Sports
By Jesse Dolojan, Staff Writer
On Nov. 17, Xavier Club Fencing hosted a home tournament at the Health United Building (HUB) against Midwest Fencing Conference (MFC) teams. The total scores have not been calculated and submitted to MFC yet, but Xavier is projected to finish third out of the four teams present.
The MFC is a group of 21 collegiate fencing clubs that compete against each other with a tournament at the end of the season. The conference’s main goal is to introduce college students to the sport and allow them to compete in tournaments during the year.
The teams who attended Xavier’s home tournament were from Case Western Reserve University, the University of Michigan and Bowling Green University.The tournament was set up in a duels format, in which each sends their top three fencers for a best of nine set.
Co-head coach of Xavier Club Fencing and MFC treasurer John Prijatel noted that the tournament was the first of many for first-time Xavier fencers and that it presented them a chance to compete and learn from their experiences.
“There’s always some growing pains, especially for the new fencers, and the teams there presented a good variety of the teams in our conference,” Prijatel said. “University of Michigan is one of the stronger schools, (and) the Bowling Green program is a little bit smaller, kind of like ours. It really gives us the opportunity to see how we’re progressing, and how we match up against some of these other programs.”
Sophomore nursing major and the social media coordinator Kaleigh Cunningham finished 3-3 in women’s foil.
Xavier’s Club Fencing team hosted three other teams in their home tournament on Sunday, and they are projected to finish third out of the four teams.
“While some fencers didn’t win as much as they wanted to, they maintained a positive attitude throughout the day, which sometimes you don’t see in sports,” Cunningham said. “We have individual team members who excel in their weapon, they shine and they do so great; they inspire the people around them to do even better.”
Additionally, Cunningham noted that fencers, especially Xavier fencers, are focused on both self-improvement and team morale during practices and tournaments.
“At the end of the day, it’s about making sure we have our own improvements while having fun,” Cunningham said. “I love it more than anything. It is one of the highlights of my Xavier life, and I know I’ll miss it when I graduate in a couple years.”
Prijatel highlighted that Xavier Fencing’s smaller club size allows for everyone to practice together. He noted bigger programs are forced to break into weapon group practices, meaning most members do not get to meet each other.
“When we do drills together, we’re together as a team, so that way you get to know everybody. It feels much more like a large group that gets to come together, rather than a bunch of individual squads who may interact minimally,” Prijatel said. “But then on the flip side of that, we make sure there’s still opportunities where you’re competing with your teammates, to provide opportunities for them to really be pushed to be stronger fencers.”
Michigan State University has invited Xavier to attend their spring fencing tournament.
“Michigan State is one of the larger schools in our conference, and has the capability to host larger tournaments,” Prijatel said. “That tournament would be a great opportunity to give our fencers a lot of experience against a lot of different schools.”
MFC Championships are expected to be held in either late March or early April.
