NFA's Frank Sapienza took 8th Place on Oct 12th in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to earn Nyack's Second National Medal on only the second day of the four day North American Cup event run by US Fencing. Frank earned his C13 the third highest rating possible in US Fencing. He was able to over come 158 Fencers from Three Countries in an event that lasted over seven and a half hours. He did so splitting his round robin seeding pool with 3 victories and 3 defeats and hitting his opponents and equal number of times as he got it. When it came time for the NCAA style direct elimination portion of the event was when Frank shone. Starting out as the 83rd seed he had an uphill climb right off the bat and had to upset the 46th seed, Canadian Samuel Gervais, with a score of 15-11 to make into the round of 64. There he had to fence Wilson Corbin from Texas and currently one of the top clubs in the country of Alliance Fencing Academy, Frank did not overlook his opponents seed and won a close 15-12 bout. Now in the round of 32 he had to battle another Canadian and 14th seed Sebastian Portilla that saw frank emerge victorious with a 15-14 score. Now in the sweet 16 one bout from his first national medal Frank had to battle the third seeded fencer Adrien Thein-Sandler an LA Fencer from another prestigious academy. Frank cruised in his bout to a 15-8 rout. Frank then had to fence Aris Vanderpool from Boston. Down 8-3 Frank battled back to tie it at 12-12 with one minute and thirty seconds remaning. A quick double touch was scored to bring it to 13-13 then Arias scored his 14th touch with only 30 seconds remaining. The clock was ticking down and Frank made an epic fleche with time expiring on the clock to tie the Match at 14 and send it into overtime. Frank had the priority in the final minute this means he could either score or let the time expire. Arias had to score. With pressure mounting from Arias Frank took a brave risk living the motto of go big or go home. Arias was able to just slip in a counterattack. Frank was done for the day, but with a medal around his neck and a massive upgrade in rating, he and his coaches could be nothing but proud of his result and fighting spirit throughout the day.
