Written June 20, 2025
Day 2 had a packed schedule with the Rey Exclusive Pools, Rey Exclusive Div. II, Women's Mixed Weapon, and Open Mixed Weapon tournaments. Let's jump right in!
REY EXCLUSIVE POOLS
We began the morning with the Rey Exclusive pools with 16 fencers fighting for entry into the Division I eliminations (where they will compete for the National Champion title). Fencers with a grade of ‘C’ or higher were automatically qualified for Division I and would have been allowed to skip the pools, but many chose to still compete in the morning’s matches, getting a feel for the competition and having fun fighting their fellow competitors. Those who didn’t get into Div. I had the Div. II tournament later in the day with the opportunity for gold, silver, and bronze medals for the Div. II eliminations.
Ally Fournier stood out in the pools, ranking #3 only behind David Lazenby and Ryan McKenna and earning herself a qualification into tomorrow’s Division I tournament as a D-ranked fencer. Chicco Smith, Kevin Degnan, Leo Isales, Phoebe Camilletti, and Sean Holtzman also placed in the top 8.
Fournier and Holtzman were the only two fencers in the top eight not at a C-rank or higher, sending Holtzman to the top starting spot of the Division II eliminations.
REY EXCLUSIVE DIV. II
Holtzman started his bracket matches with very tight fights. His first, against Em Watson, was tied up at 2-2 for the first minute, 5-5 at 0:30 left in the match, and then 7-6 in Em’s favor with only four seconds on the clock. With the last remaining seconds, Holtzman scored a quick headshot, moving him forward in the bracket with a final score of 7-9. He had a similar match afterwards with Mary Kimseng, who had scored a clean against him in the last fifteen seconds of their match, breaking their 4-4 tie, until an indirect and another clean headshot from Holtzamn in the last second of the match tipped the score in his favor with 8-7. With a one-and-two-point lead in his bracket matches, Holtzman moved forward to the fight for gold.
On the other side of the bracket, Brian Lee joined Holtzman in the top match of the division after defeating Nate Maniscalco 15-13 and Chris Tomlinson 16-5. Lee used the last moments of the match against Tomlinson to widen his lead with a passata sotto, getting a clean cut to the leg while dropping low to the ground and out of range of a return attack. Tomlinson, who recently earned his D-grade at the May to Remember tournament last month, went on to fight Kimseng for the bronze medal.
Like the previous matches of the division, Tomlinson and Kimseng’s fight for bronze had a close score for the majority of the time, each one keeping pace point by point as they traded attacks. The match first broke at 14-15 at the halfway mark, then 20-21, and finally 24-25 in Tomlinson’s advantage after an honor call where he conceded a point for Kimseng with only seven seconds left in the match. With the clock running out before another point could be scored, Tomlinson took bronze with a single point lead.
Lee and Holzman, both very strong fencers, brought very different energies to their match. Lee kept light on his feet, rocking back and forth with constant movement. Holtzman's stance was steady, his footwork very grounded, and instead kept his lightness and movement in his blade arm. His blade circled with microadjustments as he sized up Lee’s movements, ready to strike forward in response to his attacks. When the two fencers collided, it was at lightning speed. It was anyone's game until a quick pull and counter with ten seconds on the clock put Lee ahead 14-9, earning him gold and Holtzman silver for the Rey Division II.
Gold: Brian Lee
Silver: Sean Holtzman
Bronze: Chris Tomlinson
WOMEN'S MIXED WEAPON
The Women's Mixed Weapon tournament began with pool matches for Dinah Kolasa, Patricia Bauler, Phoebe Camilletti, Em Watson, Becca Moore, Ally Fournier, and Mary Kimseng, with 100% promotion for all fencers into the bracket. Watson pulled ahead in the pools, sweeping her box with three wins and coming in first going into brackets, with Kolasa, Fournier, and Bauler following.
Defensive was the name of the game in this year's Women's bracket. Bauler and Camilletti had one of the narrowest fights early in the bracket with Bauler climbing ten points off the bat with two defensives. Camilletti caught up, bringing the match up to 20-22 with three seconds on the clock, but wasn’t able to pull ahead before time ran out. Bauler and Kolasa traded defensives in their next match, with Kolasa ultimately landing three against Bauler and taking the match 26-20.
Watson and Fournier moved forward on their side of the bracket, breaking at halftime with Watson holding a lead against Fournier. They resumed with a defensive from Watson’s Tano sabers against Fournier’s Ren, widening her lead. Another defensive took Watson from 19-17 to 24-17, ending the match. Watson moved forward to gold against Kolasa, and Fournier fought Bauler for bronze.
Watson and Kolasa had a close fight in the pools (it was the only fight Kolasa didn’t win, giving her second place moving to brackets), and their fight for first was similarly close. By halftime the score was only 5-7, with Watson leading. Kolasa picked up in the second half, up 13-8 before a solid defensive from Watson tied the score with six seconds left. The match was decided in an attack from Watson which Kolasa evaded and returned before blocking a secondary attack with a post-defense. Kolasa won gold with 18-13 just as the clock ran out.
Kolasa was presented with her gold medal by Fournier, last year’s women’s champion, who passed the title down to Lightspeed Academy’s homegrown champ.
Gold: Dinah Kolasa
Silver: Em Watson
Bronze: Ally Fournier
OPEN MIXED WEAPON POOLS
The Mixed Weapon Pools closed out the night, with 18 fencers competing for the Division 1 or 2 eliminations tomorrow. David Lazenby (Ren) dominated the pools, coming in first amongst the three boxes. Lazenby won four out of five of his pool matches, winning two of them 8-0 (including a shockingly decisive match against Chicco Smith with Rey) and losing only to Preston Pomeroy (Ren) with a one-point loss. Jacob Areias, unranked in Tano, came in second, similarly winning four of his five matches.
Jacob Yoo, a new member of Lightspeed Academy, joined the pools with Rey as his first entrance into a Lightspeed tournament. Despite his short time with the Academy, Jacob did extremely well in his box, winning three of his five fights.
Another highlight -- Shayan Doroudi (Tano) cleared his match with Ally Fournier (Rey) 8-0, starting off strong with an immediate defensive followed by a clean to her hand, ending their match in six seconds. The quick win was a shock against Fournier, who won her other matches (including against Tony Zaldua [Tano] and Jose Ortiz-Miranda [Tano]) and lost her only other match against Ryan McKenna (Tano) 6-7.
Check back in tomorrow for Open Mixed Weapon Divisions 1 and 2, our Youngling and Cadet event, and the Rey Exclusive Division 1 bracket which will name this year’s National Champion!
Samantha Kolasa
Lightspeed Interim Reporter