SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Feb. 18-21—The 2022 Salt Lake City Junior Olympics have completed, featuring 18 events for juniors and cadets at the city’s sprawling Salt Palace Convention Center. This important four-day competition, while not associated with the Olympic Games, is typically held over Presidents’ Day weekend and is one of the final opportunities for cadets and juniors to qualify for teams representing the USA at the Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships. This year, World Championships will be held in Dubai, UAE from April 2-10.
The 18 events comprise individual competition in foil, epee and saber for cadet and junior men and women, and team events for juniors in the same categories. Teams are fielded from individual fencing clubs; team events do not affect qualification for the Junior & Cadet Worlds.
The Junior Olympics was created by the Reverend Lawrence Calhoun, who taught high school fencing at (among other places) Notre Dame High School in Niles, Illinois, and had a vision for an official event to qualify athletes for the Junior Worlds. After a proposal published in American Fencing in 1971 and 1972, and a lot of effort to establish the event, the first Junior Olympics took place in April, 1972 at Father Calhoun’s high school gym and cafeteria. The event included junior men’s foil, epee and saber as well as women’s foil, with a total of 98 entries from 25 divisions.
Here are the results from the 2022 Junior Olympics:
Cadet Men’s Foil (233 competitors)
Gold: Nicholas Kim (Top Fencing Club)
Silver: Mitchell Huth (Apex Fencing Academy / Jovanovic Fencing)
Bronze: Liam Bas (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Conrad Lo (Massialas Foundation (M Team))
5. Jeidus Deseranno (Renaissance Fencing Club)
6. Roy Graham (Fencing Sports Academy, Inc. / Jovanovic Fencing)
7. Alexander Wu (Star Fencing Academy)
8. Wesley Doran (Austin Fencers Club)
Cadet Women’s Foil (166 competitors)
Gold: Ivy Zheng (Marx Fencing Academy)
Silver: Chin-Yi Kong (Golden State Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Katerina Lung (Moe Fencing Club LLC)
Bronze: Arianna Cao (Massialas Foundation (M Team))
5. Emily Jing (Marx Fencing Academy)
6. Cameron Cho (Orange County Fencing Center)
7. Erin Oh (Silicon Valley Fencing Center)
8. Victoria Pevzner (V Fencing Club / Le Club Touche)
Cadet Men’s Epee (267 competitors)
Gold: Samuel A. Imrek - Alliance Fencing Academy
Silver: Joseph Wu - Cavalier Fencing Club
Bronze: Ian J. Goldfine - New York Fencing Academy
Bronze: Ankith Prasad - Alliance Fencing Academy
5. Sergei Kudriavtcev - Alliance Fencing Academy
6. Alexander Fray - Alliance Fencing Academy
7. Brayden H. Gyure - International Fencers Alliance of Dallas
8. Kent Iyoki - Northwest Fencing Center
Cadet Women’s Epee (175 competitors)
Gold: Sumin Lee (Battle Born Fencing Club)
Silver: Felicity Sebastian (Alliance Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Sophia Jakel (DC Fencers Club)
Bronze: Katie Lin (Medeo Fencing Club)
5. Elizabeth Zigalo (New York Fencing Academy)
6. Jolie Korfonta (Penta Olympic Fencing Club)
7. Zara Pehlivani (Battle Born Fencing Club)
8. Anousheh Reid (Medeo Fencing Club)
Cadet Men’s Saber (218 competitors)
Gold: Gian Dhingra (Southern California Fencing Academy)
Silver: Edward Maklin (Dynamo Fencing Center Inc.)
Bronze: Joseph Simak (Nazlymov Fencing Foundation)
Bronze: Benjamin Kogan (Dynamo Fencing Center Inc.)
5. Cody Walker Ji (Nellya Fencers)
6. Mengke Wu (Laguna Fencing Center)
7. Jude Wilson (Cobra Fencing Club LLC)
8. Lev Ermakov (Fencing Academy of Denver)
Cadet Women’s Saber (152 competitors)
Gold: Jenna Shoman (Manhattan Fencing Center)
Silver: Veronica Mika (Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy)
Bronze: Lola Possick (Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy
Bronze: Aria Bevacqua (Manhattan Fencing Center)
5. Chelsea Delsoin (Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy)
6. Minna Krastev (Cardinal Fencing Club)
7. Janna Freedman (South Bay Fencing Academy)
8. Susan Wiggers (Nellya Fencers)
Junior Men’s Foil (265 competitors)
Gold: Bryce Louie (LA International Fencing)
Silver: Samarth Kumbla (Silicon Valley Fencing Center)
Bronze: Enoch Xiao (Birmingham Fencing Club)
Bronze: Jacob Levy (Fresno Fencing Academy)
5. Ethan Um (Marx Fencing Academy)
6. Spencer Burke (Elite International Fencers Club)
7. Edriss Ndiaye (Fencing Sports Academy, Inc.)
8. Caleb Jeon (Silicon Valley Fencing Center)
Junior Women’s Foil (191 competitors)
Gold: Katherine Apelian - New Jersey Fencing Alliance
Silver: Kaitlyn N. Tan - Star Fencing Academy
Bronze: Crystal Qian - Silicon Valley Fencing Center
Bronze: Jia P. Chen - V Fencing Club / Le Club Touche
5. Savannah Locke - LA International Fencing
6. Ryanne T. Leslie - V Fencing Club / Fencing in the Park
7. Chin-Yi Kong - Golden State Fencing Academy
8. Mikayla Chusid - Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy
Junior Men’s Epee (280 competitors)
Gold: Samuel Imrek (Alliance Fencing Academy)
Silver: Joseph Wu (Cavalier Fencing Club)
Bronze: Nowell Gibson (New York Fencing Academy)
Bronze: William Joseph (Charlotte Fencing Academy)
5. Kent Iyoki (Northwest Fencing Center)
6. Yakov Shur (Academy of Fencing Masters)
7. Alexander Fray (Alliance Fencing Academy)
8. Andrew Yurovchak (Marx Fencing Academy)
Junior Women’s Epee (209 competitors)
Gold: Ketki Ketkar (Kaizen Academy LLC)
Silver: Leehi Machulsky (Academy of Fencing Masters)
Bronze: Jessica Lin (Medeo Fencing Club)
Bronze: Isabella Chin (New York Fencing Club)
5. Yasmine Khamis (Alliance Fencing Academy)
6. Hadley Husisian (Fencing Sports Academy, Inc. / DC Fencers Club)
7. Tierna Oxenreider (Royal Arts Fencing Academy)
8. Elizabeth Wang (Alliance Fencing Academy)
Junior Men’s Saber (228 competitors)
Gold: Hyunseok Choi - Boston Fencing Club/Globus Fencing Academy
Silver: Adam J. Lai - Globus Fencing Academy
Bronze: Neil Lilov - Lilov Fencing Academy
Bronze: Elden S. Wood - Manhattan Fencing Center
5. Jaesun Yun - Southern California Fencing Academy
6. Rodrigo Fernandez - Nellya Fencers
7. Shaun M. Kim - Tim Morehouse Fencing Club
8. William A. Holz - Premier Fencing Academy LLC
Junior Women’s Saber (188 competitors)
Gold: Magda Skarbonkiewicz (Oregon Fencing Alliance)
Silver: Lola P. Possick (Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy)
Bronze: Alexandra Tzou (Sheridan Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Sophia Kovacs (Durkan Fencing Academy)
5. Jadeyn Williams (Advance Fencing and Fitness / Univ. of Notre Dame NCAA)
6. Atara Greenbaum (Univ. of Notre Dame NCAA/Alle Fencing Club)
7. Veronica Mika (Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy)
8. Erika Chin (Premier Fencing Academy LLC/Halberstadt Fencers' Club)
Junior Men’s Team Foil (26 teams)
Gold: Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy 1 (Dayaal Singh, Kevin Bae, Peter Bruk, Elijah Onik)
Silver: ECFC (Jun Ahn, Ethan Kwon, Jeffrey Zhai)
Bronze: Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy 2 (Ethan Augustine, Liam Bas, Brandon Gee, Jacob Lee)
4. MFC (Frederick Fogelson, Isaiah Klotz, Jack Oursler, Owen Traugot)
5. Star Cars (Samuel Du, Castor Kao, Richard Li, Alexander Wu)
6. Tim Morehouse Fencing (Nickolas Rusadze, Henry Zhang, Richard Lin)
7. SVF (Julian Detering, Yaroslav Muruhin, Samuel Oh, Aleksey Valouev)
8. Fencing Sports Academy (Roy Graham, David Knizhnik, Michael Lin)
Junior Women’s Team Foil (8 teams)
Gold: Golden State Fencing Academy (Gracie Cho, Sabrina Cho, Olivia Kong, Shanon Luu)
Silver: Team Maximum/Maximum Fencing Club (Skylar Knight, Dana Korol, Neta Korol, Hikaru Takagi)
Bronze: Just Fence/Fencers Club Inc. (Kimberly Jang, Lu Jia (Lucy) Liao, Anice Orvananos)
4. Silicon Valley Fencing Center
5. Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy 2
6. Elite International Fencers Club
7. Rain City Fencing Center
8. Northwest Fencing Center
Junior Men’s Team Epee (37 teams)
Gold: Alliance Fencing Academy 1 (Alexander Fray, Samuel Imrek, Alexander Liu, Rishi Shiv)
Silver: Cavalier (Owen Jin, Jonathan Wu, Joseph Wu)
Bronze: TeamK Fencers (Shane Grayson, Imran Zakariyya Latif, Max Zhu)
4. Alliance Fencing Academy 2 (Philip Kang, Maximilian Popovici, Ankith Prasad, Peyton Young)
5. BBFC Gold (Matthew Dao, Connor Jeong, Riley Robinson, Nolan Yumiaco)
6. EFA-1 (Ryan Jeyoon, Jack Kropp, Daniel Lee, Shwan Lee)
7. Duke City Fencing (Reilly Brislawn, David Westphal, Jackson Richards, Izeyah Longshore)
8. Medeo Lite Plus Max Z. Shen (Daniel Gao, Torata Mishima Max Shen)
Junior Women’s Team Epee (28 teams)
Gold: NYFA 1 (Isabella Chin, Mia Smotritsky, Anna Temiryaev, Christina Watrall)
Silver: AFM 1 (Audrey Chu, Natalie Brooke Gebala, Priscilla Leang, Leehi Machulsky)
Bronze: Alliance Fencing Academy 1 (Yasmine Khamis, Michelle Lee, Elizabeth Wang, Karen Wang)
4. Alliance Fencing Academy 2 (Chrisina Liu, Lauren (Lulu) McCutchen, Anya Mehrotra, Tanishka Padhye)
5. Medeo Fencing Club (Alexandra Drovetsky, Sharika Gajjala, Amy Mao)
6. Swords Shenanigans (Zoe Kim, Natalie Leung, Tallulah Nguyen, Nora Wang)
7. BBFC Old + Sumin (Eunice Choi, Sumin Lee, Kaylin Nguyen)
8. Windy City Fencing (Katherine Alexandrov, Amanda O'Donnell, Syd Tyler)
Junior Men’s Team Saber (30 teams)
Gold: Phoenix Fencing Academy #1 (William Barber, Braydon Bolton, Daniel Noble, Hayden Le)
Silver: Spartak (Jaden Callahan, Anthony Jiang, Ilan Jinich, Samuel Zubatiy)
Bronze: SoCalFA #1 (Gian Dhingra, Kevin Sohn, Justin Tann, Jaesun Yun)
4. Boston Fencing Club
5. Globus
6. Fencing Academy of Denver
7. Salle Auriol Seattle
8. MFC Team
Junior Women’s Team Saber (18 teams)
Gold: AFFA (Chelsea Delsoin, Madison Four-Garcia, Veronica Mika, Lola Possick)
Silver: Nellya Fencers (Ella Greenbaum, Nithya Guthikonda, Kunling Tong, Chloe Williams)
Bronze: Zeta Ladies (Victoria Gorman, Nisha Hild, Elaine Lu, Chloe Szeto)
4. Team Spartak (Ellen Xu, Maria Mozhaeva, Xiofan Zuo, Diana Gomes)
5. Boston Fencing Club (Leah Blum, Hannah Lee, Indra Nayak, Emma Su)
6. Halberstadt Hornets (Mira Vestel, Zara Fearns, Angelina Tse)
7. PDX Fencing (Jaslene Lim, Jovine Lim, Megumi Oishi, Hana Sadik)
8. Fencing Academy of Denver 1 (Rachel Buhay, Kennedy Hurst, Mia Novick)
