This past weekend, BU Kendo attended the 13th Annual Cornell Kendo Tournament. Here is a full recap of the weekend’s events!
Day One
After a long drive and plenty of rest, the tournament began on Saturday, October 12 with the Individual tournaments. The tournament was broken into 3 divisions: Mudansha (Unranked), Yudansha (Ranked) and Women’s. Individuals were single elimination matches. Here were BU’s competitors:
Mudansha
- Brandon Kesselly
- Jessica Alexandria
- Raymond Feng
- Yevgeniy Temchenko
- Boshan Mo
- Kayla Gillespie
- Kathie Zhang
- Julie Zhu
- Ralph Kim (MCPHS)
- Daniel Kim
- Taryn Ross
Yudansha
- Jun Kim (Northeastern)
- Shawn Shou
- Lucien Thomas
- Joseph Yi
- John Yi
Women’s
- Jessica Alexandria
- Julie Zhu
- Kathie Zhang
- Kayla Gillespie
- Taryn Ross
Results
Mudansha
- 1st – Brandon Kesselly
Women’s
- 2nd – Jessica Alexandria
Yudansha
- 1st – Jun Kim
- 2nd – John Yi
Highlights
- Captain John Yi, SID Brandon Kesselly and A Team member Jessica Alexandria each placed in their respective divisions!
- During the Yudansha competition, Vice President Shawn Shou faced three 3 Dan and above opponents. He defeated 2 of them to advance to the quarterfinal!
Day Two
After BU’s strong showing during Saturday’s competition, it was time for the team tournament on Sunday. This tournament was also single elimination, and BU sent 3 teams to compete for the gold. The teams were as follows:
A
Senpo: Brandon Kesselly
Jiho: Lucien Thomas
Chuken: Shawn Shou
Fukusho: Jessica Alexandria
Taisho: John Yi
B
Senpo: Yevgeniy Temchenko
Jiho: Julie Zhu
Chuken: Joseph Yi
Fukusho: Boshan Mo
Taisho: Raymond Feng
C
Senpo: Tori Moore
Jiho: Kathie Zhang
Chuken: Daniel Kim
Fukusho: Kayla Gillespie
Taisho: Taryn Ross
Results
2nd – Boston University A
Highlights
- BU A placed second overall
- Kayla Gillespie scored her first tournament point (on her birthday, no less!)
In hindsight, the weekend was one that brought every member of the club closer together in some way, shape or form. While both days of the tournament saw incredible swordplay from many schools, but BU held its own and managed to once again leave a strong impression at the first tournament of the year.