Notes from the Hawaii Open:
Hawaii's first national fencing tournament, the Hawaii Fencing
Open 1999, took place Saturday and Sunday February 6th and 7th at
Pier 10 in Aloha Tower Marketplace. Though the event didn't
affect ticket sales or TV ratings for the NFL Pro Bowl at Aloha
Stadium also held on Sunday, almost everyone who competed,
volunteered their time or watched, considered the event a great
success.
A few notes about the weekend long event: The youngest fencer was
17 year old Matt Sorenson of the Fencing Center in San Jose who
placed 14th in Open Foil; the eldest fencer according to his
years (certainly not spirit) was Donald Appling of Hawaii Fencers
Club who at 84 placed 12th in Open Epee; the Open Foil and Epee
were both Group 1 competitions with 4 fencers receiving higher
ratings, including Gerald Cheng who took back to the Mainland an
A99; (the Mai Tais at the Moana were awarded an honorary A99); 17
fencers from Hawaii competed, with the top finishers Yervand
Zakaryan 1st in sabre and Ed Pier 4th in epee; for three of
Hawaii's fencers it was their first competition.
The Hawaii Division of the U.S.F.A. would like to thank again the
event's sponsors -- the Aloha Tower Marketplace, Alexander &
Baldwin, Inc. and the Gym -- for their generous contributions, as
well as the following individuals for the enormous contributions
they made toward the success of the event: Ed Richards, Ronni Im,
Todd Hedricks, Howard Daniels, Mike Sapp, Frank Van Dyke, Sherry
Thilenius, Jim Thilenius, Linda Grzywacz, Jeff Douglass, Janice
Kato, Ed Pier, Eric Fragas, Tony Nishimura, Robin Hayden, Tory
Laitila, Eric Arrington, Eric Wruck, Richard Lewis, Bob Krauss,
Bob Jones, Stephanie Conching, Joe and Stephanie Ingignoli, Carl
Loeffler, Eric Dew and everyone who helped set up and take down
at the venue.
Mahalo and Aloha from Robert Becker, Hawaii Division Chairman.
Women's Epee
| Place | Name | Rating | Club / City | Divison |
| 1 | Janel Obenchain | A6 | Golden Gate Fencing Center | NorCal |
| 2 | Robin Hayden | C8 | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 3 | Janice Kato | D8 | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 4 | Thyrza Eyre | E8 | Golden Gate Fencing Center | NorCal |
| 5 | Dayna Canada | E8 | Pierpont Fencing Club | SoCal |
Open Epee (Group 1)
| Place | Name | Rating | Club / City | Divison |
| 1 | Eric Hansen | A9 | Golden Gate Fencing Center | NorCal |
| 2 | Scott McNamara | A8 | Capitol Fencing Center | MtnVy |
| 3 | Petar Toshkov | A7 | The Fencing Center | CenCal |
| 4 | Edward Pier | C9 | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
| 5 | Carl Loeffler | A8 | Tzcka | SoCal |
| 6 | Charles McCormick | C9 | Capitol Fencing Center | MtnVy |
| 7 | Colin Chock | D9* | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
| 8 | Frank Van Dyke | A7 | Las Vegas Fencing Club | Nevada |
| 9 | Robert Becker | D9 | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 10 | Jerry deRaad | D6 | Pannonia Fencers Club | NorCal |
| 11 | Janice Kato | D8 | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 12 | Donald Appling | U | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 13 | Kevin Osborn | B8 | Salle Santa Cruz | CenCal |
| 14 | Robin Hayden | C8 | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 15 | Sean Kelly | U | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
| 16 | Michael Bradley | D9 | Pierpont Fencing Club | SoCal |
| 17 | Edwin Amos | U | Salle Gascon | SoCal |
| 18 | Eric Fragas | U | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
| 19 | Michael Aiau | C8 | No Fear | SD |
| 20 | Neal Jacob | U | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
Women's Foil
| Place | Name | Rating | Club / City | Divison |
| 1 | Janice Kato | D8 | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 2 | Robin Hayden | C8 | Hawaii Fencers Club, Honolulu | HI |
| 3 | Erica Trunzo | U | The Fencing Center | CenCal |
Open Foil (Group 1)
| Place | Name | Rating | Club / City | Divison |
| 1 | Gerald Cheng | A9* | Capitol Fencing Center | MtnVy |
| 2 | Jamie Douraghy | A8 | unattached | SoCal |
| 3 | Eric Dew | A5 | Halberstadt Fencing Club | NorCal |
| 4 | Michael Gong | B9 | Pannonia Fencers Club | NorCal |
| 5 | Kevin Urbain | A8 | Stanford Fencing Club | CenCal |
| 6 | Eric Hansen | C9 | Golden Gate Fencing Center | NorCal |
| 7 | Kevin Osborn | B8 | Salle Santa Cruz | CenCal |
| 8 | Jerry deRaad | D9* | Pannonia Fencers Club | NorCal |
| 9 | Charles McCormick | B8 | Capitol Fencing Center | MtnVy |
| 10 | Michael Tiffany | C7 | Conejo Fencing Club | SoCal |
| 11 | Frank Van Dyke | C7 | Las Vegas Fencing Club | Nevada |
| 12 | Colin Chock | E5 | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
| 13 | Robin Hayden | C8 | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 14 | Matt Sorenson | U | The Fencing Center | CenCal |
| 15 | Robert Becker | U | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 16 | Adrian Sessions | D8 | unattached | |
| 17 | Roland Ng | U | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 18 | Darrell Jung | U | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 19 | Janice Kato | D8 | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 20 | Eric Fragas | U | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
Open Sabre (Group 4)
| Place | Name | Rating | Club / City | Divison |
| 1 | Yervand Zakaryan | E9* | Salle Honolulu Fencers Club | HI |
| 2 | Eric Wruck | C7 | Coup de Coeur | HI |
| 3 | Colin Chock | U | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
| 4 | Glenn Gunn | U | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
| 5 | Joe Ingignoli | U | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 6 | Eric Fragas | U | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |
| 7 | Sherry Thilenius | U | Hawaii Fencers Club | HI |
| 8 | John Ellis | U | Salle Honolulu Fencing Club | HI |