Greetings. I am back from Cleveland with a report on the
competition. Apparently, I was on the lower end of the both the
Junior Epee and Junior Foil competitions even with my initial
ranking. There were 190 in the Epee and 240 in the Foil. Both had
about 50 to 60 C's, and only about 20 U's.

Recovering from a cold, I did not have a spark of fencing in me at
the beginning of the Epee tournament. I barely defeated a smaller
kid who was about 13 years old by only 5-4. I then lost my next two
bouts by 1 point when the time expired 3-2 and 4-3. Then I decided
to act agressively and be active. I won the next two bouts 5-2, one
against a guy who must have been 6'5" and the other against a fierce
attacker. I scored a really nice wrist touch (no one saw it coming,
not even myself) to end the bout. I lost the last bout because I
was being parried on my counterattack, and could not get the riposte
out before my opponent moved in and closed the distance. I finshed
the pool 3-3.

I seeded 90th with a bye into the round of 128. I faced the 34th
rank Max Czpanski, a B fencer and apparently the Virginia division's
best junior Epee fencer (with national points). He was agressive
and quick to attack the foot, but I kept the score tied up until we
were at 10-10. I then did an odd in-fighting move to score a touch,
but I pulled a muscle in my lower back. I lost the next four
touches and ended the bout losing by 12-15. I finished exactly
100th place in the competition, which was higher than some Bs, but
lower than some Es... the final standings concerning rating was
incredibly random. I finished 2 places higher than a Penn State
Varsity fencer. Czpanski went on to destroy another Penn State
Varsity fencer 15-4 in the next round. Also, a fencer that I
recently defeated in a local tournament finished 16th overall to
earn national points.

The most important area of the weekend was that I secured a spot on
the Varsity team with Ohio State Fencing. Not only am I very
impressed with everything besides the fencing, but after talking to
the coach and touring the facilities, that their facilities are the
best in the country, and the coach is praised as perhaps the best in
the world.