https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=30002&highlight_competitor_id=91067&event_id=117858
A good one! I came in 7th out of 32 and earned my C, skipping right over that D. Well, I was thinking it was only a matter of time before I earned a new rating, although I didn't think I would jump to C. To some degree I was thinking a D would be nice but maybe not a C yet, because it takes me out of Div3 events. I really enjoyed Div3 at Nationals. And maybe a third of the local tournaments around here are D and under, or E and under. So now I have fewer to go to, unless I travel more. Not that I'm complaining—it felt good to do well at this tournament. It was the first tournament after Nationals and I think I was able to tap into the same kind of focus and confidence I had there. After feeling some frustration with my fencing around last winter I feel like I have reached some kind of new plateau. Not that there are not still a million things I am trying to get better at, and probably a million more I am not even aware of but should be.
POOLS
My first bout was against my clubmate Yuly Suvorov. A difficult start! We tied 1-1, then it went downhill and I lost 2-5. No big surprise there.
Second bout was with Jazzy Shepard, one of the people who had come up from Northpointe Fencing, apparently with the Meehan clan. I had difficulty but managed to get to 4-4. Then we had two or three doubles, ack. Then I got the last point and won 5-4, but I think there was some luck involved in it.
Next up was Isobel Fife, another Northpointe fencer I had never met. I won 5-2. I felt rather awkward and too often out of balance, getting scrappy points. Not pretty, but okay.
Then I had John Comes, who is always fun. I was unsure how it would go, but it quickly went well for me. I got up 3-1, then we doubled 4-2. I think I mostly scored by taking advantage of little mistakes on his part. Once I think he made an overly large parry. Another time I think I caught his attack up in six. At 4-2 I apparently got cocky, and/or he got more focused. I figured all I needed was a double, but he got a single, 4-3, then another, 4-4, uh oh. I tried to turn up the intensity and try to trigger mistakes. I don't remember exactly how it happened, but I think he slightly overreacted to a feint and I circled under his parry and scored with a low fleche. So another 5-4 win, phew.
My last bout was with B.J. Block, a fencer I didn't know, from Dynamo in Canada. I forget the exact details, but I felt pretty confident and used distance work to lure him too close or attack from too far. I won 5-3.
So, a decent pool. Four and two, with an indicator of +4, making my 2nd place in the pool and 9th seed overall.
DIRECT ELIMINATION
There were exactly 32 of us, so no byes at all. As 9th seed I was paired with 24th seed Abby Barr. I think we've fenced a couple times before, and I think she beat me in a pool some time back. She has nice form and good parries, although I had a definite height advantage. As I've been doing lately, I tried to keep the first period score low, mostly testing things out. I saw some openings early on and took them, getting a 3-1 lead. But then she scored on my hand, we doubled, and she scored again on my hand. So the period ended 4-3. Russ told me to keep my bell guard lower, to counter her lower hand picks. He also suggested I could be more aggressive, using my height advantage and pushing the attack more. These things worked well and the second period ended 12-8, a comfortable place. Russ repeated that I could push the attack more. So in the third period I did, and it didn't take long to score three singles, winning 15-8.
Looking at the DE tableau I saw my second DE would be against the winner of a bout between Aaron Page and Svetoslav Dimitrov. Aaron had seeded much higher and I thought it likely I would have to fence him. But then I saw him taking his jacket off and went over to ask him about it. He had lost, so I'd be fencing Svetoslav. Aaron said he felt like he should have won, but had been out late the night before and, while his fencing mind could see what should be done, his body hadn't been willing. He told me I should do fine, and that Svetoslav tends to fleche a lot, but in a fairly straightforward way that I should be able to deal with.
So I went into my second DE, with Svetoslav Dimitrov, with a basic plan of working the distance and triggering fleches from too far. I was cautious in the first period, and he seemed reluctant to fleche, even when I pushed him back to his end of the strip. We basically traded points, ending the period 6-6. In the second period he got up a point but then I tied it and then got up a point myself. Once I was up he seemed more eager to fleche, and I did whatever I could to trigger it. Usually I could double or single off his fleches. The second period ended 12-10. In the third period started off more cautious and I was happy to fence patiently, trying to trigger attacks and generally being defensive. In the first two minutes not much scoring happened. With about a minute to go he began to attack more, generally to my benefit. As time got down to about twenty seconds his clubmates began to warn him and I got ready for attacks. At some point the score was 13-11 I think and as we came on guard with not a lot of time it seemed obvious that he was going to attack rather quickly. I had been mostly defensive, but at that point I figured I might be able to surprise him, so I advance-lunged off the time, right into the start of his fleche, scoring a single and getting me to 14. The final point was another quick fleche of his, which I doubled out on, winning 15-13.
I wasn't thinking about the bigger picture. I took the slip to the bout committee and got a drink, then was surprised when Yuly said "welcome to C land", or something to that effect. I was surprised, a C, really? He said "well, you're in the final 8, so yes". I was quite surprised. He also pointed out I had him for my next DE. There was some talk about how if I beat Yuly I would get a B. I laughed at how unlikely that was, and how I was barely ready to be a C, let alone a B. "Not that I won't try", I said.
So my third DE was with Yuly Suvorov, and although I lost I was happy to have put up a good fight and made him work for the win. I didn't write notes about the score, but I think I kept it close to tied up to about 6-6. He was usually up a point or two, and pulled a bit more ahead toward the end. He won 15-11.
All in all, a good day! Goodbye Div 3.
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