Kevin Fournier hosted the first regional level event in the Eastern U.S. on March 8th and 9th in LaFollette Tennessee. 16 competitors from California, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, and New York came together for a weekend of fencing at light speed.
Open Rey
Saturday’s main event was Open Rey. Dunwoody Fencing Club made a strong showing with three fencers—Alex Zielinski, Alvaro Erize, and Jake Wachtel—making top 8. Ryan McKenna, an East Coast favorite, had unfortunate seeding and found himself facing top fencer Tony Zaldua early in the bracket. Tony managed to win by a meager margin only to discover in the semifinals that Dunwoody’s Got Talent. **Jake Wachtel bested Tony in the semifinals to face off against newcomer—and TSL championship belt holder—Bobby Zavala in the finals. Bobby hasn’t been training in the Lightspeed system long, but his vast athletic experience made him a formidable opponent. Bobby had taken down two formidable Lightspeed fencers to face off against another Dunwoody talent, Alex Zielenski, who impressed the field with his agility and speed. Alex’s epee skills proved challenging to Bobby but fell just short of securing him a spot in the finals.
Alex Zielinski, Tony Zaldua, Bobby Zavala, and Jake Wachtel
The finals saw Jake Wachtel up against Bobby Zavala. Playing to 48 points for up to 6 minutes, endurance was needed to take the gold. Jake took a strong early lead, yet Bobby found his stride and began to close the gap. It wasn’t enough though, as Jake took home the gold medal 45 - 31. Meanwhile, Tony edged out Alex to earn 3rd and 4th bronzes respectively.
Once the tournament is verified, Jake Wachtel will earn his B, Bobby Zavala will earn his C, and Alex will earn his D.
Women’s
Em Watson, Dinah Kolasa, Natascha Zavala, and Ally Fournier
We capped off Saturday evening with a Women’s Mixed Weapon’s division tournament. Competitors were National Women’s Champion Ally Fournier sporting the Ren saber, Lightspeed Executive Assistant Dinah Kolasa with Rey, East Coast phenom Em Watson with her beloved Tano setup, and newcomer Natascha Zavala on Rey as well. Natascha got bottom seed in the pools but found her groove in the brackets, making it to the finals to face off against Ally. Ally leveraged the Ren’s defensive capabilities to secure gold, but we congratulate Natascha on getting silver even though she never played Lightspeed before. Dinah and Em went neck and neck, with Dinah barely taking 3rd place bronze by just 1 point!
Annihilation
Sunday morning the tournament reconvened for Annihilation, a popular tag team event. Four teams suited up and talked strategy. In the Annihilation format, team members have health and take damage. Starting health is based on the fencer’s rank in the weapon of their choosing. Some top fencers opted for weapons they have a lower rank in to have more starting life—a legitimate tradeoff that paid off for some. Teams were as follows:
Legion
Ryan McKenna
Bobby Zavala
Josh Isom, Nashville TN
Em Watson
Ducks
James Wallace, Dunwoody, GA
Jake Wachtel
Malik Purefoy, Dunwoody, GA
Sean and the Rockettes
Sean Friedmann, Long Island NY
Dinah Kolasa
Natascha Zavala
Geezers
Tony Zaldua
Cang Snow
Chris Stadther
After balancing the team’s starting health to compensate for Legion’s extra team member, the double elimination commenced. Ducks went undefeated all the way to the finals, forcing the other 3 teams to duke it out in the loser’s brackets. Geezers came out on top to face Ducks in the finals. Defying their namesake, the Geezers came out the gates strong with back to back defensives, massively improving their team’s health and creating a lead the Ducks could not close. Having been defeated only once. the Ducks had a second shot. Geezers tried the same bold strategy of drawing defensives for an early lead, but the Ducks wouldn’t take the bait. One by one team members on the Geezers were annihilated, granting Ducks the gold!
Director Kevin Fournier and the Annihilation teams!
Our Sponsor
Thank you to our tournament’s sponsor, Dunwoody Fencing Club, who graciously provided the medals and custom light-up trophies.
Special Thanks
A huge, HUGE, thank you to tournament director Kevin Fournier’s wife, Amy. She catered a wonderful burrito-bowl bar to fuel our famished fencers. As if that weren’t enough, she also provided dinner: spaghetti (with sauce from scratch), fresh baked bread (with flour she grinds herself), and salad. Nearly all the tournament participants gathered at our house to partake of her hard labor. We salute you, Amy! Our tummies and wallets thank you!
Thanks also to Cang Snow and Dinah Kolasa for trekking out from Los Angeles. Cang made the director’s job so much easier by serving as floor official and power proctor, freeing up the director to focus on reffing and rectifying technical issues.
Of course, special thanks to all the fencers. You guys were flexible and forgiving when the software gave out and we lost our match information. We pivoted, worked with what we had, and still ran a tournament as though nothing had gone wrong. You also respected the officials, congratulated your winning opponents, accumulated lots of honor, and managed your power. For this reason, everyone had a great time!