On Saturday, Dec. 1 and Sunday, Dec. 2, the Brock men's and women's fencing teams competed at the Western Open in London. 

Leading the way for the Badgers was Brooklyn, New York product Sara Fellman. The Studio Art major placed fifth out of 28 competitors in women's foil. After a 4-1 pool play round, Fellman was seeded seventh, where she won two straight matches before falling 15-6 to eventual silver medalist Elizabeth Upton. 

Robert Cruickshank followed up his bronze medal performance at the Newmarket Invitational on Saturday, Nov, 25 with a sixth-place finish in London. The first-year Neuroscience major won all of his pool play matches, finishing with a +16 indicator. After defeating Jie Zhang in the Round of 16, Cruickshank fell in a tight 12-11 decision in the quarter-finals to eventual second-place finisher Frederick Yu. 

Another Top 10 finish came courtesy of Nicholas Gutierrez-Sarabia in men's épée as he earned sixth. The Budapest, Hungary product went 5-1 in pool play, finishing with the best indicator in the pool at +15. The No. 7 seed won three straight direct elimination matches before falling in a close 15-14 contest to gold medalist Andrii Gumeniuk in the quarter-finals.
 
Kirsten O'Brien placed ninth in women's sabre to also finish in the Top 10. The first-year Teacher Education major went 3-2 in pool play and then fell to Kate Jordan in the Round of 16.

Brock sent a full complement of fencers to the event, gaining valuable experience along the way. The Badgers hope to use that experience as they return back to action at the Waterloo Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 27 and Sunday, Jan. 28.