This weekend, Carmichael Gymnasium played host to the North Carolina Division of the United States Fencing Association for a tournament that spanned several days.  The competitors battled to qualify to compete in the National Fencing Tournament this summer in Atlanta, Ga.  Placing in the tournament marks the winners as the best fencers in the state.  Five members of the State’s own fencing club competed in the tournament and two members advanced to the national competition.  Fencing club president and senior in aerospace engineering John Nance will compete in Nationals in addition to Christian Crevar, a freshman in first year college. Crevar not only advanced to the national competition but won the gold medal in the foil competition, making him the greatest foil fencer, rated C or under, in the entire state.  Grevar made his performance even more memorable by winning every bout, in which each competitor tries to get to 15 points in order to win, by a margin of 11 or more points.  “I was fencing well,” Crevar said. “I’m 6’7 and can outreach my opponent.” Jon Nance competed in the Epee competition and finished in seventh on his way to nationals.  He won his first divisional elimination bout by scoring a winning touch within the last ten seconds of the bout.  “My performance was good,” Nance said. “In that bout I had a tactic that was working against him and then he got frustrated. I capitalized on it.” The sport of fencing reaches far back into the history of many cultures and has been a staple in every Olympic Games since its inception.  Fencing is divided between men and women and into age groups. Some of these age groups are Y12 (Youth 12 or younger), Y14, Cadet (16 or younger) and Junior (20 or younger).  A rating system, similar to the colored belts of other martial arts, measures the experience and skill of every fencer.  The system consists of classes A, B, C, D, E and U. U stands for “unrated,” or a novice fencer. The foil, sabre, and epee are the names of the three weapons used in fencing and each are a separate event having its own rules.  In the foil and epee, the fencer must strike, or touch, the opponent with the point of the weapon, while any area of the sabre may touch the opposing fencer in order to gain a point.  The fencers wear protective gear from head to toe and the weapons do not have sharp points or edges.  In order to score in the foil, a fencer must strike his opponent within a strike zone that spans, within shoulders, along the midsection and down the torso.  In the sabre the fencer may touch from the waist up, including the arms and helmet.  In the epee fencers may strike anywhere on the opponent.The club, namely club public relations officer Kyle Barja, in cooperation with the director of club sports, Mary Yemma, were responsible for receiving the approval and space for the tournament.  The efforts of the club greatly impressed Jeff Kallio, the chairman of the North Carolina Fencing Association.  “The N.C. State fencing club has been a huge help in coordinating this event and had a strong presence during this event, and we are very appreciative of that,” Kallio said.