After lots and lots of problems finding transportation to get the whole team to Maine (Student Affairs, please take note!), a Club member (but not a team member), Mike Coates, finally took pity on us and offered to drive the whole team in his van.
We had a VERY early start in order to be there at 8:30 am, for the official check-in. Coach Brown cheated by traveling up on Friday night. The men's teams consisted of Sean Price & Daniel Watkins (Foil); William Mahoney (Captain) & Nathan Howells (Sabre); and Brian Gagnon & George Campbell (Epee).
The competition attracted all the best fencing teams from the area, including powerhouses such as Brown, Tufts and MIT. After a long day of fencing we came in 13th in the team competition. Our Sabre team was placed 9th, and William Mahoney was 8th in the Sabre individual. Everyone fenced well and had a good time. After a team meal at Wendy's (yes, we travel in style) the long return trip was spent sleeping.
The women's team fenced on Sunday in the Junior Varsity competition, as there were two novice fencers on the team -- it just wouldn't have been appropriate to fence against the top women fencers in the region. What we weren't told was that the JV competition would be run after the Varsity competition was finished. Having got there early and being ready to fence at 9 am, the team waited around until about 3 pm before starting.
The team consisted of Chris Barnard, Cecily Taylor and Cat Hayden. The JV competition included fencers from Boston College, Tufts, Wellesley and UMass. The women's team all fenced very well, and made a big impression (on the targets of their opponents). The results were that in the final Cecily Taylor finished 6th, and Chris Barnard came in 2nd, a splendid result, with both being presented with medals. WPI has not fielded a women's team at the championships for many years, so this result was especially exciting.
As a special postscript to the weekend, Molly Sullivan, a recent member of the US Olympic team, visited WPI on Monday 20th, to work with the women's team. Unfortunately, due to some health and car problems only Chris could fence. She got a tough workout and lots of good ideas for things to work on. It was really great to see Olympic quality fencing "up close and personal." All in all this was an intense but enjoyable three days of fencing.