Seth Kelsey, Emily Cross and Keeth Smart each won gold medals in their events at the Pan American Championships. The wins earn the US team members points to be used in the seeding of the Olympic competitions this August in Beijing.
LAS VEGAS, Nev.- The 2008 U.S. Olympic Team for Men's Saber Fencing of Keeth Smart (Brooklyn, N.Y), Tim Morehouse (Bronx, N.Y./New York, N.Y.), Jason Rogers (Los Angeles, Calif./New York, N.Y.) and James Williams (Sacramento, Calif./New York, N.Y.) produced the top U.S. men's saber team finish at a Grand Prix event in three years with sixth place in Las Vegas, Nev. at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino.
The US Women's Sabre team came into the Las Vegas Grand Prix as the #1 ranked team, but with little room between them and #2 ranked France in this important Olympic seeding event. The US fared well beating out China in the round of 4 and then France in the finals to cement the #1 seed going into Beijing.
Tim Morehouse is currently ranked 16th in the world and is resting up for the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend. Now that he's qualified for the Olympics and the US is finally getting some respect in the fencing world, the focus shifts to coming together in the team event, and getting some fundraising done.
Rebecca Ward won the coin flip with teammate Sada Jacobson, giving her the #1 seed and Sada the #2 going into the direct elimination table at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Becca took that turn of fate and cruised through the DE table to win the Grand Prix in a 15-10 trouncing of 11th seed Shin Mi Lee of Korea.
Coming off of a win in Havana, Sada Jacobson made it to the top 8 where she fell to France's Leonore Perrus 15-12. In the surprise upset of the day, Mariel Zagunis fell in the round of 64 to 60th seed Sabina Mikina of Azerbaijan.
