USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Team USA earned four o f the top eight finishes at the Laupheim Junior Epee World Cup in Germany on Saturday as Princeton University sophomore Kat Holmes (Washington, D.C.) and Harvard University freshman Nina Van Loon (Boulder, Colo.) led the Americans with two bronze medal finishes.

Undefeated in the pools, Holmes was seeded third in the direct elimination tables while Van Loon entered the tables as the ninth seed after posting a 5-1 pool record.

Both athletes earned byes into the table of 64 where Holmes led Gwendolyn Graf (SUI), 7-6, after the first two periods. In the third period, Holmes outscored Graf, 8-2, to win the bout, 15-8.

Van Loon led her table of 64 bout by a touch against Francoise Herren (SUI), 14-13, at the end of the second period, but Herren tied the bout with four seconds left in the period. Van Loon finished out the bout with a 15-14 win when she scored the final touch just over a minute into the third period to win the bout.

In the table of 32, Daniela Khrapina (RUS) led her bout against Holmes, 5-3, after the first period, but Holmes came back to tie the score at nine after the second period. In the third, Khrapina picked up three scores on double touches, but Holmes won the bout, 15-12.

Van Loon was down by three touches (7-4) in her table of 32 bout against Julia Morawietz (GER), but scored six straight touches to take a 10-7 lead. Up by 13-11 after the first period, Van Loon went on to win the bout, 15-12.

Holmes came out strong in the table of 16 against Macarena Centenera (ESP) with seven unanswered touches. Holmes held off a comeback by the Spaniard in the second and third periods and took the win, 15-11.

In Van Loon’s table of 16 bout, it was Auriane Mallo (FRA) who led for most of the first two periods before Van Loon came back to tie the bout at 13 with nine seconds left in the second period. After a double touch early in the third, Van Loon scored a single to win the bout, 15-14, and advance to the quarter-finals.

Holmes defeated St. John’s University sophomore Isis Washington (Parsippany, N.J.), 15-12, in the quarters

Fencing in the quarter-finals for the first time in her career, Van Loon dominated her bout against Philippine Tachot (FRA) and advanced to the medal rounds win a 15-4 victory.

Audrey Abend (New York City, N.Y.), Holmes’s teammate on the team that won bronze at the 2012 Junior Worlds, also advanced to the quarters, but lost the bout to Violetta Khrapina (RUS), 15-11.

Holmes fenced Khrapina in the semifinals and had the bout tied at nine, but the Russian went on to win the bout, 15-11.

Holmes’s bronze medal is her second podium finish of the year for Holmes who is now the seventh ranked junior epee fencer in the world.

Van Loon finished with Team USA’s second bronze of the day after a 15-8 loss to 2012 Junior World medalist Katrina Lehis (EST).

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:

Lupheim Junior Epee World Cup
1. Katrina Lehis (EST)
2. Violetta Khrapina (RUS)
3. Katharine Holmes (Washington, D.C.)
3. Nina Van Loon (Boulder, Colo.)
5. Yulia Bakhareva (RUS)
6. Audrey Abend (New York City, N.Y.)
7. Isis Washington (Parsippany, N.J.)
8. Philippine Tachot (FRA)

9. Anna Van Brummen (Houston, Texas)
24. Mason Speta (Chicago, Ill.)
30. Isabella Barna (Bend, Ore.)
31. Isabel Ford (Salem, Ore.)
65. Jennifer Horowitz (Los Angeles, Calif.)
66. Madeline Antekeier (Houston, Texas)
99. Claire Dinhut (Los Angeles, Calif.)
105. Maria Alejandra Trumble (Cambridge, Mass.)