The Bowdoin Fencing Club hosted its first-ever tournament last Sunday, the Bowdoin Three Weapon Invitational, in Sargent Gymnasium. The fencing team represented itself well among nearly 30 fencers from across Maine and New Hampshire who attended the event.
The tournament began in the morning with individual events in foil, epee and saber. Christopher Wilkins, a Brunswick resident who fences with the Bowdoin team, took first place in the epee tournament after entering the direct elimination round seeded eighth.
Lawrence Wang '10, who was seeded first entering the direct elimination bracket, finished in fifth place.
Jason Kwong '13 tied for third in the open saber. He entered the direct elimination bracket in fourth place after going 4-2 in the pool play and lost in the semi-finals to the tournament winner.
Team events began at the conclusion of the individual tournaments. In team matches, teams of three fencers face off over nine rounds, with every fencer on the team facing every fencer on the opposing team once. Each round lasts three minutes, or until one team's combined score has reached five times the round number. The winner of the match is the first team to reach 45 points, or the team in the lead at the end of the ninth round.
Bowdoin entered teams for all three events. The saber team consisting of Wilkins, Kwong and Carrie Johnson '12 took first place after a very close final match in which the team rallied in the ninth and final round to win 45-44.
Of the final round, Wilkins said: "Going into the last bout we were down 40-36. The bout was going back and forth, which was bad as we were behind. When my opponent hit 44 he may have let his guard down as I managed to score 4-5 touches consecutively for the win."
Epee team Alex Edison '13, Wang and Wilkins took second place. After a strong start in the final match, the team lost steam and ended up losing 35-45. Sean Troyer '11 and Professor of Sociology and Anthropology Scott MacEachern participated in an unaffiliated foil team, which took second in the team foil tournament.
Due to the success of the tournament, the team plans to host more tournaments next year.