SUMMARY
RESULTS
Tony Zaldua
Selasi Quashie
Steve Perez
Jowanna Lewis
Russ Mitchell
Hikaru Hayakawa
Dakota Eggert
Andre Gonzalez
Jeremiah Rodriguez
Jose Ortiz-Miranda
Patricia Bauler
Chris Stadther
Aedan Stadther
Kat Laurange
Asher Trask
John Mullins
PROMOTIONS & RERATINGS
Selasi Quashie: E —> B
Steve Perez: E —> C
Jowanna Lewis: D —> C
Russ Mitchell: U —> D
Dakota Eggert: U —> D
Chris Stadther: U —> E
Aedan Stadther: U —> E
Kat Laurange: U —> E
Asher Trask: U —> E
It was the first of its kind, but surely would not be the last: a two-day national Lightspeed Saber fencing tournamenet featuring 30 competitors in three squadrons. Each competitor faced a MINIMUM of NINE opponents over the days-long qualifier, making focus, stamina, and fast self-reflection the keys to victory.
Those competitors included many new fencers and teams, including the delegation of six from Virginia (Josh Blum, Arden Blum, Chris Stadther, Aedan Stadther, Tim Trask, and Asher Trask), the delegation from Oregon (Kevin Fournier and Allison Fournier), the delegation from Long Island (Michael Gruber and Sean Friedmann); and a few lone attendees such as Steve Perez from Penguin Saber Academy and Logan de Guzman from Phoenix Saber Academy.
Well worn teams and fencers included wolves Hikaru Hayakawa and Wolf Captain Andre Gonzalez; Krait members Kieran Haile, William Alonzo, Jose Ortiz-Miranda, SoCal Director Sean Holtzman, and of course champion and captain Tony Zaldua; Star Templars Selasi Quashie and captain Dakota Eggert; fellow Texans Troy Curtsinger, Kat Laurange, and Captain Russ Mitchell from Starbird Saber Academy; Irvine Knights Dinah Kolasa, John Mullins, Patricia Bauler, and League #2 Jeremiah Rodriguez; and the dispirate team Fire Ant made up of Daniel Limon-Martinez and women's champion Jowanna Lewis.
DAY ONE
Day One of the tournament contained the first five matches of the qualifiers for all participants. For many of them, it meant facing opponent's they'd never seen fight before, and it would be a significant learning and adjusting experience for everyone.
Denmates Andre Gonzalez and Hikaru Hayakawa crushed most of their opposition in the Pink Squadron, using their characteristic agility, powerful attacks, and stellar bladework; although they both fell to another strong contender, relative newcomer Steve Perez (Penguin Saber Academy), who deployed even stronger attacks in his reportoire, blowing through both wolves' defenses. However, Perez did not go undefeated, falling to a surprising contender, young Asher Trask out of LS. Virginia. Asher finished Day One with a very respectable 3 wins to 2 losses, using his experience in parkour to dance around his opponent's ranges, closing the distance quickly, and escaping the killzone before they could finish their followups.
Another strong performance came from Starbird Kat Laurange, who may have had the strongest defense in the box. Holding a somewhat uncommon pronate low guard, it put her in prime position to shield low attacks and deflect high attacks, giving her a fortress-like stance that flummoxed those who went against her. In one instance, young Logan de Guzman-- a promising cadet in the league with excellent defense himself-- was caught completely unprepared as Laurange almost casually deflected his opening engagement and penalized him with a headshot counterattack, immediately shooting her up the board 3-0. De Guzman did not make the same mistake twice, however, and from there was prepared to counter-defend anything she threw at him, producing some of day's most beautiful rallies. Ultimately, though, Laurange won out with her superior technique and experience.
The Green Box was definitely the wild card of the tournament, containing League #2 Jeremiah Rodriguez but also highly experienced Officer Sean Holtzman, champion and officer Jowanna Lewis, and Maestro Russ Mitchell, who had previously not been seen extensively in Lightspeed Saber competition but whose decades of skill and knowledge could not be questioned. The box also contained newcomers Sean Friedmann and Michael Gruber from LS. Long Island, and young Allison Fournier, among others.
Jeremiah Rodriguez dominated Day One, as would be expected for his rank, using amazing agility, speed, and of course, excellent bladework. Perhaps the most interesting matchup would be similarly aged Aedan Stadther, who came in with greater years in traditional fencing but significantly less in Lightspeed Saber. Both were fast, but Rodriguez was faster, and more accurate, letting Stadther come to him and interrupting or intercepting his attacks for a win of 8-1. With a Day One differential of 31, all of Rodriguez' victories were similarly lopsided.
Russ Mitchell had the second strongest performance in the Green Box, striking with pinpoint accuracy and an old school style that most competitors simply weren't familiar with.
But Mitchell wasn't the only one to find success using stances and guards that not everyone was prepared for: young Allison Fournier adopted perhaps the most unusual position of the whole tournament, something everyone came to dub "the crab stance", consisting of an ultra low, ultra long stance with a guard in 5. She leveraged this position with prepared deflectors, scoring numerous 3's and, when their opponents were unable to break through, went on the offensive with strong lunges and great escapes! While she only finished Day One with two wins, she kept it close, and surprised many older, and much taller opponents with her skill and agility.
The Blue Box was probably the most intense box of Day One. Containing two Krait Dragons, including current champion Tony Zaldua.
Troy Curtsinger was probably the standout of the box for his use of a Ren Saber. While it proved a bit too slow against some incredibly swift opponents, it did net a few wins against some of them, especially against Jose Ortiz-Miranda, whose hatred of the Ren Saber is legendary.
Chris Stadther was another standout, deploying the bolt more than anyone else, and making sure that nobody would escape his reach. It served him well enough to net a respectable 3 wins for Day One.
Dinah Kolasa, a newcomer, distinguished herself with a few trick plays, in one match scoring clean kill after clean kill to even up the score from 6-0, then closing the bout with a swift and sudden leg shot, netting her the best win of her career so far.
Young Arden Blum deployed similar tactics, excelling with clean retreating attacks to the hands of his opponents, although eventually his opponents caught wind of his strategy. Regardless, Arden did remarkably well for being in such a strong box.
DAY TWO
The big difference between this tournament and others, strategically, was the possibility to analyze and reflect on one's performance, and talk with your teammates about how to improve. This would be critically important for those fencers who needed time to adjust, and to make up for losses on Day One!
In the Pink Box, Hayakawa and Gonzalez led as before, though Perez and Laurange showed slight improvement over their Day One performances. Even newcomer Kevin Fournier, from the newly established Klamath Falls, Oregon base, earned a close win over the more experienced John Mullins from Irvine. In a surprise win, Asher Trask defeated the high ranked Andre Gonzalez. Gonzalez, meanwhile, defeated his own teammate, Hikaru Hayakawa, though Hayakawa did place the highest overall in the box for both days. De Guzman, meanwhile, easily defeated the fellow teen Trask.
By the end of the qualifiers, Hayakawa, Perez, and Gonzalez had each secured 7 wins and were leading this pack. Laurange followed close behind with 6.
In the Green Box, Long Island fencer Michael Gruber found his feet and earned a full three wins, a remarkable improvement over his Day One performance of zero. Jeremiah Rodriguez was finally challenged upon facing Jowanna Lewis and Russ Mitchell, losing to both as their long competition experience and mental game bested him.
Perhaps the talk of the box was the match between Russ Mitchell and Jowanna Lewis, a match which went to time at 7-7, with both experienced trad fencers biding their time, each unwilling to make moves upon the other, as they have had similar combat experiences, Lewis in Olympic epee and Mitchell in Hungarian saber. But Lewis eventually won out in overtime with a race to the finish, clinching the win by a point.
Overall, Rodriguez, Mitchell, and Lewis dominated this box with seven wins each. Aedan Stadther finished with six.
Blue Box probably had the widest range of skill levels, shown in the disparate scores of the top placers. Tony Zaldua remained on top as usual, taking no losses for either day, with wide differentials, although Chris Stadther came the closest at 9-5. Patricia Bauler showed significant improvement using her defensive skills, and as a result landed in second position for the second day.
Patricia Bauler showed significant improvement over Day One, taking second position for Day Two thanks to her stellar defensive skills, nearly besting Dakota Eggert with a series of defensives.
By the close of Day Two, Zaldua led the pack with 9 wins, and Dakota Eggert placed second with a distant 7 wins.
COED ELIMINATIONS
Being a 30 person tournament, that meant that 16 people would be going into the coed division eliminations. The bottom of the 16 was made up by John Mullins, Chris Stadther, Aedan Stadther, Asher Trask, Star Templar Selasi Quashie, Patricia Bauler, and Jose Ortiz-Miranda.
Top seed Tony Zaldua knocked out John Mullins as expected, and Andre Gonzalez took out Jose Ortiz-Miranda. In two lopsided bouts, Hikaru Hayakawa eliminated Kat Laurange, and Steve Perez easily removed Aedan Stadther from the running.
In two extremely close fights, Jowanna Lewis edged out Chris Stadther by two points, and Dakota Eggert took out Patricia Bauler 12-11, this despite Bauler earning 3 defensives throughout the match.
In an upset, 15th seed Selasi Quashie defeated 2nd seed Jeremiah Rodriguez, also in a close battle that finished 12-10 in favor of Quashie.
The next round was a series of close battles. Tony Zalda defeated Andre Gonzalez 13-10, Hikaru Hayakawa was bested by Steve Perez 12-8, Selasi Quashi knocked out his captain Dakota Eggert 13-11, and in a flabbergasting matchup, Jowanna Lewis again bested Russ Mitchell in a long bout that finished at a remarkable 3-2, where both fencers had learned from their previous bout, and neither was willing to make any committed actions against the other.
The semi's were all about accuracy versus brawling, consisting of Tony Zaldua versus Steve Perez and Jowanna Lewis versus Selasi Quashie. Perez was ill equipped to deal with Zaldua, as Tony's extreme accuracy easily dismantled the powerful but mistimed assault from the Penguin. A similar story played out in the other match, with Quashie besting Lewis for 2 of 2 rounds.
This brought us, at last, to the final bout of the coed event: Selasi Quashie versus Tony Zaldua, a remarkable feat considering that Quashie had arrived late on Day One and had to forfeit two matches at the very start. This had to mean that Quashie was a force to be feared, but so was the champ, Tony Zaldua, widely known for his brilliant timing, agility, incredible reach, and most importantly, adaptability.
Throughout the tournament, Quashie had displayed great power in his attacks, plus great mobility and agility. But in this bout, Quashie had difficulty mustering an offensive against the champ, who kept his opponent at bay until he was ready to launch an assault. Quashie was caught off guard numerous times by Zaldua's bolts and long pommeled swipes, landing clean shot after clean shot, shooting up the board. By the end, it was 2 for 2 rounds for Zaldua, and another first place in the bag, although it would actually be his first national championship win.
Quashie ultimately took the silver, and Steve Perez won the battle for bronze.
WOMEN'S ELIMINATIONS
Five women went into the women's elilminations, with Dinah Kolasa and Allison Fournier fighting it out for the 4th position. Fournier easily bested Kolasa with her most confident and commited stances, defenses, and attacks, putting her in place for the semi's. Jowanna Lewis put a stop to her momentum, knocking her out, though not before taking at least one round from the lady lightsaber champion.
Meanwhile, the similar Kat Laurange and Patricia Bauler fought in the other branch of the semi's. Laurange's greater experience were on display, however, as Bauler was unable to mount a defense against Laurange, though the two showed off some long and exciting engagements. Lauranage took this match 2-0.
Finally, it came to Jowanna Lewis and Kat Laurange, with Lewis defending her title from 2018. While Laurange had the bladework advantage, Lewis came in as a brawler, and wore Laurange down with powerful attacks which her defense could not withstand. Lewis eventually took the match for 2 rounds, earning her the gold medal once again.
Kat Laurange took home silver, and Allison Fournier, in a truly impressive result for her first tournament, won the bronze.
It had been four years since Lightspeed held an event as large as this one. And while many lessons were forgetten since the last time, the experience of the first one definitely showed, ensuring a smoother, fairer tournament for everyone involved. It could not have happened without all the many fencers volunteering to learn the rules and reffing system, and our dedicated Lightspeed staff. It's going to be even better next year at Lightspeed: Return of the Starbats! Until then, keep practicing, and MTFBWYA!
Cang Snow
Lightspeed Saber League
Chief Executive Officer
Cang Snow
Chief Executive Officer
PRIZES
Ripper Blades
Patricia Bauler
William Alonzo
Tony Zaldua
Cang Snow
Jowanna Lewis
DIRECTOR
Cang Snow
OTHER STAFF
Andre Gonzalez
Patricia Bauler
Jowanna Lewis
Dinah Kolasa
Maddisen Garrett
WORKSHOPS
Russ Mitchell
Kat Laurange
Cang Snow
REFS
Kieran Haile
Hikaru Hayakawa
John Mullins
William Alonzo
Tony Zaldua
Jose Ortiz-Miranda
Chris Stadther
Josh Blum
Kevin Fournier
Sean Holtzman
Dakota Eggert
Andre Gonzalez
Kat Laurange
Russ Mitchell
Troy Curtsinger
Patricia Bauler
Jowanna Lewis
Selasi Quashie
SPECIAL THANKS
Rachel Lewis
COMPETITORS
Kieran Haile
Dinah Kolasa
Hikaru Hayakawa
John Mullins
William Alonzo
Tony Zaldua
Jose Ortiz-Miranda
Steve Perez
Jeremiah Rodriguez
Chris Stadther
Aedan Stadther
Arden Blum
Josh Blum
Asher Trask
Tim Trask
Allison Fournier
Kevin Fournier
Michael Gruber
Sean Friedmann
Sean Holtzman
Selasi Quashie
Dakota Eggert
Andre Gonzalez
Kat Laurange
Russ Mitchell
Troy Curtsinger
Daniel Limon-Martinez
Patricia Bauler
Jowanna Lewis
Logan de Guzman
