Instagram of the Day: Big Fencing Weekend!!

The boys had their first "team" tournaments this past weekend, and it was the most fun we've had at a fencing tournament before. I posted these 10 photos online Sunday night along with this text:

HELLAVA DAY!!
.
Charlie fenced in his first 3-man team tournament ever in the “under 14” age group. There were 7 teams, and his team made it to the GOLD MEDAL MATCH where they were up against the number one seed and ready to get murdered. But when Charlie fenced for his 3rd time that match (as the 8th out of 9 bouts - each of the 3 fencers fence 3 times), he scored 13 touches to put his team in the lead for the first time all match! And his teammate Lucas held on to the win with a final score of 45-42 with 3 seconds left! These boys were ECSTATIC!
.
Then I wisked him away to a swim meet, where he had already missed one of his events. He made it moments before the 50 free (like 2 minutes before, seriously), so he dove in to race! He also raced a relay an hour later.
.
Then it was back to cheer on Henry for his team fencing tournament. His team (named “Small, Medium, and Large” for obvious reasons) won their first and lost their second, so they fenced for bronze and won. So they left with 3rd place medals! (Pictured with 1st and 2nd in the last pic.) Big fun day!!

Charlie's Team: Lucas, Charlie, and Jacob.


Charlie fencing.


Moments after the big win!!


45 to 42 with 3.39 seconds left!


Getting their medals.

Then we shot across St. Paul and barely made it for Charlie's second swim event (after missing the first). I took a photo of his events when we were walking to the pool from my car, and the next photo of him swimming was 7 minutes later! REALLY tight!

Diving in.


Fin, Noah, and Francis cheering Charlie on in a relay!


Back at fencing, here's team "Small, Medium, and Large" after they fenced for 3rd place!


Getting their medals.


Top 3 teams in Henry's division: left is 3rd, middle 3 are 2nd, and right is 1st.

The format in team fencing is totally different. In a "normal" tournament, the fencers get split into groups of 5-7 and they all fence each other in their "pools" in short bouts to 5 touches (or 3 minutes). That determines their rank for the "direct elimination" bracket (or "D.E.": a normal "March Madness"-like single elimination bracket) where they fence to 15 touches (in 3 periods of 3 minutes each).

In a team tournament, there's no "pool" bouts, just a big bracket. And there are 9 bouts in each round: each fencer on the team fences the 3 people on the other team (rotating so everyone gets rest). The scoring is more interesting: the first pairing goes until someone has 5 touches, so lets say it's 3-5 at the end of that. The second pairing goes until a team has 10 total touches. So if the first team that only had 3 touches has a good fencer here, they could get 7 touches during that round to be ahead 10-6 (if the 2nd team only got 1 touch, for example). So that's how Charlie took his team from way behind as the 8th fencer: they were going to 40 touches, and his team was behind 27-35, but Charlie got 13 touches while the other team only got 4 to make it 40-39 at the end of his bout.

Oh, and a few weeks ago, I posted this about a high school tournament that Henry was in:

Henry had his best showing in a fencing tournament today in Rochester! He won ALL of his bouts in pool play, earning himself a 4th overall rank going into the direct elimination bracket. In the bracket, he earned a bye in the 1st round for placing so well, won in the 2nd round 15-5, and had a tight bout in the 3rd, losing 12-15. A few more touches would have earned him his first medal. Dang. He finished with his first top-10 finish ever in 9th place (out of 35).

Pool results. Look in Henry's row: all green "V5s" meaning he won all
with 5 touches. Looking down the 2nd column shows Henry's opponent's touches.


Ranked FOURTH after pool play!! Highest ever!!
(And the highest "unranked" fencer too.)


In the D.E. bout.

So he was just a few touches from making the top 8. And because he scored so well in pool play, he was ranked first among "the rest," which means he was 9th overall.