USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – More than 1,500 athletes are scheduled to compete at the Junior Olympic Fencing Championships this weekend in Baltimore, Md.

Competition will begin on Friday and conclude on Monday with all events held in Halls A-E of the Baltimore Convention Center, 1 West Pratt St. Admission is free and open to the public.

The four-day tournament will include both individual and team events and athletes will be vying for the chance represent Team USA at the 2013 Junior and Cadet World Championships in Porec, Croatia in April.

The Junior Olympics will serve as the final selection tournament for the U.S. Team in five of the six weapon squads (women’s foil and epee and men’s epee, foil and saber). The sixth squad, women’s saber, will be named following the Gent World Cup in Belgium on Feb. 23.

Athletes have been accumulating national ranking points throughout the season at domestic and international tournaments with the top three cadet and top three junior athletes in each weapon's national team point standings being named to the U.S. Team.

A fourth athlete for each junior squad will be selected to compete in the Junior Worlds team competition only.

More than 100 athletes from the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area are expected to fence this weekend, including two top prospects for the U.S. Team.

Seventeen-year-old Amanda Sirico (Bowie, Md.) will enter the event as the top-ranked cadet (U17) women’s epee fencer in the nation. Sirico, who trains at the DC Fencers Club, won the silver medal at the Gothenburg Junior World Cup in Sweden earlier this month and won two medals earlier this season on the Cadet European Cup circuit.

Eighteen-year-old Alexander “Ace” Eldeib (Burke, Va.) won bronze in the men’s epee event at the 2012 Cadet World Championships and is aiming to qualify for his third straight Junior World Team while competing just an hour away from his home club – Fencing Sports Academy.

Including Eldeib, 17 members of the 2012 Junior and Cadet Teams will fence in Baltimore for another chance at representing Team USA:

• Michael Dudey (Bellaire, Texas / foil), 2012 Junior World Team Champion
• Jerry Chang (Mountain View, Calif. / foil), 2012 Junior World Team Champion
• Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J. / foil), two-time Junior World Team silver medalist
• Audrey Abend (New York City, N.Y. / epee), 2012 Junior World Team bronze medalist
• Anna VanBrummen (Houston, Texas / epee), 2012 Junior World Team bronze medalist
• Sara Taffel (New York City, N.Y. / foil), 2012 Cadet World silver medalist
• Michael Costin (Culver City, Calif. / saber), 2012 Junior and Cadet World Team member
• Garrett McGrath (Maricopa, Ariz. / epee), 2012 Junior and Cadet World Team member
• Margaret McDonald (Atlanta, Ga. / saber), 2012 Junior World and 2011 Cadet World Team member
• Spencer Amann (Westminster, Colo. / epee), 2012 Cadet World Team member
• Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif. / foil), 2012 Cadet World Team member
• Morgan Partridge (Swansea, Mass. / foil), 2012 Cadet World Team member
• Raymond Chen (Dallas, Texas / foil), 2012 Cadet World Team member
• Stephen Mageras (Darien, Conn. / foil), 2012 Cadet World Team member
• Axel Kiefer (Lexington, Ky. / foil), 2012 Cadet World Team member
• Victoria Wines (Mahopac, N.Y. / epee), 2012 Cadet World Team member

Click here to view preliminary seeding and entrant lists for the tournament.

Competition schedule is as follows with all times listed as approximate start times and events running through completion of finals:

Friday, February 15
8:30 a.m.
Junior Men’s Individual Epee
Cadet Women’s Individual Saber

2:30 p.m.
Junior Men’s Team Saber
Junior Women’s Individual Foil

Saturday, February 16
8:30 a.m.
Junior Men’s Individual Saber
Junior Women’s Individual Epee
Junior Women’s Team Foil

2 p.m.
Junior Men’s Team Epee

2:30 p.m.
Cadet Men’s Individual Foil

Sunday, February 17
8:30 a.m.
Cadet Men’s Individual Epee
Junior Women’s Individual Saber

10:30 a.m.
Junior Men’s Team Foil

1:30 p.m.
Cadet Women’s Individual Foil

3:30 p.m.
Junior Women’s Team Epee

Monday, February 18
8:30 a.m.
Junior Men’s Individual Foil
Cadet Women’s Individual Epee

10 a.m.
Junior Women’s Team Saber

Noon
Cadet Men’s Individual Saber