PRINCETON: Baptise takes step forward

Hun School fencer second at nationals

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Noelle Baptiste watches the Summer Olympic fencing competition with an eye to the future.
   The rising Hun School senior took a step toward her Olympic dream when she placed second in Division 2 women’s epee at her first Summer Nationals last month.
   ”I was really excited,” said Baptiste, who earned her B rating with her results. “I was really happy with my accomplishments.
   ”It’s given me a lot of experience. It’s really helped my confidence completely to know I can do something if I concentrate and put my mind to it. It was an amazing experience to know I was going against people that have been fencing for 10 years and I was able to beat almost everyone.”
   Baptiste opened the competition seeded fifth out of 114 competitors. Her position dropped slightly going into the elimination round even though she won her pool with some challenging bouts. She won all but one of the six bouts.
   ”The pool was very difficult,” Baptiste said. “I did well. When you go to Summer Nationals, it’s people from all over the country and people I’ve never fenced before and it’s different styles. It’s a lot different from regionals.
   ”It’s very good experience learning how to analyze the people quickly. It was very beneficial in that sense.”
   Once into the direct elimination round, the 15-point bouts only got tougher, but Baptiste was up to the challenge.
   ”I was actually really nervous going into it,” she said. “It was my first national competition. Going into the direct elimination, my rank was down a little bit. I was a little cautious with that. It’s really about concentration. The first bout, I had a bye, and the next one, I was fencing a girl that was very good. I was down, 7-5, and I was able to come back and win, 15-8.
   ”Once I was able to put my nerves aside, I was able to concentrate and do one thing at a time. Being able to stay focused is the main thing.”
   Her focus and confidence was up as she won four straight bouts to reach the gold-medal bout.
   ”My gold medal bout was one of the most difficult ones I had to fence that entire day, as you would expect,” Baptiste said. “It was all about the concentration. I wasn’t thinking of the first ones, I was more thinking I could do this if I put all these other things aside and concentrated on getting that one point that would give me the victory. That’s what was going through my mind.”
   It did come down to a final point, but with just 21 seconds left, Baptiste fell by a 15-14 margin.
   ”After it, I was actually really disappointed,” Baptiste said. “I was really close. That bothers me more than if I lost by a lot. It was really disappointing, but I watched the tape and I learned from it. I know what not to do next time. It gave me a lot of experience. I was disappointed, but I was happy with my accomplishment.”
   Overall, however, it was a highly encouraging result for Baptiste, who hadn’t even fenced a regional competition until last August. She’s improved rapidly while fencing for Medeo Fencing along with her work through the winter with the Hun team. It’s allowed her to fence with higher and higher level competitors, including her first national meet.
   ”In a regional meet, it’s just a lot of different styles, but they aren’t fully developed yet,” Baptiste said. “In nationals, it’s a lot of pros who really know what you’re doing and can really figure you out. They’re more mentally tuned in to fencing. It’s a whole other mindset. They’re training constantly. They’re there to win. At some regionals, it’s for experience. Those people (at nationals) are there to win.”
   In the team portion at the Summer Nationals, Baptiste was proud to win a couple of points off an Olympian. She recently took on a top-rated U-19 fencer from California at her Medeo club and won.
   ”I was able to figure out what she was doing and analyze it,” Baptiste said. “It’s really starting to click.”
   It will have to as Baptiste tries to climb the ladder. Now as a B rated fencer, she’ll be going to higher level competitions.
   ”It’s going to be much more difficult when I go to competitions now,” Baptiste said. “I’m not allowed to go into competitions where they have U, E and D. The lower ratings, I’m not allowed to fence in. Now it’s going to be much more difficult. If I want to move up, I have to go into competition where there are more As and Bs. It’s a challenge, but one I’m looking forward to.”
   Baptiste already has begun to sense a transition. She’s putting more time and more effort into fencing than ever.
   ”I am putting a lot of my other things aside,” Baptiste said. “This is really my main passion. I’ve come so far. It’s pretty exciting.”