The fencing season peaks for most competitors at the USA Fencing National Championships & July Challenge (a.k.a Summer Nationals) which was held this year in Salt Lake City, UT July 1-10. National Champions were crowned in the youth age groups Y10, Y12, Y14 as well as Division 1A, 2 and 3. Veteran championships were also held for Vet 40, Vet 50, Vet 60 and Vet 70 age groups. Division 1, Junior, Cadet and Open Senior Team contest their championships at other events throughout the season, but still hold “Challenge” events at this tournament.

The National Fencing Club Rankings looked at the numbers and put together some impressive statistics. Overall, 4,052 fencers from 362 clubs descended on the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City. There were 78 individual events with 8,440 entries. The largest event was Y14 Men’s Foil (279) and the smallest, Vet 70 Women’s Foil (6).

Apex Fencing Academy put up some impressive numbers of their own. This year we qualified a record setting 18 fencers from our club, and 8 fencers made the trip to Salt Lake City along with Coach Kriszti. The youngest event contested was Y10 Men’s Foil and the oldest was Vet 50 Men’s Foil. Sam completed a marathon 6 events in 8 days! Coach Kriszti’s fencers were in competition every day except July 4th.

So how did Apex Fencing Academy do?

This year, eight members made the journey along with Coach Kriszti. Starting with the youngest, Liam and Connor, both new to national competitions, competed in Y10 Men’s Foil. This marks the 1st time Apex Fencing Academy has sent Y10 fencers to Nationals. 124 fencers competed in the event,  Liam finished 97 and Connor 48th. These were outstanding finishes and great building blocks for our 2 youngest competitors.

Moving up to Y12, Connor competed in Men’s Foil along with his sister Maddie in Women’s Foil. Connor won 1 pool bout and lost 2 very close ones 4-5. Out of 208 MF finishers, he finished a respectable 167. Maddie won 1 pool bout along with some tough losses setting her up for a difficult DE match-up. Giving her all, she ended up 119 out of 137.

Y14 Men’s Foil was the largest event of the tournament, 279 fencers — a table of 512! Abel represented Apex well going 3-3 in the pools. A bye in the DE and then a decisive 15-1 win over a lefty allowed him to finish 110.

Maddie competed in Y14 Women’s Foil finishing 194 out of 217. Again, a tough pool round with 1 victory put her in a tough position against the #63 seed for her first DE round.

In the Cadet Challenge, Daniel went 3-3 in the pools and finished a very respectable 132 out of 202 in a tough field.

Next up is Division 3: Abel & Daniel competed in Men’s Foil, Kenan in Men’s Epee, and Sam in Women’s Foil. Daniel had an excellent day going 3-3 in the pools, and progressing to the table of 32 before landing at 31 out of 142 fencers. Congratulations Daniel! Abel, on the other hand, had a tough time winning just 1 in a small pool and missing the cut by 1. He was very disappointed finishing 115. In Div3 Men’s Epee, Kenan was 2-4 (with 2 close 4-5 loses) out of the pools before finishing 112 out of 149. Sam fenced Div3 Women’s Foil going 3-3 in the pool round and finishing 89 out of 140.

In Division 2, Abel & Daniel represented Apex together in Men’s Foil, Sam in Women’s Epee, and Kenan in Men’s Epee. In Men’s Foil, Abel went 3-3 in the pools losing 1 4-5, earning a bye and finishing 100 out of 200. Daniel had a tougher time going 1-5 in the pool, dropping 2 4-5, failing to make the cut and finishing 165. In a small pool, Kenan went 3-2, earned a bye, and finished 92 out of 180. In Div 2 Women’s Epee, Sam had the highest Apex finish of the tournament! After 3-3 in the pool round, she earned a bye before progressing through several rounds on her way to a top 16 finish (15 out of 163). Congratulations Sam!

Moving up the ladder one more rung, we come to Div1A Women’s Epee and Sam again. Div1A includes unrated fencers as well as those rated A-E. In the pool round, 1-5 with 2 close 4-5 loses was not enough for Sam to make the cut. She finished 97 out of 117.

Sam also competed in the top challenge,  Division 1. Out of 83 competitors all except 1 were rated A or B! This is the 1st time an Apex fencers has competed in Division 1 at Summer Nationals. As you can imagine, the competition is stiff, and unfortunately Sam dropped all of her pool bouts. She did not make the cut and finished 82 out of 83. But don’t let the finish fool you! The fact that she’s competing at Div 1 means she’s made it to the cream-of-the-crop category.

Finally, Doug is the 1st Apex fencer to compete in Vet 50 Men’s Foil. He was only able to win 1 pool bout going 1-4 in a small pool. He made the most of his 1st DE defeating his opponent 10-3 in less than 1 minute. Unfortunately, his run came to an end in the next round and he finished 29 out of 40.

You can find complete results, pool bouts and tableaus at USA Fencing.

This was an amazing finale to the season. The fencers attending worked hard all year, earned the right to be there, and followed through by fencing the best-of-the-best. Some beat their expectations, others fell a bit short, but all learned valuable lessons. Success on (and off) the piste doesn’t come easily. It comes through a commitment to hard work, smart work, and dedication. These athletes know that and are already setting goals for next season.

Next year, Summer Nationals will be held in St. Louis, MO. Train hard, train smart, and save the date: June 28-July 7th. Hope to see you there!