Eleven Champions Crowned at Day Four of Summer Nationals
ATLANTA, Ga. – Olympic silver medalist Tim Morehouse (Bronx, N.Y.) reached down deep to come back from as much as six points down to defeat Ben Igoe (New York, N.Y.), 15-14, in the division one Men’s Saber gold medal bout on Tuesday. Down 8-3 at the break, Morehouse stormed back to tie things up at 14 apiece. He won using a complex parry reposte move.
"Unbelievable,” Morehouse said. “Actually, the last touches on that I've been working on for like two years, so to see myself work at it really hard and struggle with it sometimes. But to finally get it here is very satisfying, at my first National Championships. I'm just really happy for my coach for all the work he put in, so it's an unbelievable feeling."
Also taking home a gold medal in division one fencing was women’s epee fencer Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas). The younger sister of 2008 Olympian Kelley Hurley, Courtney took down Suzanna Scanlan (St. Paul, Minn), 15-7, in the final round.
"I've been training a lot for this tournament, so I feel a lot stronger than usual,” Courtney Hurley said. “It was an awesome feeling, to be not so tired after a long day of work."
Scanlan appeared to be nursing a wrist injury. Hurley led 5-0 after the break and hardly celebrated after the win.
"The bout itself, I think the bout before was more representative of the national champion,” Hurley said. “We're very much rivals, [Lindsay] Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.). But this one, it was kind of one-sided, so it wasn't in the moment screaming. [Scanlan] was hurting, so it wasn't really exciting."
The competition takes place in Hall B5 of the Georgia World Congress Center and is free and open to the public. The latest results from women’s foil can be found at http://usfencing.org/events/3963/page/9734.
Morehouse says he was never worried during the gold medal bout versus Igoe.
"I felt in the bout the whole time,” Morehouse said. “I just knew I had to get some things going. I missed some touches early and he fenced me very strong, he was fencing great. I just felt like if I could get a couple going, I could get him a little nervous and try to steal one. I basically stole it, I feel very fortunate. He fenced great today and I'm just very happy to be National Champion."
It was not the first or last time the two American fencers have or will spar on the strip.
"Ben's great, he's my teammate, we train all the time,” Morehouse said. “We have to start qualifying our olympic team in 300 days. I love ben, he's a great guy, so I feel bad for him. I know he's upset, he definitely could have won. But he's a tremendous competitor, a tremendous athlete and I'm proud to be going to World Championships with him."
Eleven more national championship gold medals will be awarded on Wednesday, including the division one Men’s Foil winner. Olympian Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.), Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Kurt Getz (Rye, N.Y.) head into the tournament ranked one-two-three, respectively, in the U.S. rankings.
Follow the live Tweeting online at www.twitter.com/usfencing. Streaming video of tomorrow’s fencing action can be viewed online at http://usfencing.org/live. The following bouts will be webcast between 1-5 p.m. EST (times approximate):
Division 1 Men’s Foil
Featured quarterfinal (1 p.m.)
Featured semifinal (1:30 p.m.)
Gold Medal bout (2 p.m.)
Under 19 Women’s Saber
Featured quarterfinal (3 p.m.)
Featured semifinal (3:30 p.m.)
Gold Medal bout (4 p.m.)
Junior Men’s Saber Team (4:15pm)
Correction: In Monday’s release, Emily Jacobson was referred to as a Beijing Olympian. That is incorrect. Jacobson was an Athens Olympian.
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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