In addition to the many new events introduced to the Lightspeed Saber National event, there were, of course, the main events: The Women's Tournament and the Open Gender Advanced Tournament. The Women's event, with 10 strong members, matched the pre-pandemic numbers for the first time. Meanwhile, the Open Gender Advanced Competition had the highest number of A-level competitors ever in a single event, namely Rob Chan, Tony Zaldua, and Steve Perez. Additionally, the Women's champion, Jowanna Lewis, was sure to face stiff competition from the new ladies entering this year.

Before all that, there was the open competition open to all genders and ranks to provide an opportunity for competitors to rank up and earn their way into the Advanced Division if they did not yet qualify. Despite the tournament being only a qualifier, many high-ranked competitors entered it anyway, in the spirit of good competition.

open RESULTS

1. Jose Ortiz-Miranda

2. Russ Mitchell (earns C)

3. Andre Gonzalez & Josiah Kupitz

ADVANCED RESULTS

1. Rob Chan

2. Steve Perez

3. Tony Zaldua

Women’s RESULTS

1. Shar Carter

2. Bri MacNeill

3. Ally Fournier

OPEN TOURNAMENT

In the open finals, Andre Gonzalez topped the pools, followed by Josiah Kupitz from Klamath Falls. Russ Mitchell from Starbird was possibly the most exciting fencer in the entire competition, sporting the new Dyad Sabre system and showing everyone how it was done. Jose Ortiz-Miranda took 4th in the pool, followed by Hikaru Hayakawa in 5th. Other competitors included Kevin Fournier in possibly his best performance in Lightspeed Saber since he began, Kat Laurange, Asher Trask, Ally Fournier, Bri MacNeil in her Lightspeed Saber Competition debut, John Kupitz, and Brian French from Lightspeed Saber Markdale, our only international competitor.

Ally Fournier earned a commanding win against Asher Trask to place herself into the quarterfinals. Hikaru Hayakawa had a very close bout against Brian French but edged him out by a single point. Kat Laurange and Bri MacNeil also had an extremely close bout, but with both competitors roughly equal in skill, Kat certainly being the more experienced fencer, ultimately winning out. Kevin Fournier's extreme improvement in his fencing was evident, but he was defeated handily by fellow Klamath officer John Kupitz.

In the quarterfinals, top seed Andre Gonzalez handily knocked out Ally Fournier. Meanwhile, Jose Ortiz-Miranda defeated Hikaru Hayakawa with a 5-point lead. Josiah Kupitz defeated Kat Laurange with his high-flying, extremely mobile, balletic style, and John Kupitz took a loss to the more experienced Russ Mitchell, wielding his dual-wielded weapons with deadly efficiency.

In the semifinals, long-time competitors Andre Gonzalez and Jose Ortiz-Miranda faced off. Ortiz-Miranda won the battle with a comfortable five-point lead. On the other branch, Russ Mitchell confounded the junior Kupitz with his dyad sabers, allowing him to move on to the finals with a lopsided 12 to 0 point blowout.

So it would be Jose Ortiz-Miranda versus Russ Mitchell for the finals in the Open Gender, Open Competition. They had fought very little in the past, and it would certainly be a fascinating match between Mitchell's dyad-wielding style and the unorthodox, Statue of Liberty-inspired style of Ortiz-Miranda from LA Krait Base.

Mitchell began with a strong lead, confounding Ortiz-Miranda's normal style. However, the Krait Dragon slowly began to climb his way back up with an adjustment of strategy, eventually tying the match at 10-10, allowing the fight to go to overtime. The referees added back on 30 seconds to allow for one more exchange. Ortiz-Miranda made the approach, Mitchell initiated the engagement, but Ortiz-Miranda had baited his hand and countered with a clean skyhook, one of his best-performing attacks throughout the event. This gave Ortiz-Miranda the win at 12-10, taking the gold for the open tournament. Ortiz-Miranda experienced no great change from this win; however, Russ Mitchell earned his C-grade in Lightspeed Saber for the first time.

Open Winners

WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT

We then came to the women's division. The competitive level in this division varied widely and was occupied by several strong contenders, including Shar Carter, Ally Fournier, Jowanna Lewis, and Kat Laurange. Virginia fencer Emily Watson faced off against returning fencer Laura Carnes, and Rebecca Moore from Irvine fenced fellow Californian Kristina Sumabat to enter the main bracket. Watson defeated Carnes, and Sumabat defeated Moore.

In the quarterfinals, similarly aged Fournier and Watson faced off. Watson valiantly used her dyad sabers but was unable to hold back the swift and powerful attacks of Fournier, who took the win. In a bit of an upset, the newcomer Bri MacNeil stunned Kat Laurange with a strong victory of 12 to 4. Dinah Kolasa was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Jowanna Lewis, though she put up a strong fight, trailing by only three points to the women's champion. Shar Carter knocked out one of her own teammates in Kristina Sumabat in a lopsided victory that finished at 12 to one.

In the semifinals, we saw Ally Fournier facing off against Bri MacNeil, and Jowanna Lewis versus Shar Carter. MacNeil took the first round against Fournier, only for Fournier to come back as a powerhouse in the second round. Then, in the third round, due to penalties, Fournier was defeated by MacNeil. However, due to special circumstances and with the assent of MacNeil, the third round was fought again, after which MacNeil came out on top once more, allowing her to move on to the finals.

In the bout of Lewis versus Carter, Lewis appeared winded and was unable to muster a response against the faster Carter, who won both rounds handily, moving her into the finals. While Lewis would go on to face Fournier in the 3rd place bout.

Right away, Fournier had the advantage against Lewis, being a faster fencer and being faster on the attack. Lewis, the former women's champion, was unable to adapt and lost in the numerous shootouts that occurred. Fournier won the first round handily and was on her way to winning the second round as well when she began to experience some medical distress. The match was paused for Fournier to retrieve her inhaler. After Fournier was able to recover, the match resumed at 11-0, whereby Fournier was able to secure the final point of a first contact, taking the second round at 12-0 and the third-place position.

So the final came down to Bri MacNeil and Shar Carter, not just teammates but romantic partners, the first time any such thing had ever happened in Lightspeed. Unlike the rest of the women's competition, this final was slow and methodical, with each woman taking her time to look for good openings and angles. Clean contacts were punctuated by giggles between the two women, creating a stark but humorous contrast between their connection as partners and opponents.

In the end, with just 20 seconds remaining in the second round, MacNeil charged in to snipe at Carter's head. But the NoHo Ninja captain was ready with a swift upward flick from the wrist, intercepting MacNeil at the hilt. This brought the round to 13-6, giving Shar the final win needed to secure her place as women's national champion.

Women’s winners

The winners received prize sabers and blades by Ripper Blades.

ADVANCED TOURNAMENT

At last, it was time for the Advanced competition, where only D ranks and above were allowed to enter. This had quite an interesting mix of competitors from all over the country and genders. Ortiz-Miranda, still high off the momentum of his win in the Open Competition took first in the pools, followed by Tony Zaldua, Rob Chan, Steve Perez, and Russ Mitchell, all expected top players. Other top fencers were Chris Stadther, Josiah Kupitz, Shar Carter, and Hikaru Hayakawa.

John Mullins, who took 16th seed, had to go up against top seed Jose Ortiz Miranda. These two, at least in the past, had been evenly matched. In fact, John Mullins earned his C grade off of a narrow win against Jose Ortiz Miranda in 2022. However, it appeared that Ortiz Miranda had significantly improved his power and defeated Mullins handily with a score of 17 to 5. In a bit of a surprise, relative newcomer Shar Carter shocked Hikaru Hayakawa by beating him 16 to 8. Although they did seed similarly in the pools, Brian French, who placed 13th in the pools, faced off against fourth seed Steve Perez. While French was a strong competitor in general, he was outclassed by the accurate striking of Steve Perez, losing handily at 3 to 17. Sean Holtzman, seeded 12th, earned an identical loss against Russ Mitchell, now wielding dual sabers.

On the other side of the room, Tony Zaldua and Ally Fournier were facing off against each other once again. Tony took no risks this time and defeated Ally handily at 16 to 8. Josiah Kuptiz and Asher Trask, both similar in age and both highly mobile fighters, had a thrilling mid-air battle, but with Kupitz able to take the win at 17 to 12. Longtime friends Rob Chan and Jowanna Lewis met up again in the round of 16. While Jowanna Lewis has always been a strong competitor, Rob was on his A-game, climbing his way up to the top and defeating her soundly with a score of 17 to 4. And finally, Andre Gonzalez faced off against Chris Stadther from Rockville Saber Academy. While it was a close battle, Andre was certainly the more experienced Lightspeed Saber fencer and knocked out Chris Stadther with a score of 16 to 13.

This brought us to the semifinals where fellow LA County residents Jose Ortiz-Miranda and Shar Carter faced off. This was a close fight that went to time with a lot of doubles and close calls. But ultimately, Ortiz-Miranda won out. On the other hand, Rob Chan and Andre Gonzalez were having perhaps the most delicate match of the entire tournament. Having agreed to terms beforehand, they both conspired to score with the lightest touch possible, resulting in a graceful and clean battle that put Rob Chan up by 6 points and knocking Gonzalez off the ladder in the softest, most polite way possible.

Tony Zaldua and Josiah Kupitz once again met in competition, having one of the most mutually balletic battles in all of Lightspeed Saber history. The two fencers met frequently in the air and landed graceful clean shots each time. Both fencers having an extremely similar build and being similarly mobile, it ended up being a fairly close bout. It would merely be a question of whether youth won out or experience. In the end, Zaldua led Kupitz by three points to earn his way into the semifinals.

Finally, in the quarterfinals, Steve Perez faced off against Russ Mitchell. Perez, who was defeated by Mitchell in the Pools, came in with an increase in aggression in order to try to keep the older fencer off balance. Perez ultimately ended up scoring two solid hits to Mitchell's legs, moving him up the scoreboard but possibly causing some injury to Mitchell. However, Mitchell chose to fight on regardless. Perez ultimately won 16 to 8.

In the semifinals, old teammates and rivals faced off in these battles for the best of three rounds. Perez bested Ortiz Miranda at 2-1, and Chan defeated Zaldua once again, 2-1. While this represented yet another defeat for the duo at the hands of Chan, it was most certainly Zaldua's best performance to date against the younger Chan.

Unfortunately after the bout between Ortiz-Miranda and Perez, Ortiz-Miranda threw out his shoulder, necessitating a relocation of his arm. This made him unable to continue fencing for 3rd place, so Tony Zaldua took 3rd by default.

It came at last to the final between Steve Perez and Rob Chan. These two had fought very little, if at all, up until this moment. And so it would be a bit of a mystery for them both. The first round was fairly even, consisting mostly of low-scoring shootouts. However, Rob Chan threw a surprise counter, earning 3 points and instantly taking the first round.

Steve Perez, seemingly galvanized by the first-round loss, improved his performance significantly. While it was still mostly a shootout between Perez and Chan, Perez scored numerous cleans and intercepts, bringing him to steadily climb the board. However, Chan, seemingly not satisfied with losing a round, switched to swift hand snipes, scoring six points in a matter of seconds and taking him up to match point, finishing the second round at 12 to 11 and handing Chan the gold medal along with the national title.

Advanced Winners

The winners received prize sabers and blades by Ripper Blades.

Lightspeed Saber's third national competition was an event of many firsts. It was the premiere of the Annihilation format. It was the premiere of team formats in general at the national level. It was our largest tournament to date. And perhaps most excitingly, two longtime champions of Lightspeed Saber fencing, Tony Zaldua and Jowanna Lewis, at last met their matches, and we have two new national champions, Rob Chan and Shar Carter. This will surely usher in a new era as strategies and techniques adapt to deal with these new number one Lightspeed Saber fencers. We will have to wait and see what the future holds and whether these two new number ones will be able to hold on to their crowns next year at Lightspeed Menace. I cannot wait to find out.

Congratulations to all the winners, and special thanks to our sponsors Ripper Blades, Kyber Cave, and the Custom Saber Shop. And a big thank you to all the Lightspeed Saber fencers and fans for making this momentous occasion possible.

Cang Snow
Chief Executive Officer