Licata breaks through for first win

Victoria Licata of Getzville, right, won the open mixed foil event during the Bear's Challenge Fencing Tournament Saturday at the Fencing Center of Buffalo. East Aurora's Samantha Anthony, left, finished third.

Victoria Licata of Getzville took a difficult path, but emerged unscathed from the Bear's Challenge Tournament Saturday at the Fencing Center of Buffalo.

Licata went 4-1 in her pool to earn the fourth seed in the double elimination open foil tournament and ousted the top two seeds to capture her first individual gold medal. She topped second-seed Samantha Anthony of East Aurora, 15-11, in the semifinals and Matt Krueger of Cheektowaga, 15-10, in the finals. Anthony and Krueger are both D-rated foilists, while Licata has an E rating.

Licata's only loss of the day was a 5-3 defeat in the pools by East Aurora's Mark Anthony, who finished fifth in the 18-person tournament.

In the sabre tournament, Scott Seier of Williamsville went undefeated to win the gold medal.

Seier went 4-0 in his pool bouts to earn the top seed and eliminated fourth-seed Larry Finkelstein of East Amherst, 15-14, in the semifinals and second-seed Krueger, 15-7, in the championship bout.

In the Young Blades Division (ages 6-13), Snyder's Julian Druar won the gold medal for foil, while Jayme Reichart of Marilla took silver and Catherine Karas snagged bronze in her first tournament.

The Fencing Center of Buffalo is the only full-time fencing school in the Greater Buffalo area and is located at 777 Maryvale Drive, Cheektowaga.