USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Sixty-two athletes will represent Team USA at the Veteran World Championships in Krems, Austria from Oct. 16-21.

The U.S. Team, selected based on each athlete’s best two results from a series of events that included the 2011 December North American Cup, 2012 March NAC and 2012 Summer National Championships, includes four athletes competing in each event.

The Veteran Worlds include both men’s and women’s events for all six weapons and athletes are categorized by age: 50-59, 60-69 and +70.

On the heels of Team USA’s most successful Veteran Worlds in 2011 where the United States won 16 medals, the American contingent is led by 10 past Veteran World Champions.

Much like in the senior ranks, one of team USA’s strongest weapons is women’s saber where three former World Champions will be returning for a chance at gold.

Fifty-eight-year-old Jane Eyre (Swedesboro, N.J.) has fenced in the 50-59 women’s saber event at every Veteran Worlds since she won her first event in 2005. Since then, Eyre has won five medals in seven appearances, including a second gold in 2010 and a silver at last year’s event.

Delia Turner (Philadelphia, Pa.) was formerly one of Eyre’s toughest opponents, but the two-time World Champion in the 50-59 event moved up to the 60-69 category last year where she earned her third gold medal in an all-American final against Ellen O’Leary (Decatur, Ga.)

O’Leary will make her debut as a +70 athlete this year where she will fence in the saber event with 2010 World Champion Louisa Felty (Louisville, Ky.) While O’Leary focused on saber in 2011, she will fence both saber and foil in Austria and is hoping to add a gold to her six medal collection.

In 2011, Elizabeth Kocab (Farmington Hills, Mich.) made history with her gold medal win in the 50-59 women’s epee event, marking the first time a U.S. woman has won gold in women’s epee at the Veteran Worlds. Kocab has since aged out of the event and will be a force to be reckoned with in the veteran 60-69 epee.

On the men’s side, Wang Yung (Bellevue, Wash.) came into the 2011 Vet Worlds in Croatia with three bronze medals to his credit, but he earned the U.S. Men’s Team’s only gold medal when he won the 60-69 saber event. Yung will return to the same age group in October to defend his title.

Epee fencer Walter Dragonetti (Elyria, Ohio) has competed at every Veteran Worlds since he turned 50 in 2007. After winning a silver medal in his debut and bronze in 2008, Dragonetti won gold in 2009. Although he fell short of the medal rounds during the last two years, Dragonetti is aiming for a return to the podium in Austria.

Since qualifying for his first Veteran Worlds in 1998, Ray Sexton III (Round Rock, Texas) has brought home eight medals spanning all three weapons, including a gold medal in the men’s 50-59 saber event in 1999. In 2011, Sexton won bronze in the 60-69 foil event and he will compete in both the foil and saber events in October – his final competition before Sexton moves up to the +70 age group.

Seventy-five-year-old epee fencer Kazimieras Campe (Edgewater, Md.) won the inaugural men’s +60 event at the Veteran World Championships in 1998. Twelve years later, Campe added a second medal with a bronze as a +70 fencer at the 2012 Vet Worlds. Campe’s sixth-place finish in 2011 left him a bout short of the medal rounds and he will entering his 11^th Veteran World Championships aiming for gold.

A two-time Senior World Team member in his younger days, sixty-year-old foil fencer Joseph Biebel (Bayside, Wis.) won gold at his first Veteran Worlds in 2003 and has fenced in the finals twice since then with silver medal wins in 2005 and 2008. The four-time team member aged out of the 50-59 event this season and will be one of the top contenders for gold in the 60-69 competition this year.

William Hall (Charlotte, N.C.) won the first of three straight medals in 2002 when he won the veteran men’s +60 saber title. Hall followed the win with silver and bronze medals in 2003 and 2004, respectively. In 2009, the +60 category was broken into 60-69 and +70. This year, 77-year-old Hall will fence for another chance at a medal when he competes in the +70 men’s saber.

The complete roster of U.S. athletes is as follows:

Veteran Men’s 50-59 Epee
Walter Dragonetti (Elyria, Ohio), 2009 Veteran World Champion and three-time medalist
Rick Watrall (Mahwah, N.J.)
Lou Mariani (Santa Clara, Calif.)
Sean Ameli (Las Vegas, Nev.)

Veteran Men’s 50-59 Foil
Ed Kaihatsu (Skokie, Ill.)
Robert Pavlovich (Manhasset, N.Y.)
Jamie Douraghy (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Thomas Lutton (Cupertino, Calif.)

Veteran Men’s 50-59 Saber
Don Anthony, Jr. (Columbus, Ohio), 2010 Veteran World silver medalist
Will Milne (Redwood City, Calif.)
Val Kizik (Indianapolis, Ind.)
Dmitri Kopylov (Roseland, N.J.)

Veteran Women’s 50-59 Epee
Janice Midgley (Tinton Falls, N.J.)
Valerie Asher (Bethesda, Md.)
Marianne Bosco (Harvest, Ala.), 2010 Veteran World bronze medalist
Ellen Finnegan (West Roxbury, Mass.)

Veteran Women’s 50-59 Foil
Jennette Starks-Faulkner (Middletown, Conn.), two-time Veteran World medalist
Kristin Vines (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
Ursula Szpak (Trophy Club, Texas)
Anne-Marie Walters (Parkland, Fla.), three-time Veteran World medalist

Veteran Women’s 50-59 Saber
Jane Eyre (Swedesboro, N.J.), two-time Veteran World Champion and five-time medalist
Jeannine Bender (Princeton, N.J.)
Lydia Mazorol (Simi Valley, Calif.), 2011 Veteran World bronze medalist
Chaz Smith (Diamond Springs, Calif.)

Veteran Men’s 60-69 Epee
Jere Bothelio (San Jose, Calif.), 2011 Veteran World silver medalist
Charles Schneider (Novi, Mich.)
Robert Lipp (Los Gatos, Calif.)
Bob Cochrane (Lake Worth, Fla.), two-time Veteran World medalist

Veteran Men’s 60-69 Foil
Joseph Biebel (Bayside, Wis.), 2003 Veteran World Champion and three-time medalist
Joseph Streb (Columbus, Ohio), 2005 Veteran World bronze medalist
Rinaldo Campana (McLean, Va.)
Ray Sexton III (Round Rock, Texas), 1999 Veteran World Champion and eight-time medalist

Veteran Men’s 60-69 Saber
Wang Yung (Bellevue, Wash.), 2011 Veteran World Champion and four-time medalist
Joseph Streb (Columbus, Ohio), 2005 Veteran World bronze medalist
David Seuss (Charlestown, Mass.), 2011 Veteran World bronze medalist
Ray Sexton III (Round Rock, Texas), 1999 Veteran World Champion and eight-time medalist

Veteran Women’s 60-69 Epee
Elizabeth Kocab (Farmington Hills, Mich.), 2011 Veteran World Champion
Bonnie Aher (Brookfield, Conn.)
Diane Kallus (Round Rock, Texas), six-time Veteran World medalist
Anna Estrada (San Francisco, Calif.)

Veteran Women’s 60-69 Foil
Judith Offerle (Winnetka, Ill.), 2007 Veteran World silver medalist
Madelon Rosenfeld (New York City, N.Y.)
Joanne Stevens (New York City, N.Y.)
Deborah Theriault (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

Veteran Women’s 60-69 Saber
Delia Turner (Philadelphia, Pa.), three-time Veteran World Champion and six-time medalist
Linda Dunn (Greenfield, Ind.)
Judith Offerle (Winnetka, Ill.), 2007 Veteran World silver medalist
Susan Hurst (San Diego, Calif.), 2006 Veteran World silver medalist

Veteran Men’s +70 Epee
Kazimieras Campe (Edgewater, Md.), 1998 Veteran World Champion and two-time medalist
James Adams (Rockville, Md.), five-time Veteran World medalist
Mark Henry (Potomac, Md.)
Marcel Miernik (Irvington, N.Y.), 2010 Veteran World silver medalist

Veteran Men’s +70 Foil
James Adams (Rockville, Md.), five-time Veteran World medalist
Davis Carvey (Seattle, Wash.)
Edward Sady (Fairfax, Va.)
Marcel Miernik (Irvington, N.Y.), 2010 Veteran World silver medalist

Veteran Men’s +70 Saber
John Terninko (Nottingham, N.H.), 2011 Veteran World silver medalist
Victor Bianchini (San Diego, Calif.)
William Hall (Acton, Mass.), 2002 Veteran World Champion and three-time medalist
Thomas Fischer (Raytown, Mo.)

Veteran Women’s +70 Epee
Patricia Bedrosian (Malibu, Calif.), 2005 Veteran World bronze medalist
Bettie Graham (Washington, D.C.), 2011 Veteran World bronze medalist
Diane Reckling (White Plains, N.Y.)

Veteran Women’s +70 Foil
Diane Reckling (White Plains, N.Y.)
Bettie Graham (Washington, D.C.), 2011 Veteran World bronze medalist
Ellen O’Leary (Decatur, Ga.), six-time Veteran World medalist
Patricia Bedrosian (Malibu, Calif.)

Veteran Women’s +70 Saber
Ellen O’Leary (Decatur, Ga.), six-time Veteran World medalist
Louisa Felty (Louisville, Ky.), 2010 Veteran World Champion and two-time medalist
Sherry Green (Portland, Ore.)
Una Jackson (Hilton Head, S.C.)