Lacey Burt

Fencing might be a minor sport in most U.S. athletic circles, but it has taken Lacey Burt on some major ventures.
With her epee sword in hand, Burt will fly out of Portland Jan. 19 with her first stop being Budapest, Hungary. She’ll then fly on to Rome, followed by stops in Prague, Czech Republic; Barcelona, Spain; and Paris, as well as Germany and Russia. After returning to the U.S. for a couple national fencing competitions, Burt will complete her three months on the road with visits to China, Australia, Cuba and Canada.
Burt, a 2003 Roseburg High School graduate who is now based out of the Northwest Fencing Center in Beaverton, will compete in the sport of fencing at each of her stops. She’ll be one of 150 to 200 top fencers competing at each venue.
“I’m hoping for the Olympics in 2008, or definitely in 2012,” said Burt during a recent holiday visit back home in Roseburg.
In 2006, Burt traveled and competed in fencing competitions in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, Australia, Canada, Venezuela and the U.S.
Prior to making fast improvement in the sport after first taking up the epee at age 16 at the Central Douglas County Family YMCA in Roseburg, Burt hadn’t traveled much. Now fencing is making her a veteran international traveler.
“I like traveling, I really do,” said the 21-year-old. “I’d like to have more time to see the countries I’m visiting, but most of my time I spend in the venues competing.”
Fencers compete with either an epee, foil or saber. Most kids start in fencing with a foil, but the biggest competitions for serious fencers are in epee.
Burt admits fencing doesn’t get much attention in the U.S., but said that in Europe some fencers “are on a par with Michael Jordan.” She added that fencing tournaments are televised on cable in those countries.
Burt’s commitment, progress and success in fencing has advanced her to a present U.S. women’s ranking of fourth and an international women’s ranking of 75th. She has been ranked as high as third in the U.S. and as high as 64th internationally. She competes in both the Senior (ages 20-39) and Division 1 (the best fencers) classes.
“She’s talented and willing to do the work to be good,” said Michael Marx, Burt’s coach at the Northwest Fencing Center. “It’s surprising how far she’s come and her potential is still untapped. She makes such big jumps in such short amounts of time. I have no idea where she’ll plateau.”
Marx is a five-time U.S. Olympian in foil and epee, a fencing instructor for 25 years and a coach of the U.S. national fencing team for seven years. He said he believes Burt has the potential to be a U.S. Olympian.
“She’s physically talented enough and she has shown she’ll work for it,” the coach said. “She has grown tremendously in the sport.”
Burt first picked up an epee only because she was encouraged by some school friends back when she was a sophomore.
“I was a little bit hesitant at first,” Burt said. “But after two or three weeks I started beating them.”
The teenager also got help from Sue D’Agnese, a fencing instructor at the YMCA.
“It was kind of like physical chess,” Burt said of the sport. “I had to think about what I was going to do, how to set up, not just trying to poke somebody.”
In her first year in the sport, Burt competed in a Portland meet and qualified in the junior division (ages 16-19) for a Junior Olympic competition in Columbus, Ohio. She said she placed “about 70th out of 120.”
She continued to improve and advanced to the Junior Olympics as a junior and placed “about 40th” and then advanced as a senior and finished “in the top 16.”
After graduating from Roseburg High, Burt moved north and became a student and then a fencing instructor at the Northwest Fencing Center. There are about 100 serious fencers at the center and Burt is one of the 20 who are nationally ranked. She practices with the epee three hours a day, five days a week and also lifts weights and does other general fitness activities.
When not working to improve herself, she helps others in the sport. She’s an instructor for young fencers, ages 6-14, and has also learned how to work on the fencing weapons and the scoring apparatus that is part of the uniform.
“She’s running the youth program,” Marx said of Burt. “The kids love her. She’s doing an incredible job with them.”
Burt entered 12 competitions during 2006 and won a Division 1 North America Cup meet in Houston and a Division 1A meet in Georgia. The latter division is a little bit lower competition than Division 1, but draws more entries.
“There’s no real champion profile in fencing,” Burt said. “There are so many different things that can be taken into consideration. You see people who don’t move much win and you see people who move all over the place win.
“I like to attack a lot,” she added. “I’m very offensive. I can counterattack very well. I’m very fast for a women’s epee fencer.”
Pool matches early in a competition are three minutes long or the first fencer to five touches. Then, after the field is narrowed, elimination bouts are three three-minute bouts or first to 15 touches.
“Lacey has the potential to be a U.S. Olympian,” Marx said. “She’s very tactical. She has good skills. She could easily qualify for three Olympics.”
The No. 1-ranked international epee fencer is a 35-year-old Canadian, so Burt knows she still has years to reach her peak in the sport. To earn an Olympic berth, Burt would either have to be the U.S. champion or be ranked in the top 10 internationally.