Club Esgrima Vallarta

Report on

San Diego Jr. Invitational Tournament Aug. 9-10, 2003

Maggie Wins the Bronze in Jr. Female Epee, Chari #11,
Anylu takes gold, Ariana - silver, Jenny - bronze in Jr. Female Saber
 Jorge #6 in in Jr. Male Saber
 

The San Diego Jr. Tournament was a big success for the many fencers that participated. Fencers from Hawaii, Arizona, California, Nevada, Mexico and even Great Britan attended and did their best.

The tournament was held at the beautiful campus of the Bishop School in La Jolla, California.  Event chairperson Michelle Shon worked with a crew that put together a very well-organized and well-run event. Very competent judges including Derek Cotton were there officiating. Our Puerto Vallarta team was welcomed by all, and the family of Josh, Heidi, Jeremy, and Jason Runyan (all saber fencers) went out of their way to make us feel comfortable.

Both Epee coach Davidson and Saber coach Charles Randall, were nervous and curious about how the team would fare in these untested waters. Except for Yesenia Anylu Cruz and this year's Jr. Olympics none of the young team had ever fenced in any tournament outside of the Mexico City Olympic Center. Trying to guess where the fencers would fall was a shot in the dark. Our most experienced fencer, Anylu Cruz is still considered almost a beginner in the sport as she only has 2 1/2 years of fencing experience. Fencer's Maggie and Jorge had just one year of experience and Chari even less.

First Event - Epee

On Aug. 9th, at 7:30 a.m. Coach Eugenio Davidson Rodriguez entered epeeists, Maggie Salas and Maria "Chari" Medrano in the Female Jr. category for epee.  In the preliminaries both won 3 and lost 2. Going into her elimination round, Chari fought valiantly, but lost to newly made friend Ariadne Greif of the Beverly Hills Fencing Club. Chari commented on how much she enjoyed fencing these new people, win or lose they were all so friendly and helpful.  Maggie won her elimination round and moved into the round for the bronze medal.

Coach Davidson and Salas checked and found that Salas would be bouting left-handed Megan Plachecki (of Arizona) on Piste #1 in a direct elimination round. Win and she would move to the next round, lose and she was out of the tournament. Plachecki had beaten Salas 5-3 in the preliminary bouts. Maggie, who speaks no English, was waiting patiently on the side of Piste #1, when the judge of her up-coming match noticed that Piste #3 had opened up, so she decided to move over to save time. Unfortunately Maggie and Coach Davidson were not informed of the change, and they continued to wait on the side of Piste #1 for the on-going match to finish.  Unbeknownst to them the judge was calling a warning on piste #3 and then decided to disqualify Salas as a "no show". Fortunately Heidi Runyan heard the judge as she made the final warning call and pointed out to the judge, Salas still waiting at Piste #1, and she further explained that Salas does not speak or understand English. Plachecki's coach Skip Schurtz was discussing the situation with the judge when Coach Davidson stepped in, explaining to Schurtz what the problem had been. During the conversation, Schurtz and Davidson recognized each other - they had bouted against each other in the 1955 Pan American Games! The situation resolved, the match was on. A little disconcerted by her near-loss/disqualification Salas was behind at the one-minute rest break. After a quick consult with her coach, Maggie came back strongly, dominating the balance of the match winning with a decisive 15-9 win. Overjoyed both Salas and Coach Davidson leapt into the air. Davidson then informed Salas that Plachecki had been ranked #1 after the preliminaries, but he hadn't told her so she would not feel more pressure. Coach Davidson was impressed by Maggie's ability to marshall her emotions and regain her focus after such an unsettling start. Maggie's win had energized and motivated her saber teammates (who would be competing the next day) as they offered their enthusiastic congratulations.

 Sunday - Saber

It was a bright, beautiful morning at the Bishop School, a good sign for the day to come. Jorge de la Torre had made friends with both the Runyan brothers, 17 year old Jason and 19 year old Jeremy, and was looking to forward to bouting them during and after the tournament. Jorge went into his preliminary's strong, winning 5 and only losing one bout (to Jeremy Runyan who won the silver).

Feeling very good, Jorge dominated his first elimination bout with Healy Day from Great Britian (15-4) and the win moved him to the bronze medal match. At the same time teammates, Anylu, Ariana, and Jenny were doing extremely well in their premliminary matches. Coach Randall was alternating between the girls and De La Torre, checking to see who needed him most. Out of the group, De La Torre  and Anylu Cruz have the best understanding and limited English, so Randall was keeping an eye on Ariana and Jennyfer, after Saturday's scare with Salas.

In a tense match, De La Torre and his tall opponent Michael Hass were tied almost all the way, 12-12, 12-13, then 13-13 until they got to 14-14.  De La Torre came close, losing 15-14. Losing like a gentleman he shook Mike's hand and congratulated him. De la Torre ended up finishing #6. After the match the Runyan brothers arranged for Jorge to bout with them and some friends so they could get in the most bouting possible before we left for the airport. Jorge jumped at the chance and we had to drag him away from the guys to leave.

At the same time, the girls had finished very strong in their preliminaries. An excited Coach Randall knew they had a strong possibility to move to the medal rounds, the next match would be critical. Lose and they were out of the tournament. Win and they moved into the medal rounds. They were nervous. All 3 girls won their matches. Unbelieveably all 3 had all made it into the medal rounds, and now they had to fence Rami Diamond and each other to determine who got what medal. All our medal rounds were officiated by Mr. Derek Cotton (Olympic Judge from the Sydney Olympics and a highly rated and respected FOC judge) Jenny won the bronze, Ariana the silver, and Anylu the Gold. Ginger Austin of

Ariana,Jenny & Anylu,  nervous and waiting

Vista, Calif. and the small group from Mexico, including fencers from Hermosillo and Tijuana were shouting for joy. 

With a truly great attitude and in the spirit of true sportsmanship, the girls from San Diego USA asked Coach Jeremy Runyan if he could arrange with Coach Randall a chance for them to pick their best 3 fencers to do a team event, USA vs Mexico. Everyone agreed, and looked forward to having making this a fun spontaneous match.

During the team event people crowded all around the fencing strip, curious to see the match and another chance to watch more closely these girls from Mexico who surprised everyone with their sweep of the individual medals. Both sides were more relaxed since there were no medals at stake. The USA girls, led by Rami Diamond and Adrienne Shon put on a good show. At one point during the Shon vs. Aranda portion of the team event Aranda had to change cables as a touch made by Shon did not register on the scoring machine (all equipment was officially checked prior to the match). Unrattled by the occurance Aranda stayed in focus maintaining the teams lead. Teammates Lobato and Cruz kept up the pace, the 3 together lengthened their lead eventually finishing the match 45-23.

(L-R, Ariana, Anylu, Jenny, Rami Diamond)

Meantime fellow countryman, David Armento Franco from Hermosillo, Sonora was going strong in Cadet's Men's Foil ending up winning the silver medal, then following up his strong showing by taking the silver again in Mens Jr. Foil. Felicidades David!   

 Photo w/David Armento

More photos below (some photos courtesy of Heidi Runyan):

 
             Anylu during the prelim's                              Cutie Jason Runyan         Shon & Lozano: Bronze medalists in Cadets Saber

     
Maggie               Tasha & Ariadne of Beverly Hills Fencing w/Chari & Maggie       Maggie 2nd from left w/bronze medal

     Plachecki vs Maggie                            The gold medal match, Ariana vs Anylu      Adrienne Shon w/Coach Josh Runyan

Josh & Heidi Runyan receiving special award       With  Runyan family- all saber fencers!     Los "Guapos" Jason & Jeremy       

Official Results

Women's Junior Epée

Place Name Club
1 Michelle Brinlee Las Vegas Fencing Center
2 Sofia Long Phoenix Falcons
3T Margarita Salas Muñoz Escrime Vallarta
3T Tasha Hall Beverly Hills Fencers' Club
5 Robin Thvedt Arizona Fencing Academy
6 Peony Wong Sierra Fencing Center
7 Norah Molina Golden Gate Fencing Center
8 Ariadne Greif Beverly Hills Fencers' Club
 

Women's Junior Sabre

Place Name Club
1 Anylu Cruz Gutierrez Escrime Vallarta
2 Ariana Aranda Garcia Escrime Vallarta
3T Jennyfer Lobato Furlong Escrime Vallarta
3T Rami Diamond Spartak
5 Becca Lozano Spartak
6 Adrienne Shon Spartak
7 Mary Bessell Los Angeles Fencing Center
8 Lisa Asano Coeur du Lion
 

Men's Junior Sabre

Place Name Club
1 Bret Martin Unattached
2 Jeremy Runyan Unattached
3T Michael Haass Unattached
3T Locky Stewart Cabrillo Academy of the Sword
5 Samuel Levine Salle Gascon
6 Jorge de la Torre Escrime Vallarta
7 Barron Nydam Spartak
8 Jason Runyan Spartak


for complete tournament results click here

for more photos from aug. 9 click here,  for Aug. 10 click here

for San Diego fencing website click here

Our team owes a big thank you to the following business and people for helping us get to the USA, and taking care of us once we got there. We couldn't have done it without their kind help and assistance.

Sponsors for our Aug. 2003 U.S.A. trip

Acesorios Rabbit

Acesoria Servicios e Instalaciones S.A.

Anonymous

Austin, Ginger

Ce Liang Zhen Huang

Club Rotaract - Puerto Vallarta

Charbel, Jimmy Mun~oz

Contreras de Gonzalez, Eva

Cortazar, Itamara

Cristaleria Pacifico

Estancia San Carlos

Evans, Willie

Ferreteria Amutio

Ferreteria Cococosa S.A. de C.V.

Ferreteria Zaragoza

FloraMex - Flowers Worldwide

Fomento Deportivo - Puerto Vallarta (city sports department)

Hotel Emperador

Hotel Los Arcos

Hotels Pescador and Rosita

La Espiga de Oro

Materiales Para Construccion La Vena S.A.

McDonald's - Puerto Vallarta

Outback Steakhouse

Pirey S.A. de C.V.

Restaurante De Santo's

Restaurante Pipi's

Restaurante Tarantino's

Runyan, Josh and Heidi

Talmage, Coralee

Torta's Pancho

VIP Magazine

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