Amassing a total of 10 medals across both divisions, the Lady Fencers clinched second overall, while the Green Fencers settled for third in the UAAP Season 82 Fencing Tournament, held last February 11 to14 at Paco Arena, Malate, Manila.
The Lady Fencers garnered four medals—a team foil gold, two silvers, and a bronze—improving from their fourth place output last year. Meanwhile, the Green Fencers dropped from second last season despite making it to the podium in both individual and team categories of foil, saber, and épée.
Lady Fencers
Successfully snagging the team’s lone gold, Lady Fencers Divine Romero, Patricia Eusebio, Nicole Alcaraz, and Chloie Rudio drubbed the UE Lady Warriors in the women’s team foil event, 45-37, then proceeded to edge the ADMU Lady Eagles in the finals, 45-42.
In the women’s team épée, Romero, along with Nichole Apacible, Katrina Castañeda, and Justin Mae Silverio, advanced to the finals after beating the UST Golden Tigresses, 45-40. However, they were outmatched by the eventual overall champions, UE Lady Warriors, 45-36, and took home the silver medal instead.
Showing off the Animo spirit, Romero added a foil silver and an épée bronze to the team’s medal bank. After crushing UP Lady Maroon Angelika Barrera, 15-0, Romero outclassed Lady Warrior Anne Nicole Baring, 15-9. However, she failed to overthrow ADMU’s Maxine Isabel Esteban in the finals, 15-7, finishing with a silver medal in the individual foil category. Romero also surpassed fellow Lasallian Apacible in their early épée encounter, 15-14, but her gutsy charge against Lady Warrior Mickyle Rein Bustos proved to be just short in their close semi-finals match, 15-14.
Green Fencers
Despite securing a medal in all six men’s division fencing categories, the Green Fences were unable to propel themselves to dethrone the eight-time overall champions, the UE Red Warriors, nor could they retain last season’s silver-medal finish.
In the men’s saber team event, Green Fencers David Emmanuel Lumahan, John Micahel Gajon, Angelo Ricarte, and Vincent Tibus dispatched the ADMU Blue Eagles in the semi-finals, 45-41, but the the Lasallians were forced to settle for second against a composed UE Red Warriors squad in the finals, 45-30.
Winning bronze for the team, DLSU’s Darylle Joshua Lumahan, Jose Lorenzo Mercado, Peter Tyrone Nieto, and Hadj Satinitigan overcame the UP Fighting Maroons, 45-31, in men’s team épée, but their finals hopes were pummeled by the UE Red Warriors, 45-35.
Meanwhile, Mercado, together with Psalm Nathan Co, Marion Gamilla, and Keith Medina topped the UP Fighting Maroons in an dominant showing, 45-28. However, the Green-and-White encountered a tough hindrance in the ADMU Blue Eagles, losing out on a finals berth in team foil, 45-24.
The Lumahan brothers also snatched a bronze medal each in the individual categories for men’s saber and men’s épée, while Mercado also delivered a third-place finish in men’s foil.
Different routes
As the captain of the Green Fencers, Lumahan shared with The LaSallian that he was not completely satisfied with the results of the games. “We [could] have done better pa, pero may mga times talaga na mayroon tayong ‘di ineexpect na mangyari,” he recounted. Coming from a second place finish last year, it was a shock for the team to miss the chip. It proved an overwhelming hurdle for the Green-and-White to overcome the squads of UE and ADMU, whose rosters featured former national team members.
(We could have done better, but there were times that unexpected things happened in the competition.)
The Lady Fencers, on the other hand, improved from the results of last year. From missing the podium, they moved two ranks up to snatch the second-place finish. A surreal feeling for the Green-and-White emerged after several years of a gold medal drought. As captain Chaleyreene De Guzman expressed, “Every time we train, we joke around and say, ‘that’s for gold for the team.’ Finally, we showed that we proved to earn that elusive gold medal for the team.”
Coach Ramil Endriano conveyed his pride over both teams’ efforts to achieve success for DLSU. “Natuwa ako mas lalo sa babae kasi nakita ko ‘yung sakripisyo at ‘yung focus nila sa training. Talagang nakita ko na gustong gusto nila manalo ngayong UAAP [season],” he concluded.
(I was happy with the performance of the team, especially the Lady Fencers because I saw their sacrifice and focus in training. I really saw that they wanted to win it all this UAAP season.)
Correction: February 17, 12:30 am
The previous version of this article misspelled the names of Lady Fencers Chloie Rudio, Chaleyreene De Guzman, and Nichole Apacible. The article has since been updated to correct the oversight.
Correction: February 17, 7:30 am
The previous version of this article misspelled the names of Lady Fencers Chloie Rudio, Chaleyreene De Guzman, and Nichole Apacible. The article has since been updated to correct the oversight.
