Fotinatos and Heiner fence U19 Sectionals

On Sunday, Mike Fotinatos and Nick Heiner fenced the North Atlantic Junior (U19) Sectionals in Rochester, NY. With 56 competitors, it fell a little short of being an A4 event. Early in his pool Fotinatos suffered an injury to his hand that lead to the development of a massive blood blister, making parries a painful proposition. He soldiered on and finished the pool 3-3.

For DEs, he considered switching to his uninjured left hand (he briefly fenced a lefty in high school). However, he concluded this would be a bad idea and managed to win his first DE right handed. His next bout, against Barrett Weiss, was at 9-9 before Fotinatos received yet another flick to the hand, at which point he could barely continue fencing. Weiss defeated Fotinatos 15-9 and went on to win the entire event. Mike ended up 27th / 56.

Nick Heiner Heiner was 5-1 in his pool. He seeded 8th out of pools. After a bye into the round of 32, he fenced Prince for the 16. Although Heiner got off to a 6-0 lead, and was later ahead 10-5, Prince made a last-minute comeback, narrowing Heiner’s lead to 12-10 with :26 remaining in the bout. At this point Prince’s body cord broke. During the equipment change, Heiner was able to keep up his focus whereas Prince was not. Heiner won 15-10 shortly after the bout resumed. Heiner’s next bout was against Portela. Although it was looking close at 11-11, he pulled ahead to win 15-11. Heiner lost his next DE 15-9 to James Weiss, ending up 6th / 56.