Zander Rhodes wins gold medals at fencing meets

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – South Orange international foil fencing star Zander Rhodes continues to win in the older age events despite still being in middle school.

Rhodes, who is in grade 8 at the South Orange Middle School, most recently won Gold at the Division 1A Senior Women’s Foil Event held at Rocky Point, Long Island. She competed against 43 strong fencers in the A2 rated event, demonstrating outstanding fencing, which earned her the A2017 rating as well as the Gold medal.

Rhodes went into the initial pool bouts  with confident determination and was undefeated. She was seeded in second place overall before the direct elimination bouts. Her fast thinking and superior fencing skills were on display when she defeated New York Fencer’s Club, Melissa Du, in the final bout.

Rhodes also won the gold medal in the U16 Women’s Foil event, at the Jeff Wolfe Long Island Challenge, a regional open circuit tournament. She competed against 33 fencers in this B2 event. She also placed third in the U19 Women’s Foil event  at the American Challenge RJCC Region 3 Tournament. There were 54 competitors in this A2 event.

Rhodes continues to train at the V Fencing Club in Livingston under the tutelage of Coach Serge Vashkevich.

“Zander has had an outstanding fencing season and is going from strength to strength,” said Vashkevich. “She is training hard against some very strong boys at the club and she has the confidence to parlay all that she learns into these high level tournaments.”

  Zander Rhodes