FENCING — UCSD sent a select group of its top fencers to
this past weekend for the 2008 North American Cup, where they faced their
toughest competition to date. However, due to the meet’s unusual format, the
sub-par results will in no way affect the Tritons’ NCAA standing, because the
NAC was an open competition where fencers were represented individually, with
no points going to any type of team tally.
Although the Tritons have participated in this format of
play before, most recently at the UCSD-hosted Bladerunner competition, NAC
posed the unique and unsurpassable challenge of fielding a huge number of
participants, all of whom were rated extremely high in U.S. Fencing’s
qualification ratings. In fencing, the top three divisions, A, B and C, signify
years of commitment and an abundance of talent, with the lower divisions, D and
E, encompassing newer, less experienced fencers. All NAC participants held at
least a C rating.
Senior foilist Emily Lipoma expressed the common sentiment
of the team — one of resigned frustration — but made a point to focus on a
silver lining from the trying competition.
“Overall, it was pretty disappointing; actually in every way
it was pretty disappointing,” Lipoma said. “However, we were exposed to some
very good fencing from all over
able to see many of the top
fencers fight for the top.”
NAC consisted of an opening round of pool play, in which
each fencer dueled to five touches against six other participants. From the
open pool, the qualifying fencers then moved into more selective direct
elimination rounds. The extremely talented and large field of competition at
NAC made passing even the first round of pool play very difficult for the
Tritons, and many of UCSD’s fencers were sent to the sidelines before entering
direct elimination.
In men’s epee, there were an astounding 281 entrants, and
with so many top-notch fencers, tournament rules only permitted 75 players to
move from pool play to direct eliminations. Freshman Jed Bassein led the way
for the UCSD epee squad, finishing a relatively respectable 136th. Competing in
the junior division of the meet, sophomore Sean Blum placed 88th out of a pool
of 187 fencers. On the men’s side, freshman sabrist Zach Jones advanced farther
than any other Triton in the top division of sabre pool play and direct
eliminations.
Since NAC operates separately from the NCAA rankings and
standings, the meet served as a personal challenge for individual fencers,
allowing those who did not meet their personal expectations to use the
competition to polish their skills. Sophomore foilist Florance Lee, who did not
advance past pool play, realized that the negative outcome of the meet could be
turned into a positive outing for future team competitions.
“Being in
helped me realize that I have a long way to go in terms of improving myself,”
Lee said. “But that’s good — it gives me something to work toward.”
Although Lee and senior Chelsea Ambort did not escape the
general pool play, Lipoma made it into direct elimination after placing 75th in
the first round of competition to make sure that UCSD women were represented in
the latter rounds.
“We knew that because of how many fencers were C-rated and
above that we were going to be going up against some of the top competition in
the nation,” Lipoma said. “Samantha [Rojales] had a bout against an actual
Olympian, and even though she didn’t get any touches in, she still held her
own. Looking around the room you saw the absolute top clubs, coaches and names
in the fencing world.”
UCSD will take next week off before heading to the
Northwestern meet on Feb. 2 when NCAA team competition will begin again.
Readers can contact Jake Blanc at [email protected].
