The fencing team ended its team competition season at the Great Lakes Conference Team Championship on Jan. 31, with the boys foil team finishing in seventh place overall. The team ended its individual season at the Great Lakes Conference Individual Championships on Jan. 24, with multiple members placing in the top eight.
The team competition coincided with the senior retreat, which caused the saber team to have lower numbers, resulting in an incomplete group and therefore less success, the fencers said.
“A lot of the saber team wasn’t able to make it, so we didn’t have a full saber team for that competition,” fencing co-captain Jack Fleming said. “Also, we had three really good epee fencers last year who were all seniors, and they all left, so our epee team right now is all freshmen and sophomores, who have to compete in JV.”
Throughout the season, the team did well in many competitions. Jack and his fellow co-captain, senior Luka Vegna-Spofford, placed in the top eight in multiple competitions, including the Great Lakes Conference Individual Championships, where Luka placed third and Jack placed eighth.
The JV team also had a strong season, with ninth graders Sean Chen-Landsberg and Miles Maki getting top eight in multiple events.
According to Jack, this year’s fencing season was shaped by the graduation of many skilled seniors on last year’s teams, both at Lab and at competing schools.
He said, “Me and Luca both did a lot better than we did last year, because across the board in our region, there were a lot of very good fencers last year who were seniors, and now that they’re gone, the overall skill of the sport in our region has gone down.”
