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2023 Junior and Cadet Worlds Day 9: ‘All-Ivy Team’ Wins Silver, Earning Team USA a Record-Tying 15th Medal

04/09/2023, 3:15pm CDT
By Bryan Wendell

On the ninth and final day of the 2023 Junior & Cadet Fencing World Championships in Bulgaria, Team USA’s Junior Women’s Epee team — aka “The All-Ivy Team” — delivered the Americans a record-tying 15th medal at the tournament.

PLOVDIV, Bulgaria — On the final event on the final day of the 2023 Junior & Cadet Fencing World Championships in Bulgaria, Team USA’s Junior Women’s Epee team — aka “The All-Ivy Team” — delivered another medal for the Americans.

Thanks to the hard-won silver medal from the quartet of Ivy League student-athletes — Hadley Husisian (Fencers Club, Princeton University), Ketki Ketkar (Kaizen Academy LLC, Cornell University), Faith Park (DC Fencers Club, Harvard University) and Tierna Oxenreider (Columbia University) — Team USA finishes the 2023 Junior & Cadet Worlds with 15 total medals.

That means Team USA topped the medal table by a solid margin and tied its all-time medal record in the 73-year history of this competition. The Americans also earned 15 medals in 2014 (in Plovdiv as well) and 2022 (in Dubai).

“I’m proud of these girls and how they worked today,” says Women’s Epee National Coach Natalie Dostert. “They all had discipline; they all fought. We never gave up to the very last moment. They're just an amazing team. They grew together for the last two seasons, and it's amazing to see how they’ve worked.”

The silver was the 10th Junior Women’s Epee team medal for the Americans since team events were added to the competition in 1998:

  • 1998 — Bronze
  • 2008 — Gold
  • 2009 — Bronze
  • 2010 — Silver
  • 2012 — Bronze
  • 2014 — Silver
  • 2016 — Bronze
  • 2017 — Bronze
  • 2022 — Bronze
  • 2023 — Silver

“I’m proud of everyone on the team today,” Ketkar says. “We kept fighting no matter what. Everyone just did a really good job managing emotions. So I'm happy with that.”

After a bye in the Round of 64, third-ranked Team USA started their day with double-digit wins over India (Round of 32, 45-12) and Estonia (Round of 16, 45-27). They followed that up with a quarterfinals win over Italy, 44-40, before defeating China in the semifinals, 45-32, to guarantee themselves a medal.

In the finals, they ran into the top-seeded team from Poland and fell by a score of 45-38 to secure the silver.

With that finish, Team USA stepped up one level from its bronze medal at the 2022 Junior & Cadet Worlds, featuring the quartet of Husisian, Park, Ketkar, and Sarah Gu.

Park’s fencing was critical throughout the day, including in the quarterfinals bout against Italy where she gave Team USA a lead it never squandered.

“We knew going into Italy it was going to be a hard, tough bout,” she says. “It really went back and forth. In the beginning, we made a couple of mistakes. But I think more importantly, we were able to learn from those mistakes and then come out on top.”

Oxenreider was the lone newcomer on this Junior Women’s Epee team, and she more than proved that she belonged with her strong fencing throughout the day.

“Joining the team, everyone was really supportive of me and helpful,” she says. “And I think I'm just proud of fighting to the last touch and never giving up. I think without discipline, and without us pushing and supporting each other, we wouldn't have gotten here. So I think we all did a really good job.”

In the Junior Men’s Epee team competition, second-ranked Team USA had a bye in the Round of 64 and started the day with wins over Australia (Round of 32, 45-26) and Spain (Round of 16, 45-32).

In the quarterfinals, the men recorded a resounding win over Italy, 45-27, before losing to Switzerland in the semifinals, 45-41. In the bronze-medal match against Hungary, the Americans fell by a score of 45-27 to finish in fourth place.


Photo by #BizziTeam

Full Day 9 Results

Junior Women’s Epee — Team Event

  • Team USA: Silver
    • Hadley Husisian
      • Fencers Club, Princeton University
      • Coach: Guillermo Madrigal
    • Ketki Ketkar
      • Kaizen Academy LLC, Cornell University
      • Coaches: Yasser Eldarawani, Susan Jennings, Ariana Klinkov
    • Faith Park
      • DC Fencers Club, Harvard University
      • Coaches: Janusz Smolenski, Adam Maczik
    • Tierna Oxenreider
      • Columbia University
      • Coaches: Alex Zurabishvili, Michael Aufrichtig

 

Junior Men’s Epee — Team Event

  • Team USA: 4th
    • Samuel Imrek
      • Alliance Fencing Academy
      • Coaches: Andrey Geva, Natalie Dostert, Dorian Jimenez
    • Gabriel Feinberg
      • Olympia Fencer Center, The Ohio State University
      • Coaches: Daniel Hondor, Katarzyna Dabrowa
    • Miles Weiss
      • Alliance Fencing Academy, The Ohio State University
      • Coaches: Andrey Geva, Lewis Weiss and Kasia Dabrowa
    • Henry Lawson
      • Fencers Club
      • Coaches: Guillermo Madrigal, Dwight Smith

Team USA celebrates its win over Italy in the quarterfinals. Photo by #BizziTeam

Day 9 Photo Album

 Find dozens of great photos on Facebook.

Tag(s): Updates