Women’s Saber and Men’s Foil Teams Win Big in Costa Rica
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – For the first time at the 2010 Pan American Championships, the U.S. swept the day by winning gold medals in both events. Heading into the sixth and final day, Team USA has amassed five gold medals, two silver and five bronze.
Both teams entered the day as the top seed in the bracket and received first round byes. The U.S. men’s foil team defeated each team by at least 24 touches. Led by individual silver medalist Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.), Team USA took down Chili in the second round and Mexico in the semifinals, each to the score of 45-21. Chamley-Watson, Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.), Kurt Getz and Youth Olympian Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) stepped it up to another level in the final, disposing of Venezuala, 45-17.
"Today was a great day for our team,” Chamley-Watson said. “We accomplished our goal that we had coming down here.”
The U.S. women’s saber team faced a little more adversity en route to its gold medal. Led by two-time Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), Team USA bested Cuba in the second round before beating Mexico by 29. Zagunis, Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.), Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.) and Daria Schneider (Berkeley, Calif.) outlasted their rivals from the North, Canada, in the final, 45-37.
Saturday’s slate features women’s team epee and men’s team saber. Beijing Olympians Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) and Tim Morehouse (Bronx, N.Y.) lead the way for their respective teams. Up-to-date results can be found at http://fie.ch/.
The Pan American Championships serve as an individual and team qualifying tournament for the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.
About U.S. Fencing Association: The United States Fencing Association (USFA) is the recognized NGB for the sport of fencing in the United States. The USFA was founded in 1891 as the Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA) by a group of New York fencers seeking independence from the Amateur Athletic Union. The AFLA changed its name to the United States Fencing Association in 1981. The USFA is affiliated with the Féderation Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), the international federation for fencing founded in Paris in 1913. The USFA was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Pennsylvania in 1964 and in Colorado in 1993 in compliance with the Amateur Sports Act and opened its national office at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. in August of 1982. For more visit www.usfencing.org, www.facebook.com/usfencing or www.twitter.com/usfencing.
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