GRAFA Fall 2025 Results and Reflections

Fantastic Weekend for TCFC at the GR Regional Competition!!  Deep Gratitude to GRAFA for hosting an Excellent Run Competition!!  Thank You referees for all your patience and work!!

What stood out more than anything this weekend were our fencers' Emotional Resilience to bounce back into the fight, win or lose! Parents, Coaches and Fencers  all talked to me about this aspect… and how we are friendly/respectful! 

Day 1 

In Men’s Div 1A Devan, Evan, and George competed. Devan had an exciting comeback against the quick/tactical sly Logan Williams( FCC) to tie it up 14/14 knocking on the door of R8 to lose literally by hesitating by a spilt second!! Devan and Evan earned Div 1A points though!

Div 3 Women’s - Emery and Ashley competed. Emery in her first Regional comp made it to the R8 earning a medal by upsetting 7th seed MSU Fencer Lillian Alstrom with lots of heart and sound tactics!! 

Addy fought in what one could only call an Absolute All Out Raging Battle in R8 with Koko!! Feeling absolutely exhausted( from sickness etc) she still managed in the 3rd period to fight her way back into the bout and tie it up 14/14… in that last chaotic exchange Koko somehow got her tip on and won. Amazing resilience to bounce back into the fight Addy and earning herself 7th. 

Day 2 

Started with Claire crushing her way into the  Women’s Div 1A Final only to meet the On Fire Helena Linares (NCAA Detroit Mercy).  Claire earned 2nd place/Silver Medal.

Men’s Div 2 Nilo won his first Regional DE against Henry 15-14!! Evan took 3rd place/Bronze but barely made it to the Semis. In R8 he had a good lead… however the persistent Jack Seabloom (Royal Arts) brought the bout back to 14/14 but got the last touch!!  

In Cadet Colton struggled in pools, his emotional/mental game was vulnerable…then he became possessed by Eyore!!  Meanwhile Henry was possessed by Tigger bouncing his way to winning every pool bout!! Meanwhile Colton thanked Eyore then sent Eyore out to the pasture winning his first DE then he came up against Henry (a theme for Henry this weekend having his teammates in DEs) won that bout then made his way to the Semis but lost to Chen (Canada) 10-15!  Going from 19th out of pools to earn a Bronze Colton!! Great job Colton!!

Y12 Grrrls Evie (only her 2nd Regional) after losing her first bout stormed through pools going 4-1!!  With some tactical help from her teammate Emery, Evie won her first DE!! Then she had the very well trained Mary Domonkos (Escrime du Luc!!) in R8.  It was a seesaw battle all the way to the end Evie got up 13-12 but Mary’s Brilliant Coach Marie noticed that Evie's weapon hand was really tired so Mary started beating the blade, throwing off Evies point control on her counter attacks… Evie lost.. she earned 6th place (17 fencers total) and a medal!!! 

Day 3 

Div3 ME - Tigger( aka Henry) Returns with the mantra “every touch is 14/14” and burpees!!  Henry emerges from pools 2nd… crushes his 1st DE 15-3.  Then in a familiar scenario he has Trevor (who beat Nathaniel in his 1st DE).   This bout was a fight.. till Trevor got up by 2 touches at the end of the bout using a typical Vet pesky Flèche forcing Henry into another situation of potentially losing to a teammate in a DE… Henry bounced back and at 14/14 pushed Trevor to the back of the strip but this time-no hesitation-made a decision getting the touch to win 15-14!!  Fast forward Henry is in the Final!  Now waiting to fence he goes to do burpees… when he finishes his opponent Ethan Peng (Canada) comes over and they start to talk.  It was a wonderful moment of comrade and respect before they went into battle!!  Amazing bout!! Henry took a demanding lead 7-3 then Ethan brought it back and eventually Ethan took the lead 12-10. But Henry made the necessary adjustment by no longer giving Ethan the space to set his deadly flèche up.  Henry met him in the middle of the strip… well of course it came to 14/14 (Henry’s mantra every touch is 14/14!). Henry was in control of the strip up to that point and he continued to do that winning the bout!!  Earning Gold in Div 3!!  Trevor took 6th getting a medal as well!!  

Last event Y14 Grrrls Emery and  Evie!  This is a Tough event!!  Evie in pools 2-3  beating  the very tough Zoe Torres (Peoria who took 3rd place that day!!).  Emery had amazing pools 3-3 (almost 4-1). Emery focused on watching her opponents fence then came up with tactics from drills  she believed would work to beat them and it worked!!  Doing drills on the strip!!

Evie pulled Madeline Marks (Windy City) , an experienced/ very tough opponent in her first DE.  It was a frustrating bout for Evie but she fought till the end but lost.  Evie took 14th. This was her first Y14 Regional. That's great!! Emery was 9th out of pools right on the cusp of the medal round.  She pulled Zara Tisdale (Bronzville) who she best 3-5 in pools.  However, the experienced Tilsdale changed up her game by slowing it way down and threw Emery way off!!  At the second break Emery was down 9-3 really upset sitting on the end of the strip feeling like “ I don’t know what to do!”  We just breathed together no talking.  Then she just stood up when the referee called her… shook herself out we high fived and Boom she brought the bout back to one 11-12.  Then Zara threw this crazy infighting attack it got real messy Emery scored but had by mistake touched Zara’s blade with her hand and touch was annulled and awarded to Zara.  Zara ended up winning 15-12 but Emery won also because again the Emotional Resilience to bounce back into the fight when you literally feel you're done… you have nothing left- no answers-and then you embrace the challenge-the I don’t know mind- and trust yourself…this takes a lot of Courage/Self Respect that our fencers demonstrated all weekend long!!  Everyone Rocked it Out!!  We also made new friends and supported  fencers from other clubs which I'm really proud of our team!!! That’s who we are at TCFC!