The month of October was kicked off with the third tournament in Riverbend Saber Academy’s annual This is the Way tournament series. This unrated event for fencers who haven’t earned any competition grade in Lightspeed had 13 competitors in total from three local bases. More than half of the competitors attending the tournament would receive an E grade at the end of the day due to the tournament’s E3 rating.
Both of the pools left questions about who might take the top spot at the tournament, without a single fencer winning every single match. However, Mychael Mendzoa and Daniel Lowdermilk placed top of their boxes with 5 wins each. The brackets then saw some very close competition, with Joe Balmediano defeating Brooks B. by a mere 1 point, and Mychael Mendoza ending his match against Benjamin B. with a score of 906. Eric Pellicci then beats Balmediano in semi-finals, him and Mendoza moving on to fight for gold—a medal taken without question by Mendoza in a match ended 12-5. First place went to Mychael Mendoza, second place Eric Pellicci, and third place went to Joe Balmediano.
However, in the end, E ranks were awarded to 8 fencers in total: Mychael Mendoza (SLK), Eric Pellicci (RSA), Joe Balmedian (SLK), Ken Myers (RSA), Daniel Lowdermilk (SLK), Brooks Baseler (SLK), Benjamin B. (RBS), and Madison M. (RBS).
Left to right: Mychal Mendoza, Eric Pellicci, & Joe Balmedano