College fencers to compete in Feasterville, Bucks County

BUCKS COUNTY

College fencers to compete in Feasterville

FEASTERVILLE Bucks County will host about 1,000 collegiate fencers for a national championship tournament in 2015, officials announced Tuesday.

The event, officially known as the U.S. Association of Collegiate Fencing Clubs National Championship, will take place at the Sportsplex in Feasterville on April 11 and 12, 2015, according to Visit Bucks County, the county's tourism agency.

Marshal Davis, coach of the Swarthmore College club fencing team and the local representative for the association hosting the tournament, said Feasterville was chosen for its location - relatively central to most of the clubs expected to attend - as well as the ability to recruit local volunteers.

Swarthmore hosted the event on campus in 2010, he said, but the event's growth required a larger facility.

There are expected to be teams from about 40 schools, Davis said, with hundreds, possibly thousands, of contests staged to determine champions in several categories.

The schools that compete at these championships do not have an NCAA fencing team at the school, according to Davis. The event, he said, provides others the chance to compete in a large, pressure-packed tournament.

- Chris Palmer