Jacob Scruton, who trains at the Seacoast Fencing Club in Rochester, NH, went to his second Junior Olympics in Portland, Oregon this weekend, and finished 32nd in Cadet Men’s Foil (fencers 16 years old and younger). This puts Jacob on the National Point Standings, and is now ranked as the 55th best U17 foil fencer in the United States. While winning only half his bouts in the first round, and seeded 107, he won his first three elimination bouts, moving from the round of 256 into the round of 32 (winning his last bout by a score of 15-5). Jacob was defeated in his next bout, against the fencer who finished ninth.

Then on Monday, Jacob finished 54th in Junior Men’s Foil, which puts him on the Junior National Point Standings as the 118th best U20 foil fencer in the country. His future looks bright, as he has four more years of eligibility in that age group.

To put these results in perspective, Jacob is a D fencer. He was the only D fencer to make the top 32 in U17 foil, ahead of 8 A fencers, and 38 B fencers. Quite an upset for those highly ranked 46 fencers who finished below him. He also had the best finish of any D fencer in the U20 foil, and was the only D to finish in the top 75. I think it is safe to say that Jacob is the best D rated Junior or Cadet foil fencer in in the United States. Congratulations, Jacob!

Be sure to watch Channel 9 News this coming Thursday, February 13.  The two Seacoast fencers that are competing at the Junior Olympics this week in Portland, Oregon are the featured “Hometown Heros” segment on the sports broadcast that evening.  Jason King interviewed Jacob Scruton and Sam Wood last week after hearing they will be going to the Junior Olympics February 14-17.  Since I know you will all be at the club training that night, I’m sure you will have to record the program! 

Good luck at the JO’s, Sam and Jacob!

We had a great tournament in Manchester this past weekend, hosting a D meet with 67 fencers competing in five events.  Seacoast had 19 of those entries, and our fencers won three of the five events.  Sam Wood was on fire that day- a double winner, taking gold in both Women’s Foil  and Women’s Epee, and she was the top woman finisher in the Mixed Foil.  In Mixed Epee, Gerry Duffy was strong and focused all day, never losing a bout, and won his event.  Congratulations to both Sam and Gerry!

We also had three fencers earn bronze medals at the meet, with Ida Choy taking third in both Mixed Epee and Women’s Epee, Adria Kajenski also third in Women’s Epee, and Liam Higgins finishing third in Mixed Saber.  Congratulations Ida, Adria, and Liam on your strong results!

The next event we host will be Seacoast Team Meet #3, on March 15, at our club in Rochester.   

We hosted the Junior Olympic Qualifiers this past Saturday (December  7), and Seacoast had a great day of fencing.  SFC fencers won all four contested events:  Liam Higgins won the Junior Men’s Saber, Jacob Scruton won the Cadet Men’s Foil, and Sam Wood won both the Cadet and Junior Women’s Foil.  Congratulations to the three of them!

Of the 24 entries, 19 were from Seacoast, so it is no surprise that SFC fencers were the vast majority of those who are now qualified to go to the 2014 Junior Olympics, which will be held this February in Portland, Oregon.  While not all who qualified will actually go to Oregon to compete, fourteen Seacoast fencers qualified this Saturday. 

And we would like to thank the two UNH fencers who did a great job directing for us, Kate Dusenberre and Cam Borgal.