The Queen’s women’s fencing team had a sharp performance at the OUA Championships, hosted at the Royal Military College on Mar. 5 and 6.
The Queen’s sabre team earned a bronze medal, the foil team earned a hard-fought fifthplace finish, and the epee team finished in fourth. Queen’s placed fourth overall, falling short of third-place finishers, RMC, by four points.
In the individual sabre event, Caroline Whitehead, Sci ’23, took home the bronze medal.
“The competition was really hard [and] my opponents were also really well experienced,” Whitehead said in an interview with The Journal. “So, [winning bronze] felt really good.”
“I just set the goal to fence my best and medal. That was my main goal for [the] individual [event].”
On winning bronze in the team event, Whitehead iterated how proud she was of her teammates for stepping up and holding their own during the competition. While Whitehead has fenced since she was eight, two of her teammates took up the sport last September and the other has just two years of training under their belt.
Considering this, a bronze medal finish was phenomenal, according to Whitehead.
“We exceeded my expectations,” she said of team sabre’s performance. “I was so proud of them in seeing how far they’ve come, because it was a really hard competition for us.”
Along with her medals, Whitehead was awarded the Dave O’Donnell trophy for demonstrating the highest level of skill, style, and sportsmanship at the tournament.
“I was really honored and proud of myself for making a name for myself and […] not only doing my best physically but also [proving] that I have good sportsmanship,” Whitehead said.
The Journal also spoke to team captain Emily Mason, ArtSci ’22, who finished fourth in individual epee.
“Knowing the field, I felt like I could make top four pretty comfortably and I achieved that,” Mason said of her performance.
“I was really happy with that.”
While there is some disappointment that the epee team fell short of the podium, Mason is still incredibly proud of the team’s effort.
“A little bit of a heartbreak for sure, but I’m so proud of everyone and I was really happy with how we were handling ourselves as a team,” Mason said.
“A lot of our athletes are brand new to the sport and brand new to competing, and they did phenomenally.”
Mason was named an epee OUA All-Star for having scored the most points and least points allowed during the team event.
Achieving this recognition was a perfect sendoff for the fourth-year fencer, who was glad to end the weekend on a high note.
“It really means a lot to finish off my competitive tenure at Queen’s with a recognition like that,” Mason said. “I’m really proud [and] I’m really grateful for the experience.”
Mason emphasized the successful outcomes of the weekend—medals or individual awards—are a testament to the entire team’s talent, skill, and fortitude across each of the sport’s three categories.
“I want to recognize all of our athletes who came and all of our staff and coaches, because they really made the difference for us,” Mason said.
“I think it solidifies the fact that Queens has one of the premier training programs for fencing in the province.”
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