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Eleven U.S. Team Members Advance Out of Preliminary Rounds at Senior Worlds

10/09/2011, 11:44am CDT
By USA Fencing

(Catania, Italy) – The first day of the Senior World Championships ended on Sunday with 11 of the 12 eligible athletes advancing onto competition in the table of 64 which will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

With three-time Senior World Team members Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) and Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) already qualified for the table of 64 via their top-16 world rankings, just two U.S. women’s foil fencers needed to compete in the preliminary rounds in Catania on Sunday.

Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) returned to her second Senior World Championships after placing 28th in 2010 and was the only U.S. team member to advance straight from the pools into competition on Tuesday as one of the top 16 athletes in the event after pool play ended.

Ross won five five-touch pool bouts with her only loss coming by a single touch to Tais Rochel (BRA), 5-4.

“I was struggling a little bit with my focus. The pool wasn’t super challenging on paper, but I was beating myself up a little bit in the beginning after the loss,” Ross said. “I was nervous and I went five and one, so I fenced well, definitely, but there was one bout I for sure should have won and I lost focus. So I was a little disappointed with that. Otherwise I was happy to be able to get straight out of the pools.”

Ross will enter the table of 64 as a 22nd seed and will fence Po Heung Lin (HKG) in the first round on Tuesday and she hopes to use her past experience at the Senior Worlds to her advantage this week.

“It feels good having one year behind me. There’s definitely some pressure because I made the 32 last Worlds. I like pressure, though. I like to have goals to reach for,” said Ross who has struggled with injuries this season. “Coming into this tournament I didn’t fence much because I was injured. I did feel a little rusty in the things I wanted to focus on – my footwork and my point control – and hope I can use those a little better the next day without having to think so much about it. I think I got my nerves out today and I just want to be really strong mentally going into Tuesday.”

For Ross’s teammate Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.), the Senior Worlds has become a familiar stage as the 23-year-old competed at her fifth Senior Worlds on Sunday.

Willette finished the pools with a 4-2 record which meant she would have to compete in one of the 15-touch direct elimination rounds to qualify for the table of 64.

Willette easily won her bout against Bella Zamlin (ISR), 15-6, to advance to the table of 64 where she will fence Kiefer as the 52nd seed on Tuesday while Prescod takes on 49th seed Chie Yoshizawa (JPN).

“I didn’t feel like I had a great day. I think nerves got to me in the beginning, but to be able to end on a nice note is good,” Willette said. “I think I went into it a little scared. I lost my first bout to [Olga Leleyko], 5-0, and we usually have pretty close bouts, but in the end I made it out, so I guess that’s what matters.

In the tournament’s largest event with 230 athletes, all three U.S. Men’s Epee Team members advanced to the table of 64. Cody Mattern (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.) and Ben Bratton (New York City, N.Y.) will join teammate Seth Kelsey (Colorado Springs, Colo.) who qualified automatically as the #15-ranked fencer in the world and will face #50 Yiu Chung Tsui (HKG) on Wednesday.

Mattern, a 2004 Olympian and eight-time Senior World Team member, finished the pools with a 5-1 record. Mattern’s direct elimination bouts against Jan Bidovec (SLO), 15-6, and Pedro Arede (POR), 15-10, earned him a spot in the table of 64 as the #38 seed.

“I fenced really controlled today, especially considering I had some issues throughout my pool bouts. Just issues where I’d have a direct dead hit and it wouldn’t go off and we’d test it and it wouldn’t go off. Those are just one-point swings, including a one-time overtouch and a time touch to the foot that didn’t go my way. That one would have put me at 6-0 which would have put me directly into the next day,” Mattern said.

“Things like that are things that can really beat you up and keep you from moving forward. But I felt like I did a really good job keeping the past in the past and focusing on the future. I’ve had a solid training regimen coming into this; we had a great training camp and you have to remind yourself that you can always fence that well when it counts the most,” Mattern said. “You just need to remember the points that went well and carry that into your next bouts and I think I did that and fenced really well in my DEs.”

Bratton only dropped one bout in his five-person pool and won his next two bouts against Dmitriy Gryaznov (KAZ), 15-11, and Fredrik Backer (NOR), 15-7, with his trademark yell after every touch.

“I’ve been doing it forever. I try to do it for every single touch. I burn a lot of energy when I do that, but I need that type of energy when I compete,” Bratton said.

As the 49th seed going into competition on Wednesday, Bratton will fence Alfredo Rota (ITA) in his first bout.

“I think I built really good momentum going into the second day. My first pool bout I lost, the confidence wasn’t really there, but, as the day progressed I felt more comfortable and was able to get the wins that I needed,” Bratton said.

A former top-eight finisher at 2003 Senior Worlds and 2004 Olympic Games, Soren Thompson (New York City, N.Y.) entered the event as the #17-ranked fencer in the world who was just one point on the rankings away from earning an exemption from Sunday’s competition.

Thompson struggled in the pools where he finished 3-3, but his results were good enough to move on to the direct elimination tables.

“I had a bad pool I would say, but I didn’t think my fencing was bad. It was the results that were bad. I felt that I could have won all of the matches if they were 15-touch matches. So I didn’t get absorbed in the results of the pool as much as what I was doing right or wrong with my fencing and somehow the results were worse than my fencing really was,” Thompson said. “I don’t have much of a problem pulling my focus back. So even though there were a lot of delays and things I felt really good going into all of my bouts.”

Thompson won his next two 15-touch bouts against Marno Allika (EST), 15-11, and Hiroki Hagiwara (JPN), 15-12. The wins earned Thompson a berth in the table of 64 where he will face 2010 Senior World medalist Gabor Boczkio (HUN).

“It was good enough. I don’t think it was my best fencing, but there were a lot of things that went on at the tournament. I felt like I did what I needed to do in my matches. I never felt very scared in any of my matches and I felt that, when I needed to be, I would be in control of my matches and I was,” Thompson said.

In the men’s saber event, 2008 Olympic silver medalists Tim Morehouse (New York City, N.Y.) and James Williams (New York City, N.Y.) each went 4-2 in the pools. The two will join teammate Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.) who qualified automatically as the #13 ranked fencer in the world and will compete against Tiberiu Dolniceanu (ROU) in the first round on Tuesday.

“I give myself a B for the day.  I achieved the main goal which is advancing to the 64, but I had started out strong winning my first three matches by big margins and then struggled a bit closing out my pool,” Morehouse said. “I was 4-2 but feel like I should have been 5-1; however that is sports and now I'm moving on to prepare for the 64.”

After the pools, Morehouse defeated Joaquin Tobar Martinez (ESA), 15-7, and will compete in the table of 64 as a 50th seed against Dmitri Lapkes (BLR) on Tuesday.

“I fenced Tobar in my pools at the Zonal in July. He is a pretty quick fencer who fights for every touch so I knew I had to have a good game plan against him and not get caught up in a wild street match type tempo that might favor him,” Morehouse said. “Olympic qualification is a war.   You just have to pull out matches as best you can.  No time to worry about being pretty. It is just get the job done time!”

Williams also earned a 15-7 win in the direct elimination round where he defeated Haitham Al-Bazooni (IRQ) to qualify for the table of 64 as a #44 seed.

“It was some of the best fencing I’ve done in pools at the World Championships. I think this was the best I’ve done with managing the pressure. I had two bouts that I was not particularly happy with, that I wished I had fenced better tactically, but, overall, it was definitely a step in the right direction,” Williams said as he discussed the difference between five-touch pool bouts and 15-touch elimination bouts. “I think you really have to train specifically for fencing five touches as well as 15. The 15 you can give up a touch or two to figure a guy out, but the five is more of a sprint.”

In the table of 64, Williams will fence 2004 Olympic and 2006 World silver medalist Zsolt Nemcsik (HUN) in the first bout.

“I’ve really wanted to fence him for a long time and I’m really looking forward to it. Daryl and Tim both have good draws too, so hopefully it will be a good day,” Williams said.

Ben Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.) also competed on Sunday, but a 2-3 record in the pools meant that Igoe would face 2010 World medalist Cosmin Hanceanu (ROU) for the second time of the day.

After losing a close bout to Hanceanu, 5-3, in the pools, Igoe came back from a 14-9 deficit to close the gap to 14-12. Hanceanu scored the last touch, however, and won the bout, 15-14. Igoe finished 88th overall.

Competition continues on Monday with preliminary rounds of women’s saber and epee and men’s foil. The competition schedule for the remainder of the week is as follows:

Monday, Oct. 10 – Individual Preliminary Rounds
Women’s Saber
All U.S. Team members exempt

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
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)

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
Athletes TBD based on Oct. 10 results

Men’s Foil
Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Additional athletes TBD based on Oct. 10 results

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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