Summer Nationals Day 1
Hello all, and welcome back to the page! Today is the first day of the annual Summer Nationals event. I was privileged to cover two events: the Junior Men's Epee and the Div 1 Women's Epee. I participated in the Junior event and saw firsthand how strong this tournament is. To start, the event I fenced was Junior Men's Epee, which hosted 454 fencers, an absolutely massive event. This was the most significant event I have ever fenced in. With this many fencers, not all could move to the elimination round, as regional events are. On the national stage, only a certain number of people, usually about 60-70% of fencers, move on to DEs. For this event, however, only 56% of fencers moved on. This is so uncommon that in my 6 years of fencing, I have never seen a percentage that low. Fencing in the junior event at nationals feels so vastly different than other events. The level of competition is multiplied by twenty, plus the atmosphere and overall feelings just cannot be replica...
