Grace Rudiak wins Orange Slice Cutting Tournament in tight SoCal field

Grace Rudiak of Mordhau Historical Combat won the Orange Slice Cutting Tournament 2026 in a 20-fencer Longsword Cutting - Open Steel field, with Daniel Zimet of San Diego Swordfighters taking second and SoCal Swords teammates Payton Beaber and Rachel Van Dyke finishing third and fourth. The result put four familiar Southern California names at the top of a technical bracket that was tight from first place through fourth.

The format made the margin matter. HEMA Scorecard’s division listing identifies Orange Slice as a cutting event, where competitors are judged on clean, efficient cuts rather than on scoring touches in a sparring bout. Its rules for SoCal Swordfight’s cutting divisions also spell out tournament-specific goals, safety regulations, equipment requirements, cutting patterns, and quality standards, which is why a result like Rudiak’s says as much about edge alignment and control as it does about power.

That technical emphasis also explains why the podium reads like a snapshot of the region’s best-prepared clubs. SoCal Swords placed two fighters in the top four, San Diego Swordfighters landed second, and Mordhau Historical Combat took the win. In a judged cutting format, that kind of concentration is hard to fake. The clubs that keep showing up in Southern California competition are also the clubs translating test-cutting practice into results when the targets and scores are on the line.

The broader Southern California circuit backs that up. At SoCal Swordfight 2026, held March 20-22 at Sheraton Fairplex in Pomona, the event schedule featured 26 tournaments across Open, URG, and U18 divisions and drew 500-plus competitors and world-ranked fighters. SoCal Swords won the Aggregate School Award with 142 points, ahead of Lonin League on 79 and San Diego Swordfighters on 59, while Einhorn LA Historical Fencing Arts finished fourth on 56. SoCal Swordfight’s 2025 aggregate standings also had SoCal Swords on top, a pattern that makes Orange Slice look less like a one-off podium and more like another data point in a regional hierarchy that already has real separation at the top.

SoCal Swords called Orange Slice a “challenging cutting event” and noted that HEMA tournament cutting is “rare overall,” which fits the weight of the result. Grace Rudiak’s gold gave Mordhau Historical Combat the headline win, but the deeper story was the same one the score sheets keep telling: Southern California’s cutting standard is not just crowded, it is getting sharper.