USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) earned her first top-32 finish of the season on Saturday at the Gdansk Foil Grand Prix in Poland – a result that will move her from fourth to third in the domestic rankings with three tournaments remaining in the Olympic qualifying season.

Ross, who finished 14^th at the 2011 Senior World Championships, won five of six bouts in the pools on Friday to advance directly to the table of 64 on Saturday.

Ross was one of five U.S. athletes in the table of 64, including her 2011 Senior World Teammates Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) who each were exempt from the preliminary rounds due to their top-16 world rankings. Their 2011 teammate Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.) and 2011 Junior World medalist Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) each advanced through both the pool and preliminary rounds to qualify for the table of 64.  

Ross won her table of 64 bout against Olga Leleyko (UKR), 15-12, to advance to the table of 32 against Aida Mohamed (HUN) who had just defeated Willette, 14-13.

Mohamed earned a one-touch win over Ross as well when she took the bout, 12-11.

Ross placed 22^nd overall which will earn her a #3 position in the USA Fencing National Team Point Rankings as she moves ahead of Willette who finished 57^th.

Kiefer opened the event on Saturday with a 9-8 win over Martyna Synoradzka (POL). She lost in the next round to Benedetta Durando (ITA), 15-9, and finished 17^th after a 15-9.

Prescod and Lu both lost their bouts in the table of 64.

Prescod finished 35^th after a 15-6 loss to Katja Waechter (GER).

Lu lost in the table of 64 to Kanae Ikehata (JPN), 15-8, and finished in 49^th place.

The U.S. Women’s Foil Team for the London Games will be selected based upon the team rankings at the conclusion of the USA Fencing Division I National Championships in Virginia Beach on April 15. Lee and Prescod are presently ranked first and second, followed by Ross and Willette. The top three athletes in the rankings on April 15 will be nominated to the Olympic Team and the fourth ranked athlete will be the replacement athlete.

Click here to view complete results.

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows, including athletes who were eliminated in the preliminary rounds on Friday:

Gdansk Foil Grand Prix
1. Corinne Maitrejean (FRA)
2. Hyun-Hee Nam (KOR)
3. Elisa Di Francisca (ITA)
3. Carolin Golubytskyi (GER)
5. Ilaria Salvatori (ITA)
6. Hee-Sook Jeon (KOR)
7. Anna Rybicka (POL)
8. Benedetta Durando (ITA)

17. Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
22. Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
35. Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
49. Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)
57. Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.)
69. Emily Cross (New York City, N.Y.)