(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – London Olympians Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) and Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) opened the international women’s foil season with top-16 results at the Gdansk Grand Prix in Poland on Saturday.
As the third seed in the tournament, Kiefer was exempt not only from the pools on Friday, but she also earned a bye into the table of 32 on Saturday.
Kiefer, who placed fifth in London and is now a freshman at Notre Dame, defeated Magdalena Knop (POL), 15-8, in her first bout of the day, but placed ninth after a 15-12 loss to Anna Rybicka (POL) in the table of 16.
Prescod also was exempt from the pools with a 13th seed in the table of 64 where she defeated Canadian Kelleigh Ryan, 12-4.
In the table of 32, Prescod met Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) – Prescod’s teammate on the past two Junior World Championships as well as at Columbia University where Prescod is a redshirt sophomore and Lu is a freshman.
Prescod won the bout, 15-9, and Lu finished 21st – her best finish at a Senior Grand Prix event.
Prescod lost her table of 16 bout to fifth-ranked Astrid Guyart (FRA) and ended the day in 12th place.
London Olympian Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) went 5-1 in the pools and entered the table of 64 as the 23rd seed.
Ross defeated Yuki Mori (JPN), 15-8, in the table of 64, but lost to Carolin Golubytskyi (GER), 14-7, in the table of 32 to finish 23rd.
Next weekend, Ross will compete in the Budapest Foil World Cup with 2012 Cadet World Team members Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) and Sara Taffel (New York City, N.Y.) as well as Notre Dame sophomore Madison Zeiss (Notre Dame, Ind.)
Click here to view complete results.
Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:
Gdansk Foil Grand Prix
1. Arianna Errigo (ITA)
2. Astrid Guyart (FRA)
3. Elisa Di Francisca (ITA)
3. Ilaria Slvatori (ITA)
5. Inna Deriglazova (RUS)
6. Anna Rybicka (POL)
7. Katja Waechter (GER)
8. Martyna Jelinska (POL)
9. Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
12. Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
21. Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)
23. Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
69. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Tag(s): News Lee Kiefer Nzingha Prescod
