... And Another Silver!  Crossing of the Blades
May 22-23, 2004

Grapevine, TX - The Ark-La-Miss Division began the Crossing of the Blades Tournament in Grapevine, TX on Saturday, May 22 with Clint Bowers and Evelyn Scarborough of Shreveport Fencing Club in the Mixed Epee event. Of the 68 pre-registered for the event, only 38 were present at the 8am close of registration. However, the field was very tough with three Olympians, two former Division I-A champions, and only 8 unrated fencers.

Both Clint and Evelyn emerged from pools with 2-3 records and 27th and 22nd seeds, respectively, into the direct eliminations. Clint drew 38th seed Charlotte Muskrat for his top 64 bout and earned a decisive victory 15-4 into the top 32, the same quadrant as his teammate, Evelyn Scarborough. Evelyn's top 32 bout was next, with two-time Olympian and 2003 Division I National Champion John Moreau of South Texas. The bout began with even scoring until around 5-6 Moreau took off, securing his victory 15-8. Evelyn finished 24th. Clint drew 6th seed Brent Kelly of Grapevine, TX for his top 32 bout. Clint established an early lead and held it throughout the bout to win 15-10. He then faced Moreau in the 16 bracket. Again, the scoring was relatively even in the beginning of the bout, but Moreau was able to gain a lead and hold it with doubles to finish with a 15-12 victory. Clint finished in 16th place.

On Sunday morning, the Ark-La-Miss Division sent in Evelyn Scarborough of SFC and Elise Ackley of Caddo Magnet Fencing Club into the Women's Epee event. Again, with 4 of 12 pre-registrants no-showing, the field was a small 8, but with 3 A's and 3 B's was no cakewalk. The organizers decided to hold a pool of 8 for maximum fencing time, and Evelyn emerged with a 2nd seed from her 6-1 record in pools and Elise 7th with a record of 1-6. Unfortunately, this paired them off against each other in the top 8. Even so, both fencers made a strong showing in the direct elimination with Evelyn winning 15-8. Elise finished in 7th place. In the top 4, Evelyn faced off with Diane Kallus from South Texas. Evelyn established a strong early lead and continued it through the bout to win 15-9. In the final she faced Victoria Mikhailova, the newest epee coach at Lone Star Fencing Center with an extensive history fencing on the Russian National Team. Evelyn began the bout ahead 3-1 but Mikhailova drew on her vast experience to find her lead and finish victorious 15-8.

Evelyn's finish garnered her the silver medal.