Club News

This season was different and more challenging than other seasons, due to COVID-19. Thank you for continuously coming to your practice, and keeping up with the frequently changing rules, making it possible to exit the pandemic safe and healthy!
We are proud that so many fencers continued to compete as soon as the USA Fencing restarted the competitive season.
Despite all the challenges, this year we had a record number of participants at the summer Nationals: forty-five Olympia students fenced in 21 events!

Congratulations to each one of them, and see them all listed here, in no particular order:

Antonio Santos
Felipe Santos
Francisco Santos
Lori Schmidt
Sierra Springer
Ellie Tytell
Aidan Song
Charlotte Song
Troy Song
Michelle Sotelo
Maximilian Shah

Emily Vermeule
Spencer Vermeule
Ava Wade-Currie
Tony Whelan
Eva Yu
Hagen Zhang
Linden Zhang
Angela Zhao
Corey Zhao
Nina Prihodko
Max Prihodko

Mariela Abramson
Nour Azmeh
India Benzan
Carter Bradshaw
Natalya Cafasso
Alexander Cafasso
Alina Chen
Mason Choi
Phoebe Chisholm
Gabriel Feinberg
Jacob Gersen

Dayus Gohel
Harry Gui
Jonas Hansen
Robert Hondor
Riki Ricuta
MJ Jensen
Luka Loncar
Ashley Luo
Jordan Macarty
Jack Melcher
Michelle Pan
Christos Papavassiliou

The city of Philadelphia had the honor to host the 2021 Summer Nationals, postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Considered the largest fencing tournament in the world, the event has drawn more than 5,000 competitors fencing in 96 events, with athletes ranging in age from 7 to 80+.
A new generation of fencers have represented our club and our New England Division once again, fencing hard, and with passion.

This is the medal count and the overall results:

– one Gold medal
– one Silver
– three Bronze

– one 7th place
– one 8th place
– nine fencers in top 16

– ten fencers made top 32
– twelve made top 64

Here is the medal count, by days

• Cadet Men’s Épée – among 278 participants, five of Olympia students make the top 64!
Tony Whelan, 8th
Dayus Gohel, 9th
Corey Zhao, 11th
Luka Loncar, 35
Jaemin Feldman, 41

• Div 1 Women’s Épée
16-year-old Ava Wade-Currie places 18th in a field of 125!

• Cadet Women’s Épée
Ava Wade-Currie places 9th in a field of 213 participants!

• Div 1 Men’s Épée
Jonas Hansen, 12th place
Tony Whelan 30th, among 204 best epeeists in the country

• Junior Men’s Épée
301 participants, four Olympia students make top 64:
Gabriel Feinberg takes the Bronze
Jonas Hansen, 5th place
Luka Loncar, ties for 22
Spencer Vermeule, 41

• Vet-60 women’s Épée
Jensen MJ ties for 28 at her first Summer Nationals!

• Y14 Men’s Épée
169 participants in today’s event, four Olympia students s make top 64
Luka Loncar, Bronze
Jordan Macarty, 16th
Dayus Gohel, 45th
Corey Zhao, 54th

• Vet 40 Men’s Épée
Jacob Gersen 7th place
Felipe Santos, 12^th

Another medal for OFC, and three fencers in the top 64!

Y14 Women’s Épée
Ashley Luo, 8th
Nina Prihodko 44 place
Nour AZMEH 54 place

Y12 Women’s Épée: four Olympia fencers in top 64
Nour Azmeh, Silver medal
Phoebe, Chisholm, 23rd
Natalya Cafasso, 27th
Sierra Springer, 35^th

Y10 Women’s Épée
Eva Yu, 32nd

Div I-A Men’s Épée
14 yo Dayus Gohel, 29th among 124 participants!

Div III Women’s Épée: Nina Prihodko, 28^th (94 participants)

Y10 Men’s Épée: Alexander Cafasso, 15^th place

Div I-A Women’s Épée
Michelle Pan, 28th
Lori Schmidt, 30th

Here is the link to the Summer Nationals 2021 photo album on our Facebook page.

Thank you all for an amazing comeback after a whole year with no competitions, but consistent hard work!
Our thanks go to the parents for their continuous support, encouragement, and bearing with us. Even though it may look easy, fencing is especially hard to master because of its dual physical and mental aspects. Praise your kids for the small achievements: making it to the top 32 or 16, or top 8, among hundreds of, often more experienced fencers, is not to be overlooked over winning a medal!
Small steps today lead to big victories tomorrow!