Richmond, VA (June 4-7, 2021) — It was a weekend of firsts and personal bests.
The June North American Cup, held at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, was the location for many milestones for the fencers at the Tim Morehouse Fencing Club.
Chelsea Delsoin is the first woman in TMFC history to finish in the top-8 of a Div I individual event with her 7th place result in Women’s Saber. Madison Four-Garcia had her strongest Div I finish as well, coming in 9th. Adéle Bois made top-64, coming in 44th.
The first medal winner of the weekend for TMFC was Sabrina Fang, earning at 7th place finish in Cadet Women’s Foil. Following her, Alina Zhang (56th) and Katie McGillion-Moore (60T) both made the top 64. Much of this same group competed in Junior Women’s Foil with Fang and Catherine Flanagan reaching the top-32 at 27th and 37T, respectfully. They had more successes in Div I Women’s Foil with three women making the top-32 — Fang at 23rd, Flanagan at 25th and Zhang at 26th. McGillian-Moore made the top-64, coming in at 43rd.
In Cadet Men’s Saber, Justin Morrill tied at 21st place and William Morrill earned 26th place to make the top-32. Inkosi Brou made the top-64, coming 62nd. In Junior Men’s Saber, the brothers switched places — William just missed out making top-16, coming in 17th and Justin came out on the top half of competitors at 66th our of 166. Competition was much harder in Div I — Justin made the top half at 67th place and William came up short at 96th. Div I Men’s Saber also saw the return of Coach Chris Cheney to competition.
Nowell Gibson just missed the medal stand in Cadet Men’s Epée, coming in 9th. David Pavlenishvili made top-32 at 31st. In Junior Men’s Epée, Pavlenishvili and Gibson both earned top-32 finishes at 20 and 22 respectively. Connor Kravit made the top-64 at 52nd place.
Cadet Men’s Foil saw two TMFC fencers making the top-32 — Henry Zhang at 20th and Nickolas Rusadze at 24. Matthew Breier made top-64, coming in at 57th. Division I Men’s Foil saw a strong performance from Finn Hossfeld, earning 13th place. James Flanagan made the top-64, tying for 56th. Zhang made the top half, coming in 79th out of the field of 174.
TMFC offered a deep field of competitors for Women’s Cadet Saber. Though just missing out of medals, there were strong performances from Four-Garcia at 9th, Amanda Li at 19th, Delsoin at 24th, Aria Bevacqua at 41st and Bois, at 66th. Junior Women’s Saber, Delsoin and Li made the top-32 at 21st and 33rd, respectively. Four-Garcia made the top-64 at 37th.
Action at the June NAC ran from Friday, June 4 through Monday, June 7, 2021 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Events contested include Division I, Junior and Cadet in all three disciplines: épée, foil and saber.
Next up on the national level is the Summer Nationals and July North American Cup to be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia from July 3 to 12, 2021. Events contested include Y-12, Y-14, cadet, junior, Div IA, Div I, Div II, Div III and Vet in all three disciplines: épée, foil and saber.