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Team USA Finishes Senior Worlds Prelims with 11 Additional Qualifications

10/10/2011, 11:34am CDT
By No Author

(Catania, Italy) – U.S. athletes finished the preliminary rounds of competition at the Senior World Championships with 11 of the final 12 team members advancing into the table of 64.

The newly qualified three women’s epee fencers, four women’s saber fencers and four men’s foil fencers will join a lineup of four men’s epee, four women’s foil and three men’s saber athletes that will represent Team USA in table of 64 competition beginning on Tuesday and continuing through Thursday.

In the men’s foil, two members of the team that won gold at the Junior Worlds in April each went undefeated in the pools and qualified for the table of 64 without having to compete in later roundsd.

Eighteen-year-old Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) won six straight bouts in which he dropped only nine touches to finish third in the pools and earn a #19 seed in the table of 64 at this first Senior Worlds.

“It’s good to start off this well. Going undefeated was my goal and you can’t do any better than that,” Imboden said. “It’s always been a dream of mine to come here and be part of the Senior World Team since I’ve been like 10 years old. I keep talking about these steps I need to complete to keep moving up and this is another one, so it’s a dream come true.”

Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) may be just 17-years-old, but the reigning Junior World silver medalist in the individual event has already competed on Senior World Teams in 2009 and 2010 where he was on the team with Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.) and Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.) – both of whom earned exemptions into the 64 through their top-16 world rankings.

On Monday, Massialas won five bouts in the pools, including a close fourth bout against Beijing Olympian Turner Or (ISR) in which Massialas took the 5-4 win in priority.

“Obviously the results show how I was fencing, but I still think I could have done better. I was a little jittery at first. My bout against the Israeli went 5-4, so I was definitely a little jittery, but in the end I pulled off what I wanted to,” Massialas said.

Massialas has now qualified for the table of 64 for the third straight year and, after wining bronze at the Seoul World Cup in May, has hopes of improving on his 43rd place finish in 2010.

“Right now my pools put me in a pretty good position to do well, so hopefully I can make the most of it on Thursday,” Massialas said.

In women’s saber competition, all four U.S. team members were exempt from fencing in the pool rounds on Tuesday. Two-time individual Senior World Champion Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) is the top-ranked fencer in the world while teammates Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.), Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.) and Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.) are seeded 13th, 15th and 16th, respectively.

In the women’s epee event, three of the four U.S. team members qualified for the table of 64.

Six-time Senior World Team member Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) finished the pools with a 5-1 record and had little trouble winning her next bout against Pia Montecinos Guerra (CHI) to earn a 38th seed in the table of 64.

In 2010, Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) competed on her fourth Senior World Team, but a torn ligament in her hand prevented her from advancing out of the pools. This year, she won three of five bouts after a player was removed from her pool for being late to the strip. In the preliminary table, Campbell earned a first-round bye and defeated Chialing Chang (TPE), 15-12, to qualify for the table of 64.

“I’m pretty happy. The only two bouts I lost were both in overtime. One was to a really strong Polish fencer [Malgorzata Bereza] and the other I shouldn’t have lost, but I think I pulled it together and I had a good DE. I would like to be seeded higher, but you can’t control that now,” Campbell said.

Competing at her fourth Senior Worlds, Maya Lawrence (Teaneck, N.J.) earned her first trip to the 64, but had to overcome difficulties in the pools first as two players were removed from her pool after one was black carded and another withdrew.

With only four bouts, Lawrence finished the pool rounds with a 2-2 record and would need two more wins in the preliminary tables to advance to the 64.

 “I fenced well enough to make the second day, but not as well as I wanted to. I was a little flustered because one girl didn’t show up and that dropped our pool from seven to six and another girl got a black card for throwing her mask, so we just had four bouts, but I was happy I won what I needed to to keep fencing,” Lawrence said.

In the first bout, Lawrence edged Anfisa Pochkalova (UKR), 14-13 in overtime.

“I made a lot of mistakes because I was winning by three touches and then she got three in a row and we ended up in priority,” Lawrence said. “Of course I was happy I got the last touch, but it was annoying to be up three and then have to start all over.

In her final bout of the day, Lawrence held onto her lead against Ayaka Shimookawa (JPN) to win the bout, 15-10, and earn a 61st seed.

Beiijng Olympian Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) finished 15th at the 2010 Senior Worlds, but the eight-time Senior World Team member finished 3-3 in the pools.

After a quick 15-5 win over Patrizia Piovesan Silva (VEN) in the first preliminary table, Hurley fenced Bereza to get into the table of 64. Although the score was tied at six after the second period, Bereza pulled ahead in the third to win the bout, 15-10.

Competition continues on Tuesday with the table of 64 for men’s saber and women’s foil. The competition schedule for the remainder of the week is as follows:

Tuesday, Oct. 11 – Individual Table of 64
Women’s Foil
Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.)
Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)

Men’s Saber
Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.)
Tim Morehouse (New York City, N.Y.)
James Williams (New York City, N.Y.)

Wednesday, Oct. 12 – Individual Table of 64
Men’s Epee
Seth Kelsey (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Cody Mattern (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
Ben Bratton (New York City, N.Y.)
Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.)

Women’s Saber
Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.)
Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.)
Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.)
Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.)

Thursday, Oct. 13 – Individual Table of 64
Women’s Epee
Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
Maya Lawrence (Teaneck, N.J.)
Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Men’s Foil
Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Friday, Oct. 14 – Team Competition
Women’s Foil
Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.)

Men’s Saber
Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.)
Ben Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.)
Tim Morehouse (New York City, N.Y.)
James Williams (New York City, N.Y.)

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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