Harvard-Westlake students earn fencing honors

He's a little interesting piece of news from outside the everyday path of high school sports:

Two Harvard-Westlake épée fencers took home medals from the 2008 U.S. Junior Olympics in Charlotte, N.C. on Feb. 15-18. Sophomore Michael Raynis won the gold medal in the Cadet Men's division and freshman Emma Peterson, left, secured a bronze medal in the Cadet Women's division. In addition, they were the only epee fencers in the state to take home medals in their age bracket.

Of course, none of this should come as a surprise to anyone who follows the local fencing scene. Raynis is ranked second in the country in his age division and Peterson is the top-ranked fencer in the nation among her peers.

I guess crossing swords in locales such as Bonn, Germany and Budapest, Hungary on the European World Cup circuit has paid off for these two.

-- Austin Knoblauch

-- Photo from http://www.lafencing.com