ROSE CONDON MEMORIAL FENCING TOURNAMENT\
Fencing tourney begins tomorrow morning
From Staff Reports
Preparations are underway once again for The Rose Condon Memorial Fencing Tournament, which is in its eighth year. The Rose VIII begins at 8:30 tomorrow and will continue through Sunday at the Bossier City Civic Center. For the first time, wheelchair fencing will be included in the competition. Fencers from Mississippi and Texas will be competing in the wheelchair event, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.
An impressive list of referees will once again be directing the bouts including internationally rated referees Gerrie Baumgart of Denver, Amgad Badawi of Dallas, and Mary Frye of Philadelphia. Other well-known referees include the Duke University fencing coach, Alex Beguinet and Jerry Benson of Oklahoma City. Also attending will be special guest Olympic Games Armorer Dan DeChaine of California.
Competing in the Rose Tournament is Shreveport's own Evelyn Scarborough, a 2002 graduate of Caddo Magnet High School, and the reigning Division 1-A national women's epee champion. Evelyn fences for the Caddo-Bossier Foundation for Sword Sports. A large number of Caddo Magnet High School fencers will compete in the tournament including their coach, Rob Candiloro. The Magnet team recently competed in the National Junior Olympics in Charlotte, North Carolina. Also competing will be the members of the Tulane University Fencing team, including Scott Jennings, a Caddo Magnet graduate and the 2004 Rose Scholarship recipient.
The Rose Condon Fencing Tournament was started by Sharron Settlemire, as was the Fencing Program at Caddo Magnet, where she was coach for 22 years. She decided that this tournament and scholarship would be a wonderful tribute to Rose, who was a 1999 graduate of CMHS. Rose participated in the fencing program for four years, and was a team manager for two of those years. She attended The Junior Olympics in Oakland, California with the team under the direction of Ms. Settlemire. Rose was attending Louisiana Tech pursuing a degree in art when she sustained fatal injuries in an automobile accident.
All of the profits from The Rose will once again go into The Rose Condon Memorial Scholarship Fund, as do all donations. The ninth scholarship will be presented to a graduating senior from CMHS who has participated in the fencing program at least one year. The Rose committee for the tournament are all volunteers, who spend countless hours on bringing this tournament together every year.
As always, admission is free to the public. Spectators are welcomed, and can enter and exit the venue at any time during both days of the competition.