USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – More than 2,000 Olympic and Junior World Championship Team hopefuls are scheduled to compete at the November North American Cup in Austin, Texas this weekend.

Competition will be held in Exhibit Halls 3-5 at the Austin Convention Center, 500 East Cesar Chavez Street.

With events for athletes in U20 (Junior), U17 (Cadet) and Y14 age groups, athletes will be competing for both gold medals and national ranking points towards qualification for the 2012 Junior and Cadet World Championships in Moscow.

Among the young athletes competing this weekend are two members of the U.S. Team that competed at the Senior World Championships in Catania, Italy last month.

Seventeen-year-old Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) made history with her bronze medal individual foil win at the Senior Worlds as the first U.S. woman to win an individual foil medal at the event since 1999. After three days at home, Kiefer returned to international competition to claim gold medals in both the individual and team events at the Pan American Games. A seven-time medalist at the Junior and Cadet World Championships, Kiefer is seeking to qualify for her fourth straight Junior World Team. Among Kiefer’s challengers will be 17-year-old Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) who won bronze at the Junior Worlds in April and defeated Kiefer to win gold at the Division I National Championships a week later.

At just 18-years-old, Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) has quickly risen to being one of the top 11 athletes in the world after winning the Pan American Championships in July and finishing eighth at the Senior Worlds. This will mark Imboden’s first junior event since winning gold in the team event at the Junior Worlds and he will be joined in the event by his Junior World Teammate Brian Kaneshige (Maplewood, N.J.) who is aiming for his first junior NAC win.

In addition to Kiefer, Imboden, Kaneshige and Lu, 16 other members of the 2011 Junior and Cadet World Team that will be fencing in the second major domestic tournament of the season this weekend, including:

• Anna Van Brummen (Houston, Texas / Junior Women’s Epee)
• Audrey Abend (New York City, N.Y. / Junior and Cadet Women’s Epee)
• Katharine Holmes (Washington, D.C. / Junior Women’s Epee)
• Jessie Radanovich (Tollhouse, Calif. / Junior and Cadet Women’s Epee)
• Alexander Eldeib (Burke, Va. / Junior and Cadet Men’s Epee)
• Brian Ro (Scarsdale, N.Y. / Junior Men’s Epee)
• Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif. / Junior Men’s Foil)
• Jerry Chang (Mountain View, Calif. / Junior Men’s Foil)
• Francesca Russo (Wayne, N.J. / Junior and Cadet Women’s Saber)
• Celina Merza (Wayne, N.J. / Junior Women’s Saber)
• Skyla Powers (Atlanta, Ga. / Junior and Cadet Women’s Saber)
• Margaret McDonald (Atlanta, Ga. / Junior and Cadet Women’s Saber)
• Will Spear (Wyantskill, N.Y. / Junior Men’s Saber)
• Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass. / Junior and Cadet Men’s Saber)
• Peter Pak (Roslyn, N.Y. / Junior and Cadet Men’s Saber)
• Geoffrey Loss (Laguna Beach, Calif. / Junior Men’s Saber)

Competition schedule is as follows (all times approximate):

Friday, November 11
8:30 a.m.
Cadet Men’s Foil
Cadet Women’s Saber
Y14 Men’s Epee

1:30 p.m.
Junior Women’s Foil

Saturday, November 12
8:30 a.m.
Junior Men’s Epee
Cadet Men’s Saber

1:30 p.m.
Y14 Men’s Foil

2:30 p.m.
Y14 Women’s Saber

3:30 p.m.
Junior Women’s Epee

Sunday, November 13
8:30 a.m.
Junior Men’s Foil
Junior Women’s Saber

11 a.m.
Y14 Women’s Epee

1:30 p.m.
Y14 Men’s Saber

2 p.m.
Cadet Women’s Foil

Monday, November 14
8:30 a.m.
Cadet Men’s Epee
Junior Men’s Saber
Y14 Women’s Foil

1:30 p.m.
Cadet Women’s Epee