Cameron Evans, a rising ninth-grader at Brunswick, took third place in the Cadet foil event at the 2017 Cadet and Junior British Championships in Nottingham, England, earlier in July. Evans, a 15-year-old dual citizen, was unranked entering both the Cadet (U-17) and Junior (U-20) class.
Evans, making his international fencing debut in the Cadet division, advanced out of the preliminary pool, earning a rank of 27 out of 72 competitors.
Following four impressive wins to open direct-elimination tables, Evans advanced to the tournament’s semifinal. Facing the fourth-ranked fencer in the U.K, Evans battled in a hard-fought, back-and-forth bout to 15 points. Trailing late in the bout, Evans closed the gap with a gritty comeback but ultimately fell to the eventual runner-up, 15-13.
Along with earning the Cadet foil bronze medal at the tournament, Evans also garnered enough individual points to vault to eighth-place in the British rankings heading into next season.
In the Junior Men’s foil championship the following day, the unranked Greenwich resident sliced through the preliminary pool with a sterling 6-0 mark. Facing a group of fencers several years older, Evans sat in fifth place out of 73 fencers heading into the direct-elimination tables.
After earning a bye to the table of 32, Evans dropped a 15-7 decision to finish in 18th place. Despite the setback to the third-ranked Junior Men’s fencer in England, Evans picked up valuable ranking points heading into the 2017-18 campaign.
Immediately following the British Championship, Evans boarded a plane to Salt Lake City to take part in the U.S. Nationals. Following the trip across seven time zones, Evans competed in three foil events in Utah: Junior Men’s (98th/268), Cadet (39th/202) and Y-14 (40th/279).
After a long week of fencing competition and travel, Evans is ranked 28th nationally in Y-14 and is 62nd in Cadet action on American soil. Across the pond, Evans holds an eighth-place U.K. ranking in the Cadet foil and is 56th in the British Junior Men’s division.