Minneapolis, MN - A lot of Iowa fencers competed at the April North American Cup this weekend. Division 1 National Championships were held in conjunction with the NAC, so it was also a great opportunity to watch USA Fencing's top athletes and Olympians compete.

Vet 60 Women's Epee
 - Jann Ream (ICFC) 3/17

Vet 50 Men's Foil
 - Jay Jorgensen (SCFC) 31/36

Vet 40 Men's Foil
 - Doug Jauer (SCFC) 13/22

Vet 60 Men's Foil
 - Luke Tierney (ICFC) 11/22

Vet 60 Men's Epee
 - Luke Tierney (ICFC) 34/42

Div II Men's Foil
 - Oilver Chalkley (ICFC) 35/82
 - Alan Tentinger (ISUFC) 60/82
 - Arthur Cheng (ISUFC) 72/82

Vet Men's Saber
 - RJ Lesch (RDF) 27/40

Vet 40 Men's Epee
 - Jim Knutson (SCFC) 16/16

Vet Team Men's Foil
 - Doug Jauer (SCFC) (10/11)

Vet Women's Epee
 - Jann Ream (ICFC) 15/49

Div II Women's Saber
 - Priyanka Ghosh (SCFC) 37/39

Ames, IA - At the Iowa Division's Div 2 and Div 3 National qualifying tournament, we had 3 or fewer signed up for each weapon/gender group, so everyone qualified for their respective Div 2 and Div 3 events and got a fun button! We also held Iowa "Championship" events for those who wanted to fence but were not interested in qualifying for nationals.

We had 10 fencers for Mixed Foil, 5 for Mixed Epee, and 9 for Mixed Saber. Full results are posted on askFred: http://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=25542
Medals were awarded to the top 4 in each event:

FOIL:
1st - Doug Jauer (Sioux City Fencing Club)
2nd - Jared Paine (Des Moines Fencing Club)
Tied for 3rd - Evan Decker (Iowa City Fencing Center) and Brett Watchorn (SCFC)

EPEE:
1st - Aaron Stroppel - (Iowa City Fencing Center)
2nd - Doug Jauer - (Sioux City Fencing Club)
Tied for 3rd - Jann Ream and Michelle Liu (both ICFC)

SABER:
1st - Brett Watchorn (Sioux City Fencing Club)
2nd - Mark Gronlund (Iowa State University Fencing Club)
Tied for 3rd - RJ Lesch (Red Door Fencing) and Eric Baldus (Des Moines Fencing Club)

Ames, IA - Elections for Iowa Division Board officers were held today at noon during our Div 2 and 3 national qualifying tournament. We had six people running for 4 positions. The new Board for the 2014-2015 term is President Brett Watchorn from the Sioux City Fencing Club, Vice President Evan Decker from the University of Iowa Fencing Club, Treasurer Jann Ream from the Iowa City Fencing Center, and Secretary Sarah Timmons Powell from Red Door Fencing in Des Moines.

The Board would like everyone to know that if there are any ideas for tournaments, events, clinics, etc. that you would like the division's help with, we would like to know and are happy to help! You don't need to be a member of the board to help organize these events. 

Our next priority is holding a referee clinic in Iowa as soon as we can. The entire division will benefit greatly from better referees at our tournaments, and we want to make sure we stay current with how calls are being made at the national level. We will post more information as soon as it's available.

A number of people have also asked about holding another North American Cup event in Iowa (the last one was in Des Moines in 2009). The minimum (uninterrupted) space requirement for a Div III NAC is 150,000 sf, which is the size of the largest convention facility in Iowa. The minimum sf requirement for Div II and Div I NAC's is 180,000 sf, so there are currently no facilities in Iowa that can accommodate such a large event. So while we would love to have another NAC in Iowa, it looks like it is unlikely to happen in the near future.