Another season has come and gone and with it some fabulous results and successes for Nashville Elite fencing club. The club earned 29 total medals including 1 National, 23 regional, and 5 local tournament top 8 finishes. The club produced 2 nationally ranked fencers and captured 3 championships. 4 fencers contributed to earning 8 letter classifications including a top rating of A23 for women’s epeeist Mariasole Capellua. 4 fencers were named All Americans.
As exciting as all the medals and acknowledgements have been, equally exciting has been the growth of the competitive program and of fencers that have represented the club and contributed to these achievements.
I hopefully captured all the exciting achievements below, but please let me know if I missed you or your results while digging up all the information and I’d be more than happy to add your accomplishments.
NEFC Competitive Team Members
As I go back and look at the past season, I can hardly believe that 20 fencers from NEFC represented us in competitions during the year. The club has a wonderful amount of competitive experience and even though some of our fencers have moved from town or graduated to college, it is amazing to look at this wealth of experience present that has emerged in the club on which we can continue to grow for the next season. The following fencers attended at least one competition during the season:
Mariasole Capellua, Semaj Toussaint, Hamilton Manz, Elway Goedicke, Olivia Zimmerman, Thomas Collum, Emily Kim, Vincent Figueroa, Ved Karlekar, Philip Choi, Jubin Park, Alison Kim, Lex Moore, Gideon Jones, Iris Rauch, Will Lundt, Zeke Newton, Ethan Vick, Maya Arsovski, Evan DeCastro
NEFC Season Medalists
11 NEFC Fencers claimed a medal at at least one tournament during the year including the capstone achievement of a national Div 1A medal by Mariasole at Summer Nationals. This year’s medalists include
Mariasole Capellua, Semaj Toussaint, Hamilton Manz, Thomas Collum, Olivia Zimmerman, Emily Kim, Jubin Park, Lex Moore, Ethan Vick, Evan DeCastro, Maya Arsovski
Fencers with National Rankings
National rankings are earned by high finishes at the national events held throughout the year (Summer Nationals, NACs, Junior Olympics, SJCCs, SYCs). The rankings generally include the best 4 finishes a fencer has domestically and can also include international results. Results in the Top 40% (SYCs/SJCC) or Top 32 (NACs) are given a point value. Earning a high placement in the Div I category is the means by which the US Olympic team is chosen (generally the Top 4 on the Div I list in the Olympic year are selected to the team). Achieving a placement on the national list is a strong outcome for any fencer, and we currently have 2 nationally ranked fencers contributing to our training environment, both of whom ranked in multiple categories.
Mariasole Capellua
#103 Div I/Senior Women’s Epee
#49 Junior Women’s Epee
Lex Moore
#182 Y14 Men’s Epee
#70 Y12 Men’s Epee
All Americans
All American status can be earned by achieving or renewing a letter classification during the fencing season along with other factors; applications generally open in early Spring for high school students.
Mariasole Capellua 1st Team Epee, 2nd Team Foil, All Academic 1st Team
Hamilton Manz: 1st Team Epee, All Academic 1st Team
Semaj Toussaint: 1st Team Epee, All Academic 1st Team
Emily Kim: All Academic 1st Team
Letter Classifications
Letter Classifications are earned by strong finishes at competitive tournaments. They are generally considered to be a “high water mark” showing the height of your capacity as a tournament fencer. All fencers begin as U’s and can achieve a top classification of A. Generally higher rated fencers are able to “solve” opponents more quickly and defeat a larger breadth of styles. Our fencers continue to improve their classifications and are moving to the highest levels.
Mariasole Capellua: A23 (Epee), B23 (Epee), D23 (Foil)
Semaj Toussaint: B23 (Epee), C22 (Epee)
Hamilton Manz: B22 (Epee), C22 (Epee)
Thomas Collum: E23 (Epee)