’ Apr 3, 2000 Over The Edge Page 7

Freeblades Fencin

by: Melissa Berto - member

of Freeblades Fencing Club
The planning includ-

ed, telephone tag, shuffling of

Gardens

Gathering of the ‘Blades at Northern BC |

midterms, and last minute
packing. Then twelve of the
UNBC Freeblades Fencing
Club crammed luggage, fenc-

ing gear, and ourselves into
three vehicles and headed
north at 4 pm on Thursday
February 4th to attend the
Northern BC Winter Games
tournament in Fort St.
John. Traveling at night,
scenery was minimal, and
our only excitement for the
trip up was the stop for gas
in Chetwynd. There we
stood in the parking lot of
the gas station and pre-
tended we were hoodlums
for the benefit of the RCMP
officer getting gas. We
switched time zones, and
arrived to unload our gear
at our host's house. The
owner, a generous 21 year
old member of their fencing
club - The Knights of Round

- agreed to let us invade his
brand new house for the
weekend. With the exception
of a pillow fight that got a little
out of hand, we didn’t do too
much damage. Wired from
the journey we stayed up
most of the night, only to drag
ourselves out of bed at the
elementary school. Friday
was dedicated to foil, (a light-

weight sword) competitions.

Saturday was epee (a heav-
ier weapon) and Sunday was
a fun team challenge with
both our fencing clubs mixed
together. Sleep was at a pre-
mium all weekend, and
though a few dedicated souls

_ attempted to study, most par-

tied or clubbed at the local
night club, “The Wet Spot’.

Medals were won by Erika
Anderson, bronze for
women’s foil and gold for
epee; Melissa Berto, bronze
for women’s epee; Mike
Collis, silver for men’s foil and
epee; Jon Hulka, gold for the
team event and bronze foil;
and Scott Shaw-MacLaren,
silver in the team event. On
Sunday we headed for home,
having made new friends,
and bearing new battle
wounds. Plans for a rematch
tourney were made for March
11th, here at UNBC in the
Gym , from 1-8pm.

If you are interested in joining
the fencing team, contact:

Katja Bunse at 562-1191 and

join our wild and crazy band
of sword-wielding students. :)

Woman’s Rugby Cleans up at Kamloops

On March 18th and 19th the
UNBC Womens Rugby team
took their first tour of the year

Erin Newson getting a lift from Anc
Faris demonstrating a line out

down to Kamloops. Taking
one van and one car we left
from the University at 6:30am
on Saturday morning. By the
time we hit Kamloops we
ended up with 16 fit players, 1
injured, 1 coach and 3 cheer-
leaders (you know,
boyfriends and husbands).
The first game was on
Saturday afternoon about two

hours after we arrived down
south. It was a windy day
which played havoc on the
passing abili-

« ties of both

4 teams. Not
“only was this
our first game
of the year
@ but for many

: the
6 hour drive
and the fact
_ that our team
had _—s never
‘really played
together, we
> were out
: and

team 19-12.

The two trys
were scored
by forwards Kristine ‘Cornfed’
Bock and Andrea ‘Diesél’
Faris who, being forwards,
didn’t bother trying to pass in
the wind and just powered
through the other team.
There was also one convert
kicked by Nora ‘Rocket Tips’
King. The only injury of the
game was to Kristine Bock
who was upset that the first

time she split her head open
she didn’t get a scar and
thought she would try for a
second, more visible one.
After getting six stiches over
her right eyebrow she now
has a scar you can’t see to
match the one over her left
eye, which you also can’t see.
After an evening of terrorizing
the staff of Boston Pizza and
bonding between both
squads the second game
was played bright and early at
11:30 Sunday morning.
Before we could actually
make it to the game we first
had to sit down to a hearty
breakfast at Denny’s and then
we had to call BCAA because
we locked the keys in the car
with all the jerseys. After that
crisis was averted we all got
safely to the field and the
game was on.

lt was a balmy day with hard-
ly any wind and not too much
sun, in other words a perfect
day for rugby. Everyone was
ready and raring to go, well
some more than. others after
a night of ‘bonding’ but we all
made it out. It was a good
game with everyone doing
better than expected. The
rookies on the team really
outplayed themselves, doing
incredible for it being only
their second game. There
were 2 trys scored by Deb
‘Digger Tainton, who did a

great job filling in for our reg-
ular scrum half who couldn't
make the trip. Two trys were
also scored by Nora King, as
well as by Andrea Faris.
There was also a try scored
by Erin ‘don’t worry, I'll just
pop my knee back in’
Newsom. It was a penalty try
and though none of us are
really sure why we got it, we
took the points. Nora King
also kicked three successful

isi ese

by Sara Herring

converts for a final score of
41-0 for UNBC. There were
no significant injuries during
the second game, except for
Erin’s said knee incident, but
she is feeling much better
now.

After all was said and done it
was a very successful week-
end in terms of team bonding

and rugby experience. There
are two more trips planned
with the UNBC Women’s
team. The first is occurring,
or has occurred, on April 1st
and 2nd_ to pick up games
with Burnaby Lake and
Bayside Rugby Clubs, we
were supposed to play SFU
and UBC but they cancelled
at the last minute. The sec-
ond trip we are planning is a
joint effort with the UNBC

ora king starting down the field for a try, followed

Men’s team to Jasper. On the
April 29th weekend we will
both be participating in the
annual 7-a-side tournament.