In the Junior Men’s Epee event on Sunday, U.S. junior Graham Wicas (17,
Philadelphia, Pa.) took on the largest field of the weekend at 132
competitors and emerged with a silver.
Unfortunately, Wicas, seeded only 46th after his pool round, had to stage a
15-10 upset of his teammate Dwight Smith (19, Elmont, N.Y.) to advance from
the round of 64.
Wicas then advanced steadily through the table, and by the quarterfinals,
had upset the #3 seed, Peter Szenyi of Hungary, 15-9. In the quarterfinals,
Wicas beat Sebastien Lamon of France 15-11, and in the semifinals, he
defeated Fredrik Backer of Germany 15-12.
Wicas was defeated only by the Junior World Cup Champion, France’s Alexandre
Blaszyck, 15-12 in the final. The silver is Wicas’s second medal in his
second year on the team. Wicas was the 2006 Cadet (Under-17) World Champion.
He finishes the Junior World Cup season ranked 9th in the world.
Stanley Vaksman (18, North Woodmere, N.Y.), the third epee junior, won a
bout in the round of 128 and was then defeated by Guillaume Boisseau of
France 15-11.
On the women’s side, Epee fencer Courtney Hurley (16, San Antonio, Texas)
took her performance up a notch on Saturday, finishing in the top eight of
the Junior Women’s Epee competition. Hurley finished ninth in the Cadet
event earlier in the week.
The U.S. junior saber men did not have their best day. Jeff Spear (18,
Wynantskill, N.Y.) had the highest finish among the trio, at 23rd.
Spear defeated his first opponent but then fell to An Sung Jung of Korea
15-13 in the round of 32. Harrison Mahaffey (16, Los Angeles, Calif.) and
Raskyrie Davidson (18, Newark, N.J.) each lost their round of 64 matches —
Davidson to Alberto Pellegrini of Italy and Mahaffey to Andriy Yagodka of
Russia. The scores of both bouts were 15-13.
She defeated a strong contender from Poland, Katarzyna Dabrowa, 15-14 in the
top 16 but then lost to Dobrowa’s Polish teammante Dominika Mosler 15-4 in
her attempt to reach the medal rounds.
Her sister Kelley Hurley (18, San Antonio, Texas) and teammate Susannah
Scanlan (16, St. Paul, Minn.) both finished in the top 64 of the field.
Scanlan lost her direct elimination bout to Katalin Iszo of Hungary 15-9 and
Hurley lost hers to Mosler 10-9 in a bout that went to time.
In the women’s foil competition, Doris Willette (18, Rodeo, Calif.) was the
highest finisher, at 17th. Seeded 6th after the pools, Willette defeated
Anastasiya Moskovska of the Ukraine handily 15-4 in her first direct
elimination bout, but then fell to Ye Seul Jang of Korea 15-11 in the round
of 32.
The youngest member of the U.S. team, Nzingha Prescod, lost her direct
elimination match in the round of 64 to Shuang Meng of China 15-7. Sam
Nemecek (19, Alto, Mich.) lost her bout in the same round to Nadiya
Voychenko of the Ukraine in a 14-13 bout that went to time.
Monday marks the start of the team competitions, with the Junior Women’s
Saber Team and Junior Men’s Foil Team events. The highly-ranked U.S. women’s
saber squad stands in excellent contention to repeat last year’s gold-medal
finish.
Junior Women’s Epee
102 competitors
1 SAMUELSSON Emma SWE
2 MURONI Marzia ITA
3 BERGDAHL Johanna SWE
3 MOSLER Dominika POL
5 SHECHTMAN Iris ISR
6 MESTRES Julie FRA
7 ANTAL Edina HUN
8 HURLEY Courtney Hurley (16, San Antonio, Texas/Team Hurley)
46 HURLEY Kelley (18, San Antonio, Texas/Team Hurley/Notre Dame ’09)
37 SCANLAN Susannah (16, St. Paul, Minn./Twin Cities F.C.)
Junior Men’s Saber
100 competitors
1 BEISHEIM Benedikt GER
2 PARK Young Jun KOR
3 BEAUDRY Philippe CAN
3 IACOMETTI Luca ITA
5 DOLNICEANU Tiberiu ROU
6 PUNDYK Dmytro UKR
7 HOLLOSI Bence HUN
8 PELLEGRINI Alberto ITA
23 SPEAR Jeff (18, Wynantskill, N.Y./Fencers Club/Columbia ’10)
39 MAHAFFEY Harrison (16, Los Angeles, Calif./Los Angeles Int’l .F.C.)
40 DAVIDSON Raskyrie (18, Newark, N.J./Westbrook Found.)
Junior Men’s Epee
132 competitors
1 BLASZYCK Alexandre FRA
2 WICAS Graham Wicas (17, Philadelphia, Pa./Fencing Acad. Of Phila.)
3 BACKER Fredrik NOR
3 JIAO Yunlong CHN
5 SUKHOV Pavel RUS
6 LAMON Sebastien SUI
7 BOREYKO Denys UKR
8 BESKIN Grigori ISR
38 SMITH Dwight (19, Elmont, N.Y./Westbrook Foundation/Columbia ’09)
74 VAKSMAN Stanley (18, North Woodmere, N.Y./NYAC/St. John’s ’09)
Junior Women’s Foil
91 competitors
1 BINGENHEIMER Sandra GER
2 KOROBEINIKOVA Larisa RUS
3 ERRIGO Arianna ITA
3 KREISS Fanny HUN
5 BAILEY Victoria FRA
6 NISHIOKA Shiho JPN
7 JANG Ye Seul KOR
8 MENG Shuang CHN
17 WILLETTE Doris (18, Rodeo, Calif./Golden Gate/Penn State ’10)
36 PRESCOD Nzingha (14, New York, N.Y./Westbrook Found.)
49 NEMECEK Samantha (19, Alto, Mich./West Mich. F.A/Northwestern ’09)
