Fencers from the fencing team finished strong in the SoCal Scholastic Fencing League Novice tournament at Province High School, Burbank, California on Dec. 14, 2025. The fencing team swept the top six places in the Middle School Men’s Foil event, with Lachlan Marlborough ‘31 finishing first and Cooper Hou ‘31 second.
Additionally, Ava Berenji ’28 finished first in the High School Women’s Epee event, Luke Vaca ’29 finished 3rd in the High School Men’s Epee event, and Knox Yoon ’29 finished 3rd in the High School Men’s Foil event. Both Abigail Amron ’31 and Lillian Gorden ’30 finished 3rd in the Middle School Women’s Epee event. The tournament featured over 85 fencers with no more than a year of fencing experience.
A fencing tournament is usually split into two parts. Fencers participate in a pool round and then fence direct elimination bouts.
The pool round in a fencing tournament is held in a round robin format. Fencers in groups of six or seven will have about five touches with three minutes on the clock. Fencers then will participate in direct elimination matches, where a loss gets the fencer eliminated from the tournament. Fencers will fence to 15 touches with 9 minutes on the clock including 1 minute breaks every 3 minutes.
Knox Yoon ’29 was asked what advice he would give to beginner fencers who had never experienced a tournament before.
Knox Yoon ’29 said, “Novice tournaments are really great, you should definitely work on reviewing tapes and I really like analyzing fencers before I fence them. I noticed that my opponent was overcommitting, so I was able to think out a plan before I fenced them. If you’re short, don’t be afraid to go back a little and fake him out”.
“I tell fencers to fence with what they know, be calm, fence rationally, and tell them to move with the point forward. I just try to tell them that they know how to fence and they got this. I want them to plan their actions and just think”, said Brentwood School fencing coach, Carla Corbit.
Students could participate not only as fencers, but also as referees. Referee Haley Pedersen ’28 found herself in a high-pressure situation.
“I was referring at a scholastic tournament during the semi-finals and the score was 13-13. The girls were in close distance and I called halt. Someone claimed that they scoured before the halt and when it’s 13-13, the point is very important, so I decided that I didn’t know and decided that it’s ok to not know”.”
Harvard-Westlake Fencing Coach Erika Velarde, very proud of what the fencers have accomplished in this tournament and looks forward to the next Scholastic League tournament.
