Hello again online MSU fencing community!

Well our fencing year has concluded with the academic year, and in preparation of our next season we've elected some new officers! So, without further ado, here are your officers for the 2010-11 fencing season!

Congratulations to all of our officers! We look forward to your assistance in guiding the team through another successful competitive season.

As a closing note, All fencers in the East Lansing area should be aware of our Summer Practice Schedule. We're currently slated to practice from 7-9 PM in the usual spot, the basement of IM West. Current members and those interested in learning about fencing alike are welcome to join us!

Any other updates to the summer schedule will be posted here. In the meantime, we hope you have a great summer and look forward to getting back to work in the fall. Go Green!

Hello again online Spartan fencing community! It's time for one last post-tournament rundown, and we couldn't have asked for a better one to close the season on.

Last weekend the MSU fencing team got up at five in the morning, jumped on a bus with the University of Michigan and got on the road to the east coast, ending up in Swarthmore Pennsylvania with 38 other teams for this years annual Club Fencing Championships!

The first day saw the team weather a grueling schedule, with individual squads facing off against up to 13 different opponents in the day in a best of three bouts matchup. The team wasted no time in securing seeds near the top of the pack, with Womens Saber clinching the first overall seed and other squads like mens foil not far behind, sitting on the days end.

Still, the best was yet to come. Day two saw a resurgence from the Womens epee squad, as they surged to finish 5th place overall with especially brilliant performances coming from Erin VonKronenberger. All three squads from the mens team cracked the top 16, including an impressive upset from the Mens epee squad over the Army team, owing to some excellent bouts from Chris Walsh and Steve Moyers.

Despite losing a second day opening round against Chicago by one touch, the Mens foil squad still managed to lead the mens team with a 10th place finish. Standout performances came from Jake Rathbun, the only male spartan fencer to qualify for the individual tournament, with several of his teammates on all of the squads falling short by mere touches. the Mens saber squad followed a very similar path to their 11th place finish, suffering a disappointing first time loss to Northwestern University but rebounded and thrashed their opponents until the final touch of the day.

Womens foil struggled the most of the MSU squads, suffering from injury and fielding a squad that had absolutely no prior experience in the club championships. Despite these setbacks they rallied behind squad captain and president Shaina Selbig, refusing to give up and contributing to the tremendous womens team success overall.

But no stars shone brighter than those on the MSU Womens saber squad. Both team captain Meg Holt and freshman phenom Harriet Mctigue earned berths into the individual portion of the tournament, both finishing in the top 8 of all the competitors in the tournament. Mctigue missed winning the individual tournament outright by a single touch, but still helped an equally productive teammate Katie Friederichs seal the deal in the team saber portion of the tournament, taking home 1st place for MSU.

At the end of the day, the MSU team found itself in a familiar position; the winners circle. The combined efforts of the team saw the Womens team take 2nd overall in the country behind only Florida, with the help of the mens team we ended up taking third place overall! Not only did the MSU team improve upon their fourth place finish from last year, but they did it despite losing over half of the travel squad from the previous year to graduation.

On the whole, it is impossible to be disappointed with the results this team has earned through the year, and with a majority of the team returning for more in the fall it's in the cards for the team to make an even bigger splash competitively next year. To all that have supported us in our endeavors and helped make this experience possible, we sincerely thank you. It's been a truly delightful year to be a Spartan fencer. Go Green!

Hello online Spartan fencing community!

Time for a long overdue update on the results of your spartan fencers in South Bend!

On the weekend of March 6th the MSU team headed for a weekend of the toughest competition the schedule at the Notre Dame Midwest Fencing Championships. A two day event with twenty schools competing, the spartans took to the strip on the first day in an individual tournament format to help seed teams into brackets for the second day of team competition.

The first day saw brilliant performances from mens epee captain Steve Moyers and squadmate Chris Walsh placed 12th and 14th respectively. Impressive showings also came from Ryan Majewski of the mens saber squad and Jake Rathbun of mens foil, placing 21st and 23rd.

The results from the womens team were even more impressive. Womens epeeists Alandra Greenlee and Erin vonKronenberger went 14th and 15th, narrowly missing the individual Schiller award (a prize given at this tournament for the top finishing club competitors in individual or team competition). Despite tough draws foilists Shaina Selbig and Jordan Boniface managed 36th and 39th securing their seed for sunday. And on the day no stars shone brighter for MSU than Meg Holt and Harriet Mctigue, finishing 20th and 14th on the individual portions of the day. No club womens sabreurs placed higher than Mctigue, and she brought home the 2010 individual Schiller award.

Day two saw the start of the team competitions, and the continuation of Michigan State success. After suffering tough first round losses, the mens epee and saber squads went to work, defeating their next two consecutive opponents. In the last round, mens epee fell to the Indiana Hoosiers by one bout securing their spot in 10th place, and the mens saber squad edged past Iowa for 9th. The mens foil squad led the way on the day of team competition for the mens team, suffering only one loss on the day to Ohio State. A final emotional victory came over Wayne State, a varsity opponent that MSU foilists had not vanquished in three years, landing mens foil 5th overall and narrowly missing a shot at 3rd place and the squad Schiller.

The womens team had even more success than the men on day 2. Despite a tough start against Illinois, the womens foil squad rallied to defeat their next two opponents, only falling at the end to the University of Detroit Titans and settling for 10th. The womens epee and saber squads however stepped up their game, mirroring the success of each other as they cruised past their first two opponents and landed in the final four.

The epeeists struggled valiantly, taking two bouts from the soon to be champion Irish before a frustrating loss against Ohio State. Rebounding from an equally tough loss to Ohio State, the lady sabres of MSU took the initiative and stunned Northwestern by taking the first two bouts of the competition, and narrowly missing a few others before ultimately falling to the wildcats. Despite ending the day on losses, the womens epee and saber squads finished higher than any other club squads and both earned the Schiller award, womens epee taking home back to back trophies from the previous year.

At the end of the day, the combined efforts of the team earned Michigan state a 6th place finish overall from the field of 20, close behind Michigan and ahead of Purdue. No club teams finished higher than Michigan, and so this year our rivals in Ann Arbor took home the overall team Schiller award. Given the enormous number of graduates from last year to this however (a total of 10 starting travelers out of a squad of 18) it is impossible to not be impressed with the results of our team this year.

We're looking forward to working hard these last few weeks as the travel season comes to a close and aim to improve upon our success at MFCs with a vengeance at this years Club Fencing Championships. Wish us luck! Go Green

Hello again online Spartan Fencing Community!

Last weekend your MSU Fencing team went on the road to Evanston Illinois to do battle with the Northwestern Wildcats and a host of other big ten schools.

While the full results from the tournament are not readily available yet, the team as a whole did quite well in closing out the regular season, putting themselves in good position to be highly seeded at the Midwestern Fencing Championships at Notre Dame in the coming weekend

Especially strong showings came from the Mens Foil and Womens Saber squads, both of whom posted 7-1 records on the day. Similarly strong showings came from Mens Saber, Womens Foil and Womens Epee, all defeating a majority of their opponents. Mens Epee had a tough weekend but posted some key wins, especially considering they had a rookie starter Nikita Predtechensky.

A more detailed assessment of the weekends results will follow. In the mean time, wish us luck in the coming week of practice and in the coming weekend as we prepare for the biggest tournament of our competitive fencing season. Go Green!

A minor update online Spartan Fencing community!

Re-tabulating the results, I couldn't help but notice that the Mens team ended up 5-3 on the day at the Notre Dame Duals, matching the Womens team. This has since been corrected in the previous post.

This also means that the complete results for the Notre Dame Tournament have been added to the website, leaving only the results from Chicago to be added (results that have not yet found their way to the webmaster).

Also videos have been successfully uploaded to the internet, expect details on how to view them to come at practice and in an email. Thanks for reading, go look at some of the statistics your spartan fencers have been hard at work bringing home, located in the Members and Competition Results sections of our site for individual and squad/team results respectively. Go Green!

Hello online Spartan Fencing Community!

Last week our travel squad packed their bags set out to the biggest tournament of the season yet, the 2010 Notre Dame Duals. A two day affair including some of the greatest competitors in the world of fencing. Host school Notre Dame boasts a star-studded line-up that includes two current members of the U.S. Olympic team and number of All-Americans in all weapon categories.

Undaunted our Mens and Womens teams took to the strip and squared off against competition both familiar and new to this season. In the first day of competition, the Womens team made a strong showing ending with an overall record of 5-3. Standout performers of the day included freshman Harriet Mctigue and senior Epee captain Alandra Greenlee, both of whom posted two victories over the fighting Irish in the best individual records of any MSU fencers against Notre Dame.

Taking to the strip the second day, the Mens team managed match their female counterparts, also ending the day 5-3 overall, with some impressive bouts coming from Junior foilist Jake Rathbun who managed a victory over reigning Club Fencing Champion Phillip Chan of Illinois, and Freshman Sabreur Patrick Ropp, who rallied the Saber squad to a first time victory over rival University of Michigan with a pair of key wins late in the competition.

On the whole both teams have much to be happy about, with solid victories over some opponents that had given trouble before such as Northwestern University on the Mens side and Purdue for the women. But there's a lot for Spartan fencers to strive for over the coming weeks of practice; close overall losses to the University of Michigan on both sides suggest that success at the upcoming Big Ten Duals at Northwestern will only come with hard work from all members of the MSU team.

Detailed results, photos and video of the most recent tournament are currently being processed. Video will likely end up being hosted on youtube in a privately viewable channel by the coming weekend to circumvent technical issues on our site. MSU students will be provided with the information necessary to access this.

In the mean time, keep working hard MSU fencers! Only one more tournament before we get ready to put it all on the line at the Midwest Fencing Championships in Notre Dame on March 6th and the Club Fencing Championships in Swarthmore, April 10th! Go Green

Attention online Spartan Fencing community!

As of today, our practices will begin at 8:30 PM, a half an hour later than usual. This is to accommodate a surge in basketball activity in the IM facility as the annual intramural basketball tournament has started.

But worry not! We will continue to have two hour practices that continue until 10:30 PM at night, on the same Monday-Thursday schedule. The only catch is, our first half an hour of practice will be devoted to physical conditioning, and will be carried out on the second floor of the IM building.

If you are a late arrival to our practice and can't find us, try popping open doors to the squash courts on the north half of the second floor. We are in all likelihood stretching in one of them.

Sorry for any inconvenience; stay tuned for more updates soon.

In an effort to put more meaning behind the numbers on the website, I'm going to try a squad by squad writeup to accompany the pictures and videos of our last tournament that are in the process of migrating to website. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy!

As a whole the tournament was undoubtedly a success for MSU. Womens Saber led the way, ending the day with an overall undefeated record of 3-0. Standout performers of the day were sabreurs Meg Holt and Harriet Mctigue, both routinely stepping up to the strip and putting down their opponents the entire morning. The Mens Saber squad had a tough day ending 0-3 overall, but lost two schools by one bout, and UDM by two bouts. Keep it up guys, we'll get them next time.

The Mens and Womens Epee squads ended the day 2-1, both boasting victories over varsity opponent Wayne State owing to some fine bouts from squad leaders Alandra Greenlee and Steve Moyers. Key to the Womens Epee success was relative newcomer to the fencing team Chelsea Champlin, and her win over seasoned NCAA competitor Desiree Kelly. While the Wayne St. Mens squad was fencing shorthanded without their 3-time NCAA champion Slava Zingerman, Wayne remains a well trained and potent force and the success our Epee squads enjoyed against them is worthy of special notice.

Rounding out the team, Womens foil went 1-2 for the day, and Mens foil ended up 2-1. The end results of the day do not speak to the obstacles these squads overcame in achieving their victories.

The Womens foil squad came off of tough losses to Wayne St. and UDM, before falling behind three bouts to rival U of M. Led by captain and club president Shaina Selbig, the womens foilists rallied to win the next four consecutive bouts, culminating in an undefeated performance from Shaina to win the squad and seal a womens team victory over the school as a whole.

In nearly 3 years, the mens foil squad had not beaten any of the schools they competed against this previous Sunday. This day saw wins over both UDM and U of M, despite both schools continuing to enjoy significant advantages of total overall fencing experience and higher average USFA ratings. It is also the first time to our records that MSU has defeated the University of Michigan in both mens and womens foil on the same day

All in all, this tournament saw all squads tested by two fine varsity teams and the #2 overall club fencing squad in the country last year and we were not only competitive with these schools, but victorious in many instances. Hats off to all that came with and supported the team; Hope you're as hungry as we are for more success in two weeks, in South Bend. Go Green!

Hello again online MSU fencing community!

We hope that the holiday season left you feeling refreshed and ready for another round of dominating performances from your Spartan fencing team!

After only two weeks of practice we've already attended another tournament at the University of Detroit Mercy, and while detailed results have yet to come in, the lady Spartans went 2-1 overall against the toughest opponents in the state, while the Mens team went 1-2 with a very close loss to their rivals, the University of Michigan.

Our practices have picked up where they left off, 8-10PM in the basement of IM West, and so have our website updates. The awards section and tournament results in particular have been largely populated with data, though a combination of a finnicky database and lack of printed results from some tournaments have left much of the overall squad reports not readily viewable; rest assured, this will be ironed out within the week.

Thanks for reading! And look for more updates in the very near future. Go Green!

Hello again online MSU fencing community.

There's good news and bad news. The good news is new fencers now have profiles in the members section of the page! The bad news is that your webmaster hasn't yet finished going through the photos of new fencers to place with their names, so placeholder images have been used instead while I resize and upload all of the photos.

Also, tournament results aren't publicly available on the site yet. But I assure you it's being worked on and will be up to date in the coming days. In the meantime, I have a long overdue appointment with a bed in my apartment. Thanks for reading

Hello again online MSU fencing community!

Apologies again for the huge delay in updates; A variety of school, illness, fencing and jury duty related activities have contributed to keeping me away from my duties as webmaster. But worry not! For a massive update is in the works, including tournament results and updated fencer profiles. Look for the update by this coming Sunday at the latest.

In the meantime, we of the Michigan State University would like to sincerely thank all of the parents, coaches, veteran fencers and students that have put forth the tremendous effort and commitment that made the start of our competitive season so successful. In particular, we'd also like to extend a heartfelt thanks to our new corporate sponsor, SundBerg Ferar for recently coming out and generously supporting our team.

Truly, you've all given us a lot to be thankful for, and we hope you have a safe and blessed holiday. Go Green