FENCING ‘mdash; Facing 167 fencers from four different states, including some UCSD alumni, the Tritons met a wide variety of competition at the BladeRunner match held at RIMAC Arena on Jan. 10 and 11. The UCSD fencing team came away from the event with two gold-medal wins in men’s and women’s foil and some much-needed experience in preparation for the NCAA West Regional and National Championship coming up this March.
‘ ‘They fenced extremely well, particularly in the foil events,’ head coach Heidi Runyan said of the Triton fencers. ‘Foil is definitely our strongest weapon this year.’
‘ Sophomore foil Benjamin Dorn proved the strength of the UCSD foil team when he won the gold medal bout on the first day of competition. On his way to the final match, Dorn won close bouts against UCSD alumni Tedd Padgitt and Cameron Sprowles 15-14 and 15-13 respectively.
‘ ‘One thing that struck me about BladeRunner was the number of alumni who showed up and fenced really well,’ Runyan said. ‘It is great to see people stay active in the sport, even after they have graduated.’
Dorn followed up tight matches against former Tritons with a decisive 15-5 victory over Nick Kazimiroff from Boston College for the gold medal.
‘I definitely went through the toughest competition in the tournament so coming out on top and getting my name on the trophy meant a lot to me,’ Dorn said.
‘ The women’s team dominated foil play at BladeRunner, advancing two Tritons to the gold medal bout. Junior Pilar Alicea overpowered teammate senior Zitin Kachru 15-9.
‘ ‘Women’s foil is our strongest women’s team,’ Runyan said. ‘Pilar Alicea, who won the gold, is an amazing talent. Zitin Kachru, who finished second, is fencing very tough this year. Our third woman’s foilist, Razan Faraj, started slow, but ended up fencing very well at BladeRunner. Razan is a terrific athlete who just needs more experience.’
‘ In addition to the champions, freshman foil Armin Chan took third in the men’s foil while junior sabre Samantha Rojales and senior foil Alicia Trigeiro placed third in the women’s sabre.
The strong showing at BladeRunner is encouraging especially with the tough North American Cup in Louisville, Ky., from Jan. 16 to Jan. 19. The tournament will give the stronger UCSD fencers a chance to refine their skills.
‘ ‘The North American Cup is definitely a level or two above anything we have faced so far this season,’ Runyan said. ‘We go to it because some of our fencers need that experience and challenge.’
‘ After the North American Cup, UCSD has three competitions before the West Regional on March 7 and the NCAA National Championships from March 19 to March 22.
‘We have such a great team this year we’re looking to send a record number of people to nationals,’ Dorn said.
Readers can contact Janani Sridharan at [email protected].