Air Force Academy

Air Force Academy fencers traveled to Miami, Fla., last weekend, Oct. 7-10, to compete in the first North American Cup of the year. AFA fencers, C2C Katie Gulczynski, C4C Trent Atwood, C4C David Fang, C2C Lydia Bigelow, C3C Fred Meyer and C3C Adam Schenk made the trip. Only Gulczynski, Bigelow, Meyer, and Schenk had a top 20 finish in their respective weapons.

"Some of our fencers did okay for the opening competition of the season," said assistant coach Adam Skarbonkiewicz. "Some fencers did fairly well, and others not as well as we hoped. But we learned a lot about what areas we need to work on. It was a good learning experience."

Competing in the Division II category, Gulczynski finished 18th out of 52 in women's sabre. Atwood finished 58th and Fang followed with a 73rd out of 86 in men's foil. Bigelow who fences women's epee finished 37th of 69. In men's epee, Meyer finished 51st of 107 and Schenk finished 10th.

"We were expecting stronger results from all of our fencers," commented head coach Abdel Salem. "We know that we need a lot of work especially on foil."

In Division III, Bigelow advanced her standings with a 13th-place finish out of 38 in women's epee. Meyer concluded the weekend with an 18th-place finish out of 100.

"We learned a lot from this tournament and are looking forward to working hard at it in practice," said C2C Bigelow.

The Academy's fencers will host the 2005 Falcon Open at the Cadet Gymnasium on Oct. 29-30.

North American Cup, Miami, Fla. Air Force Individual Finishes:
Division Name Weapon Finish/Competitors
Division II Katie Gulczynski Women's Sabre 18/52
Trent Atwood Men's Foil 58/86
David Fang Men's Foil 73/86
Lydia Bigelow Women's Epee 37/69
Fred Meyer Men's Epee 51/107
Adam Schenk Men's Epee 10/107

Division III Lydia Bigelow Women's Epee 13/38
Fred Meyer Men's Epee 18/100


The final day's results were not available at the time of this release.