 The United States Fencing Association (USFA) has selected the athletes who will represent the United States at the 2004 Junior and Cadet World Championships in Linz, Austria, March 23-30, 2005.
The Championships are held every year by the Federation Internationale d’ Escrime (FIE), the international governing body of the sport of fencing. More than 100 countries are members of the FIE, including the U.S. The USFA is the national governing body for the sport in the United States. Three athletes have been selected by the USFA in each weapon (men's epee, foil, and saber; women's epee, foil and saber) for each age category, Cadet (Under-17) and Junior (Under-20). The Championships includes individual competitions in each age group and weapon, plus Junior Team competitions in each weapon. Four fencers, three fencers plus one substitute, compete on each team. The U.S. is rapidly gaining international recognition by the international medal performances of its young fencers; in 1992, Felicia Zimmermann won the first World Championship medal in any age group since 1975. U.S. fencers have earned multiple medals every single year since 1994. In 2005, one U.S. junior has earned the overall, year-end Junior World Cup title: Rebecca Ward (Portland, Ore.) in Junior Women’s Saber. She will be recognized in a special ceremony at the Championships. Ward is only the 5th U.S. fencer ever to win the World Cup title, junior or senior. In 2004, the U.S. contingent earned two team and five individual medals. Seventeen members of this year’s team are veterans of one or more Championships teams, including several who reached the medal podium. This year’s challenge is to surpass the 2001 medal count of nine - the U.S. all-time high. All eyes will be on the U.S. women’s saber fencers in 2005. The American contingent has dominated the international women’s saber scene for several years now. In fact, U.S. women will finish this 2004-2005 season ranked 1, 2, and 3 in the Junior event and hold five of the top ten spots in the Junior world rankings. NOTES:  Golden Reputation: Two U.S. team members, Mariel Zagunis (Junior Women’s Saber) and Emily Jacobson (pictured) (Junior Women’s Saber) posses some unique experience: they were both members of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team this past summer. In fact, Zagunis made history for the United States by winning the gold medal in the women’s saber event.
More Historic Achievements: - Nicholas Chinman (Boulder, Colo.) is the first U.S. fencer ever to qualify for six events in one world championships: he will fence in Cadet Men’s Foil and Epee, as well as Junior Men’s Foil and Epee, individual and team.
 Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis (pictured) (Beaverton, Ore.) will attempt to win her 7th Junior Worlds medal in the Junior Women’s Saber team and individual events. In addition to her record number of three Junior World Cup titles (’ 04, ’03, ’02), she also has earned the title of World Champion four times - more than any other U.S. fencer in history. In 2001, she became the first fencer in the world to earn three gold medals at the Junior Championships: Cadet Women’s Saber Individual, Junior Women’s Saber Individual, and Junior Women’ s Saber Team.
History of the Championships The World Under-20 Championships began with men’s foil in 1950. Men’s saber was added in 1952, followed by men’s epee in 1955, women’s foil in 1956, women’s epee in 1989 and women’s saber in 1999. The World Under-17 Championships began in 1987. The two championships have been held together since 1993. Last year’s championships were held in Trapani, Italy.
Schedule of Events: Weds, 23 March: Cadet Women’s Saber, Cadet Men’s Foil Thurs., 24 March: Cadet Men’s Saber, Cadet Women’s Epee Fri., 25 March: Cadet Women’s Foil, Cadet Men’s Epee Sat., 26 March: Junior Women’s Saber, Junior Men’s Foil Sun., 27 March: Junior Men’s Saber, Junior Women’s Epee Mon., 28 March: Junior Women’s Foil, Junior Men’s Epee Tues., 29 March: Preliminaries: Jr. Women’s Epee Team, Jr. Men’s Foil Team, Jr. Women’s Saber Team, Jr. Men’s Epee Team; Finals, Jr. Women’s Epee Team, Jr. Men’s Foil Team, Jr. Women’s Saber Team Weds., 30 March: Preliminaries: Jr. Men’s Epee Team, Jr. Women’s Foil Team, Jr. Men’s Saber Team, Finals, Jr. Men’s Epee Team, Jr. Women’s Foil Team, Jr. Men’s Saber Team.
Real-time results will be available from http://www.linzfencing.at/index.lasso
US ROSTER: Cadet Men's Foil Nicholas Chinman (16, Boulder, Colo./Northern Colo. Fencers/Boulder H.S. ’06) Kurt Getz (16, Rye, N.Y./Fencing Acad. of Westchester/Rye Country Day Schl.,’06) Isaac Kim (16, Westlake Village, Calif./L.A.F.C./Agoura H.S. ’06)
Junior Men's Foil Nicholas Chinman (16, Boulder, Colo./Northern Colo. Fencers/Boulder H.S. ’06) Kurt Getz (16, Rye, N.Y./Fencing Acad. of Westchester/Rye Country Day Schl.,’06) Andras Horanyi (18, Boulder, Colo./Northern Colo. Fencers/Boulder H.S. ’05) Team Alternate: Isaac Kim (16, Westlake Village, Calif./L.A.F.C./Agoura H.S. ’06)
Cadet Women's Foil Doris Willette (17, Lafayette, Calif./Golden Gate/Acalanes H.S. ’07) Lindsay Knauer (15, Medford, N.J./Fenc. Acad. S. Jersey/home school) Jessica Wacker (16, Saratoga, Calif./Golden Gate/Westmont H.S. ’06)
Junior Women's Foil Emily Cross (18, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club/Harvard ’08) Samantha J Nemecek (17, Alto, Mich./West Mich. F.A./Caledonia H.S. ’05) Doris Willette (17, Lafayette, Calif./Golden Gate/Acalanes H.S. ’07) Team Alternate: Abigail Emerson (17, Manchester, N.H./Seacoast Fencing/Central H.S. ’05)
Cadet Women's Epee Christa French (17, Southlake, Texas/Grapevine Texas F.C./Carroll H.S. ’06) Courtney Hurley (14, San Antonio, Texas/Team Hurley/Warren H.S. ’08) Kelley Hurley (16, San Antonio, Texas/Team Hurley/Warren H.S. ’06)
Junior Women's Epee Keri Byerts (17, Beaverton, Ore./NorthWest F.C./home school) Courtney Hurley (14, San Antonio, Texas/Team Hurley/Warren H.S. ’08) Kelley Hurley (16, San Antonio, Texas/Team Hurley/Warren H.S. ’06) Team Alternate: none
Cadet Men's Epee Nicholas Chinman (16, Boulder, Colo./Northern Colo. Fencers/ Boulder H.S. ’06) Nathaniel Sulat (16, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club/Trevor Day Schl ’07) Graham Wicas (15, Newton Sqare, Pa./Fenc. Acad. of Phila./Shipley ’07)
Junior Men's Epee Nicholas Chinman (16, Boulder, Colo./Northern Colo. Fencers/Boulder H.S. ’06) Benjamin Bratton (19, Richmond Hill, N.Y./Westbrook Foundation/St. John’s ’07) Tommie Hurme (19, San Antonio, Texas/na/Princeton ’08) Team Alternate: Christian Rivera (19, Bloomfield, N.J./NYAC/Ohio State ’08)
Cadet Men's Saber Andrew Bielen (16, Philadelphia, Pa./Fenc. Acad. S. Jersey/Central H.S. ’06)
Raskyrie Davidson (16, Newark, N.J./Westbrook Foundation/St. Benedict Prep ’06) Aleksander Ochocki (14, Clark, N.Y./Polish-American F.S. & Fencers Club/Johnson H.S. ’09)
Junior Men's Saber Luther Clement (20, Prairie Village, Kans./Fencers Club/St. John’s ’08) Patrick Ghattas (20, Beaverton, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance/Notre Dame ’07) Benjamin Igoe (20, Staten Island, N.Y./NYAC/Rutgers ’07) Team Alternate: Matt Zich (18, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club/Penn State ’09)
Cadet Women's Saber Mera Keltner (16, Portland, Ore./Oregon Fenc. Alliance/Jesuit H.S. ’06) Rebecca Ward (15, Portland, Ore./Oregon Fenc. Alliance/home school) Dagmara Wozniak (16, Avenal, N.J./Fencers Club/Colonia H.S. ’07)
Junior Women's Saber Emily Jacobson (19, Dunwoody, Ga./Nellya Fencers/Columbia ’08) Rebecca Ward (15, Portland, Ore./Oregon Fenc. Alliance/home school) Mariel Zagunis (20, Beaverton, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance/Notre Dame ’08) Team Alternate: Caitlin Thompson (18, Portland, Ore./Oregon Fenc. Alliance/Penn State ’05)
COACHING ROSTER Michael Itkin, Los Angeles, Calif. (Kim) Kornel Udvarhelyi, Middle Village, N.Y. (Sulat, Bratton) Maureen Griffin, San Francisco, Calif. Gary Copeland, Boulder, Colo. (Chinman, Horanyi) Michael Pederson, San Francisco, Calif. (Willette, Wacker) Yuri Gelman, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Wozniak, Ochocki, Zich, Clement) Edward Korfanty, Portland, Ore. (Zagunis, Ward, Thompson, Keltner, Ghattas)
CADRE Referee: Chief Of Mission Nancy Anderson, Princeton, N.J. Team Captain Jeff Bukantz, Livingston, N.J. Team Manager Andrea Lagan, Boulder, Colo. Assistant Captain/Manager Steve Mormondo, Dover, N.J. Armorer Matthew Porter, Pacifica, Calif. Rocky Sorensen, Wellington, Texas Trainer Maria Duthie, Spokane, Wash. Nick Tobianski, Royal Oak, Mich.
Referee from U.S. to Junior Worlds: Charles Washburn II, Clifton Heights, Pa. F.I.E. Arbitrage Liason George Kolombatovich, New York, N.Y. |
