Lucy Hanlon’s Journey to the Junior Olympics

Lucy Hanlon, ‘26, recently traded in her microphone for a blade to compete at the Junior Olympics for Fencing. Lucy is a prominent figure around campus and is well known for her participation in both music and theatre productions. Recently, she has been gaining success in the fencing world as well, becoming nationally ranked this summer and participating in important global events.

For Lucy, the path to the Junior Olympics began in the fourth grade with a push from her mother, Mrs. Hanlon, who serves as Grier’s music and theater department chair. “My mom forced me to join the club because I wasn’t very keen on sports as a child,” Lucy recalled with a smile, “but then I ended up really liking it.” Mrs. Hanlon explained that Lucy’s older brother had fenced in high school and that when Lucy’s elementary school started a fencing program, she thought it would be a good idea for Lucy to give it a shot. “Lucy always liked singular sports, so I made her try it out for a semester,” Mrs. Hanlon said. “A year later, she started going to a club.” Though Lucy had also participated in volleyball and horseback riding, fencing captured her interest in a way that the other sports hadn’t. What started as a mandatory semester of fencing turned into a passion for Lucy and led her to become the amazing fencer that we see today. 

For Mrs. Hanlon, watching her daughter’s growth in the sport has been rewarding. “It was pretty great as a mom,” Mrs. Hanlon said. “Fencing is pretty intense. You want every point to be theirs – and it’s really great watching her become so confident.”

Lucy has grown a lot as a fencer, journeying through different styles over the years. In the fourth grade, she started with foil, a style where competitors can only score points by striking their opponent’s torso with the tip of their blade. However, she switched to saber two years ago. This discipline allows hits with both the point and side of the blade, targeting the mask, torso, and arms. “Very few people around here fence, and everyone quit from foil,” Lucy explained. “The coach that I have now wanted me to join saber because there were at least two other people who fenced saber in the state of Pennsylvania.” 

Despite coming from a small club with limited training partners, Lucy has achieved great success. After competing at Summer Nationals last year, she qualified for the Junior Olympics, and faced off against 302 competitors in her category. The qualification process for the Junior Olympics is especially challenging, requiring fencers to earn enough points in just two tournaments, rather than accumulating them over multiple events. 

At the Junior Olympics, Lucy found herself fencing against some of the sport’s elite competitors, which was quite shocking for someone coming from a small fencing community. “To be in the same pool and fence someone who’s ranked third in the country is really crazy,” she said. “It didn’t go exactly how I wanted it to go, but it really made me appreciate the sport.” 

The experience gave Lucy a new perspective on her fencing journey. “It kind of made me realize that the work that I’m putting in is going to pay off. It just might take me a little longer because I don’t have the opportunities that these girls do,” she said, noting the contrast between her small club and the larger clubs where many of her competitors train. The sport has also taught her valuable life lessons about perseverance and expectations. “Fencing has definitely taught me a lot about adversity,” she said. “I’m very used to it that when I put hard work into something, I see some sort of benefit or reward from it. Fencing has kind of taught me that that’s not always how life works.” 

Looking ahead, Lucy remains excited to potentially continue her fencing career in college, though she’s keeping her options open. “If I get into a college for fencing, I would love the idea of fencing on a team,” she said, while acknowledging she’d be equally content pursuing other opportunities. 

For now, she continues to train and compete, carrying the lessons learned from the Junior Olympics along the way, with a potential return to Summer Nationals on the table.