, 4-5 in foil and 3-6 in sabre.
On Sunday, the team competed as individuals in one of three events: mixed epée, mixed foil and mixed sabre. Two Lawrence fencers took home individual titles as sophomore Jakub Nowak won the mixed epée and junior Nathan Schlesinger won mixed foil. Other place winners for the Vikings were freshman Maria Boulandier, who was third in mixed epée, freshman Vinzenz Mayer, who was seventh in mixed epée, and freshman Cameron Mass, who was eighth in mixed epée. Senior Natalie Hagopian took second in mixed foil along with junior Jack Calkwood at fifth. In mixed sabre, senior Joe Davis tied for third and sophomore Allison Kim took ninth.
The fencing season is building towards the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships at the end of February and the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships at the beginning of March. Both events will be in Cleveland, Ohio. Lawrence has one more competition to hone their skills before these big events as they will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 3 and Sunday, Feb. 4 at the Northwestern Duals.
