RESULTS

MIXED WINNERS

Steve Perez
Hikaru Hayakawa (LW)
Tony Zaldua Jr. (KB)
Jose Ortiz-Miranda (KB)

WOMEN’S WINNERS

Allison F. (BS)
Dinah Kolasa (KC)
Patricia Bauler (KC)

SKIRMISH WINNERS

Tony Zaldua Jr. and Jeremy Lueth (Raindeer Wing)
Cang Snow and Phoebe Camilletti (Stormsynth Wing)

PROMOTIONS & RE-GRADES

Steve Perez promoted to A
Hikaru Hayakawa promoted to B
Jose Ortiz-Miranda promoted to C

Edit: An earlier version of this article stated that this was Zaldua’s first loss in years. Zaldua lost to Rob Chan in October.

It was a night full of surprises and some possible monumental shifts in Lightspeed Saber, as 16 of the best men and women competitors in California and Oregon met for the Regional Championships in Santa Ana.

The superevent consisted of three tournaments: first, the first team tournament in Lightspeed Saber history, attended by 12; second, the exclusive women's tournament, the first one held since the start of COVID in February 2020 and attended by 5; and finally, the advanced D rank and up all-gender competition, attended by 8. The advanced tournament in particular had huge stakes, as it was the last chance for multi-year champion Tony Zaldua to keep his 'A' rating-- earned one year ago-- and keep the top spot.

The day began with the 2-person team tournament, also known as the skirmish tournament. It was an experiment for Lightspeed, designed to expand our offerings and to add a new strategic element to our fencing. Six teams met in a single elimination event. For each skirmish, there would be 6 matches, divided in two legs: the first leg was the pool leg, where each member of each team would fence every other member of the other team, sequentially. This would be the crucial learning period for competitors, before going into the second leg, when two more matches would occur, and each member would fight one more time, but in an order known only to the teams, so that one would only know one's opponent the moment they stepped into the box.

The battles started with me, your author, in Stormsynth Wing, paired with beginner Phoebe Camilletti, facing off against C/D team Desert Wolf Wing, consisting of Hikaru Hayakawa from Lone Wolf Base, and Ally Fournier, from Basin Saber in Klamath Falls, Oregon. This was a close and hard fought battle, and a tough one for newcomer Camilletti, who was facing her first competitive bout in Lightspeed Saber. But Stormsynth went into the final period with comfortable lead, ending with Snow and Hayakawa crashing in the final second, ending the battle at 47-44 for Stormsynth.

On the other side, more newcomers made their first plays, in this case, NoHo Ninja Wing, consisting of Shar Carter and Kris Sumabat, going against league champion Tony Zaldua and his unranked protege, Jeremy Lueth. Zaldua and Lueth, making Raindeer Wing, made quick work of the ninjas, though the neophytes fought with speed and vigor, something that would serve them well later in the women's event.

Next, Raindeer Wing faced a challenge from Knight Wing, made up of teammates John Mullins and Dinah Kolasa. These two faired better than Raindeer's previous opponents, and they did manage to stage a short come back in the final periods, but ultimately they fell to the wayside to the champion-led wing. On the other end of the room, Muerte Wing, consisting of C and D Steve Perez and Jose Ortiz-Miranda, went up against Stormsynth. Despide Muerte Wing's strong contenders, this ended up being a blow out for Stormsynth, dominating the battle at 48-26.

Finally, it came down to Stormsynth and Raindeer. Snow and Zaldua opened up the skirmish, and they kept it essentially tied for the first period. However, the next three periods saw Raindeer breakaway, as Lueth won handily against both storm wingers, and Zaldua stole 6 points off Camilletti via two textbook counterattacks. Raindeer's momentum remained high despite a few yellow cards, and Snow wasn't able to close out the game in the final period, giving the win to the champ and his padawan.

Next it was time for the women's event, featuring two ladies from North Hollywood MMA / Saber Academy, Dinah Kolasa and Patricia Bauler from Irvine, and Ally Fournier, who took second place at the High Desert Duel in Klamath in October.

No one knew quite what to expect from Shar Carter and Kris Sumabat, the two NoHo newcomers, but they turned out to be hard and fast hitters, with Carter dominating the pools, and Fournier coming in second, and Bauler third. Dinah Kolasa, ranked D, earned a disappointing last place.

However, Kolasa's story didn't end there. She would have to fight it out to place within the bracket against Kris Sumabat, who struggled for much of the tournament with her defense, while Kolasa's targeting was not optimal.

It started out lopsided, with Kolasa having significantly improved her tactics and targeting, scoring many more clean hits against Sumabat on the arms, hands, and hilt. However, Sumabat, seemingly having found her timing, made a significant comeback with two defenses in the span of just a few seconds, shooting her up the board and putting her within tying distance with Kolasa. However, Kolasa managed to keep Sumabat back and score the final point, knocking out the ninja and just managing to stay within the bracket.

Next, Patricia Bauler fought Ally Fournier. This was a revenge match for Bauler, who lost to Fournier last June in Las Vegas. Bauler performed well, but could not match Fournier's speed and agility.

Dinah Kolasa, now the underdog faced another challenge: Shar Carter, the woman who had bested all opponents in the pool stage. It seemed like a long shot for Kolasa, but she walked in with improved confidence and strategy. Overall, Carter was the superior fighter in speed and agility. However, Kolasa opted for a strategic assault against Carter, picking off her hand whenever possible, even if only for one point at a time. Trailing with precious time left, Carter went on the offensive, but made mistakes on approach, giving up several clean shots to Kolasa. At the end, she attempted a strike bolt to Kolasa's head, but she was again intercepted and her attack was routed out. The match ended at a lopsided 12-6, a disappointing result for Carter but an enormous surprise for all watching, and an incredible comeback tale for Kolasa. She would then move on to duel Fournier for the gold.

As if the first part of the tournament wasn't interesting enough, the Kolasa v Fournier fight was something to be spoken of for a long time. Historically, Fournier has always been the faster, more mobile fighter between the two, with stronger attacks and aggression as well. But upon the start of the bracket, Kolasa was on a roll, having bested Sumabat and Carter, and in the first round against Fournier, came out of it 10-7 in her favor.

The first round seemed to have lit a fire in Fournier, who came into the second round with an old reliable saber and a renewed drive to win. She came rushing out on every start call, pushing Kolasa to the rear and landing clean after clean, shooting her up to 10 points in less than 30 seconds, totally shutting out the stunned Kolasa, and evening the round count to 1-1. There would be a final battle!

The final round came down to the underdog versus the traveling warrior. Each had taken a round, and each was hungry for the gold. It ended up being a clapback battle, the two fencers trading point for point as they climbed the board, struggling to get an edge. Finally, Fournier broke away with a comfortable lead, before finishing Kolasa off with a clean slash to take the match and the gold.

Dinah Kolasa settled for Silver, while Patricia Bauler defeated Shar Carter to take Bronze.

Finally we come onto the biggest battle of the night, the advanced 8-person championship tournament. This started out as two pools, the first containing Steve Perez, Hikaru Hayakawa, Ally Fournier (her third tournament of the day), and Jose Ortiz-Miranda; and the second containing WIlliam Alonzo, Sean Holtzman, john Mullins, and Tony Zaldua. Tony Zaldua and Steve Perez ended up dominating their pools, though each other competitor earned a win except Fournier, who was understandably exhausted by this time (but don't count her out yet).

In the first round of eliminations, Hayakawa eliminated Holtzman, Ortiz-Miranda defeated Mullins, and Perez knocked out Alonzo. Zaldua, the top seed, faced off against Ally Fournier, and came surprisingly close to losing to the young upstart, but defeated her 16-13.

However, the real story was in the semi's, where Perez beat Ortiz-Miranda in a very close battle at 12-11, and Tony Zaldua lost to Hikaru Hayakawa by a single point, in a contentious final few seconds where the refs were unable to grant an unclear defense from the champion. It was critical loss for Zaldua, because it meant that the highest he could place in this tournament was third, and that he would lose his 'A' status and fall from the top spot on the ladder. Hayakawa moved on to face Steve Perez for the gold medal.

The gold medal bout was another fight about turnarounds, in a night already full with them. Hayakawa, the more agile and speedy fighter, also displayed incredible attack accuracy in the first round, stunning Perez with a series of precise undercuts, foiling any attempt from Perez at even getting close. Hayakawa won the round handily.

Perez started to get his footing in the 2nd round, however, playing out a bit more evenly and Hayakawa's usual tactics not entirely manifesting during the middle matchup.

Then, in the final round, it appeared that Perez had learned something as he came out dominant in the third, not playing by Hayakawa's rules and thus neutralizing his first round strategies, placing him on the defensive. A few red cards didn't stop Perez' momentum, and he clinched the 2nd win, earning him the gold medal, and jumping for 'C' to 'A' in Lightspeed Saber in a single night.

Tony Zaldua fought Jose Ortiz-Miranda and won 3rd place. Hayakawa earned a B and Ortiz-Miranda earned his C.

Friends, it was a pleasure to host and plan this night, and to be able to fight in it. I thank all our competitors and all our fans for making it possible, and I can't wait to do it again in 2023.