(Catania, Italy) – Team USA earned valuable Olympic qualifying points for the U.S. Women’s Foil and Men’s Saber Teams on Friday when both squads earned top-eight finishes at the Senior World Championships.
As the sixth seeded team, the U.S. Women’s Foil Team earned a bye into the 16 where Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.), Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.) and Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) defeated the Ukrainians, 45-28.
In the quarter-finals, Korea led the match and built a 40-27 lead going into the final bout. Anchor Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) outscored Hyun Hee Nam (KOR), 7-4, just days after Nam won bronze in the individual competition, but Korea still held onto the bout, 44-34.
In the first match in the 5th – 8th place table, the Americans trailed France, but Ross outtouched Astrid Guyart (FRA), 4-2, to tie the bout at 17. France took the lead back during the next bout, however, when Virginie Ujlaky outscored Kiefer, 8-7. The French built on the momentum throughout the bout before earning the win, 45-39.
With one match remaining in the day, the bout for seventh place was a rematch of the Pan Am Championships final in July where Team USA defeated Canada to win the gold in the zonal championship event. The outcome was the same this time as Team USA earned the win, 45-31, with Willette as anchor and none of the U.S. women dropping a bout during the match.
The win over Canada also increased Team USA’s points total on the Olympic Rankings list in which the United States is currently ranked fourth with the top four teams overall, as of March 31, 2012, earning berths to the Olympic Games in addition to the top team from each zone.
The men’s saber team also fulfilled its mission of staying ahead of Canada in the Olympic rankings by finishing eighth to Canada’s 13th and creating a 20-point spread over the Canadians in the rankings.
Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.), James Williams (New York City, N.Y.) and Ben Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.) defeated Colombia, 45-21, in the table of 32 to advance to the table of 16 where Homer, Williams and Morehouse earned the 45-37 win over France.
Team USA’s quarter-final pitted the Americans against Italy in front of a raucous hometown crowd. The U.S. team of Morehouse, Homer and Williams kept the match close, but Italy led 35-29 by the end of the seventh bout.
Williams had one of the most impressive bouts of the week for Team USA as he took on Luigi Tarantino, Italy’s newly crowned World bronze medalist. Williams went on a four-touch run and secured a 10-5 bout win to put Team USA within a touch of tying the Italians, 40-39, going into the final bout. Although Williams came close in his opening bout by giving up just one touch, no one was able to come close to Italian anchor Aldo Montano who was coming off a gold medal win on Tuesday. Homer scored three times on Montano, but Team USA ultimately lost the bout, 45-32.
In the 5th – 8th place table, all four athletes fenced against Romania, but the squad lost the match, 45-41.
Team USA fenced a strong Ukrainian squad in the seventh place match, but Homer, Williams, Morehouse and Igoe lost the match, 45-31.
Top eight results are as follows:
Men’s Team Saber
1. Russia
2. Belarus
3. Italy
4. Germany
5. Romania
6. Hungary
7. Ukraine
8. USA
Women’s Team Foil
1. Russia
2. Italy
3. Korea
4. Poland
5. Hungary
6. France
7. USA
8. Canada
The competition schedule for the remainder of the week is as follows:
Saturday, Oct. 15 – Team Competition
Men’s Epee
Ben Bratton (New York City, N.Y.)
Seth Kelsey (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Cody Mattern (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.)
Women’s Saber
Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.)
Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.)
Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.)
Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.)
Sunday, Oct. 16 - Team Competition
Women’s Epee
Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
Maya Lawrence (Teaneck, N.J.)
Men's Foil
Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa)
Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
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