Dave Seliger '12 was en garde last week as he battled his competition to secure an impressive record at the Northeast Intercollegiate Fencing Conference, leading him to be named to the NIFC's All-Star team.
Conference commissioner Dr. Elliot Lilien said that Seliger earned this award because he is a "steady and crafty" fencer with a strong record in league competition.
The recognition is rarely granted to Dartmouth athletes. One recent recipient was Franklin Rea '08, an all-conference sabre fencer who is now a well respected fencing official, Lilien said.
Seliger's first moment of collegiate excellence was at the "Big One," the league's main Fall tournament, where he placed fifth in the epee competition.
"I was surprised," he said. "I had grown up facing college fencers, and they were really good, so I was really happy to do that well."
Seliger fenced with mixed results during the conference matches before placing ninth at the New England Championships in February.
The Northeast Conference is made up of teams of varied caliber -- both varsity and club, and only some teams are able to recruit. Dartmouth is especially rare in that its fencing team has no coach, Lilien said.
"This makes the accomplishments of Dartmouth remarkable. Whatever they are," he said.
Seliger said that the lack of official coaching staff is not a problem for the team.
"We all chip in and coach each other," he said. "We help each other out."
Although all Dartmouth students are welcome to join the fencing club with or without prior experience, Seliger had eight years of fencing under his belt before coming to Dartmouth this year. He began fencing in a club, and later joined his high school team, which he said was "fun," although it was a small program.
For the first few years of his fencing career, Seliger fought with a foil, one of the three types of fencing swords, but found no success. He now competes with the epee, which is the heaviest of the three swords, and also comes with a different set of rules.
"With the epee, three things can happen," he said. "I can hit somebody, I can get hit or we can both hit at the same time. This can be helpful or not, since you're going by the seat of your pants and really trying for that touch. But then something can happen, you get hit, and you're really thrown off your guard."
When fighting with the epee, the whole body is a target, "from head to foot," Seliger said. For this reason, height can be an advantage, although he is not especially tall.
"Height helps," he said. "Some of the guys I fence with seem seven- or eight-feet tall and can hit me from 10 feet away."
Since joining the Dartmouth club, Seliger's approach to the sport has shifted as he adjusts to fencing as part of a team, as opposed to fencing as an individual.
"I'm fencing in a different kind of way," he said. "It's a different kind of pressure. It makes it harder, but also a lot more fun when you win, because you can share it with other people."
The team members rely on each other on and off the strip, Seliger said.
"With a team, there's this whole kind of camaraderie thing going on, which I love," he said. "Fencing is my family. I love them."
A few members of the fencing club, although not Seliger, traveled to Madison, Wis., this weekend to compete in the USACFC National Fencing Championships, where over 32 teams and 600 fencers put on the whites. The competition is the world's largest collegiate fencing event.
Even with such numerous competitors, Dartmouth was able to score a few big touches, as Jenny Stone '10 came in fourth place in the sabre, and Hathairat Sawaengsri '10 picked up sixth place in the epee.
The rest of the team had mixed success, according to co-captain Andrew Young '09.
Lilien said that these results are "very good," and just what the Northeast Conference is looking for from its teams.
"We like our club teams to do well in [the National Fencing Championships], just as we want our varsity teams to do well in the NCAA tournament," he said. "Generally, we've had pretty good success."
Seliger said he has no specific plans for training over the summer, but is looking forward to picking up with the team again in the fall.
"I'll probably train randomly," he said. "I have a group of friends back home with varied skills, ranging from kids in high school to doctors from Harvard. I hope to do better than this season, and I have a long way to go."
