USA Fencing

(Columbus, Ohio) – Six individual National Champions were crowned on Monday at the USA Fencing National Championships in Columbus, Ohio.

The Division IA women’s foil final bout came down to 2011 Division III National Champion Hellary Zhang (Louisville, Ky.) and Rebecca Stanford (Brooklyn, N.Y.) – a top-eight finisher on the cadet circuit this season. Although the bout was close, Zhang came out ahead, 15-13, to win her second National Championship title at just 17-years-old.

Fencing in his third National Championships at just 15-years-old, Rafael Vinluan (Palo Alto, Calif.) won the Division II men’s foil competition. Vinluan found himself trailing Algird Szumlas (Glendora, Calif.) by four touches, 6-2, in the first period, but came back to take a 10-8 lead going into the second period and held on for a 15-14 win.

In the Division II women’s saber gold medal final, Francesca Fedorovsky (San Clemente, Calif.) led her bout against Kacy Charpin (East Setauket, N.Y.), 13-9, before Charpin scored six touches in a row to win the bout, 15-13.

Benjamin Sanits (Staten Island, N.Y.) won the Division III men’s saber title with a 15-4 victory in his final bout against Nate Clark (Ghent, N.Y.).

The Division III women’s epee competition came down to a battle between two teammates from Medeo Fencing Club. Amanda Choy (Basking Ridge, N.J.), the March NAC Champion in this event, controlled the gold medal bout against Ashely Hahn (Bernardsville, N.J.) for a 15-4 win.

A 2011 Junior Olympic bronze medalist, Logan Crosby Koester (Colleyville, Texas) won his first National Championship title in Division IA men’s epee when he defeated Maciek Zmyslowski (Des Plaines, Ill.), 15-14, in the gold medal final.

Veteran competition closed out for the week on Monday as the final two team events were held during the July North American Cup.

After winning her second straight veteran women’s 40-49 foil National Championship on Sunday, three-time Olympian Ann Marsh-Senic (Royal Oak, Mich.) and her teammates Jane Carter , Cythia Findlay and Jun Liang-Smith were seeded just fifth at the start of the tournament, but quickly showed that the seed meant little as they defeated Three Elles and an Aargh, 45-20, in the quarters and Brooklyn College Alumni, 45-27, in the semis. In the gold medal finals, Rochester Reunites met the Repeat Offenders – four current or former Veteran World Team members. Rochester Reunites took the match, 45-27, over Lynn Botelho (Indiana, Pa.), Ursula Szpak (Trophy Club, Texas), Michelle Verhave (Purdys, N.Y.) and Kristin Vines (Chatanooga, Tenn.)

In the bronze medal match, Brooklyn College Alumni defeated the Golden Domers, 45-17.

On the men’s side, the Fencers Club of Arizona won the veteran team title for the fourth straight year. Anchored by Justin Meehan (Vancouver, Wash.), the reigning champions fenced LFA whose anchor, Dmitri Kopylov (Roseland, N.J.) fenced on both the 2011 and 2012 Veteran World Teams. The FCAZ team of Meehan, Bill Becker (Gilbert, Ariz.), Don Anthony (Columbus, Ohio) won or tied eight of nine bouts against LFA to take the win, 45-30. Kopylov was joined on the silver medal squad by Steven Heck (Laurel, Md.) and Stephen Dashnaw (Wayne, N.J.)

Village Fencing Team won bronze over the Old Dominion Sabers, 45-36.

Competition continues on Tuesday with the schedule as follows:

8:30 a.m.
Y14 Men’s Saber
Y14 Women’s Foil
Cadet Women’s Epee

1:30 p.m.
Y10 Men’s Epee
Division IA Men’s Foil

2 p.m.
Senior Men’s Team Epee
Division IA Women’s Saber
Senior Women’s Team Epee

For complete results, visit www.usfencingresults.com.

Top eight results are as follows:

Division IA Women’s Foil National Championships
1. Hellary Zhang (Louisville, Ky.)
2. Rebecca Stanford (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
3. Sharon Chen (Diamond Bar, Calif.)
3. Mackenzie Lawrence (Leawood, Kans.)
5. Ashley Tsue (Overland Park, Kans.)
7. Grace Ding (Bolton, Mass.)
8. Cassidy Seidl (Redmond, Wash.)

Division IA Men’s Epee National Championships
1. Logan Crosby Koester (Colleyville, Texas)
2. Maciek Zmyslowski (Des Plaines, Ill.)
3. Nicholas Hanahan (Indianapolis, Ind.)
3. Spencer Amann (Westminster, Colo.)
5. Davis Jno-Finn (Houston, Texas)
6. Jay Slater (Bainbridge Island, Wash.)
7. Aidan Antekeier (Houston, Texas)
8. Ryan Arieta (Pleasant Hill, Calif.)

Division II Men’s Foil National Championships
1. Rafael Vinluan (Palo Alto, Calif.)
2. Algird Szumlas (Glendora, Calif.)
3. Jonathan Tablas-Ramirez (Baltimore, Md.)
3. Zohaib Mannan (Short Hills, N.J.)
5. Keith Kan (Millbrae, Calif.)
6. Matthew Jin (Fremont, Calif.)
7. Ethan Levy (Great Neck, N.Y.)
8. Julien Baneux (Ithaca, N.Y.)

Division II Women’s Saber National Championships
1. Kacy Charpin (East Setauket, N.Y.)
2. Francesca Fedorovsky (San Clemente, Calif.)
3. Sara Cunningham (Decatur, Ga.)
3. Savanah Tiffany (Draper, Utah)
5. Courtney Price (Woodstock, Ga.)
6. Esther Bentolila (Hollywood, Fla.)
7. Eva Hinds (Oregon City, Ore.)
8. Diana Philpot (Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Division III Women’s Epee National Championships
1. Amanda Choy (Basking Ridge, N.J.)
2. Ashely Hahn (Bernardsville, N.J.)
3. Kaley Chicoine (State College, Pa.)
3. Marina Bochenkova (Austin, Texas)
5. Julia Barry (Boulder, Colo.)
6. Anastasia Vlassova (Atherton, Calif.)
7. Meghan O’Reilly (Akron, Ohio)
8. Brooke Snyder (Painesville, Ohio)

Division III Men’s Saber National Championships
1. Benjamin Sanits (Staten Island, N.Y.)
2. Nate Clark (Ghent, N.Y.)
3. Gregory Hsu (Redwood City, Calif.)
3. Kaleb Naylor (Taylorsville, Utah)
5. Adyel Duran (West Nyack, N.Y.)
6. Chase Pflueger (Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
7. Will Nikolai IV (Salt Lake City, Utah)
8. Michael Tsiames (New Fairfield, Conn.)

Veteran Women’s Team Foil July North American Cup
1. Rochester Reunites
2. Repeat Offenders
3. Brooklyn College Alumni
4. Golden Domers
5. Three Elles and an Aargh
6. Mighty Morphin Muses
7. Lunging Ladies

Veteran Men’s Team Saber July North American Cup
1. Fencers Club of Arizona
2. LFA
3. Village Fencing Team
4. Old Dominion Sabers
5. Columbus Fencing and Fitness
6. Sierra Swag
7. Royal Blues
8. Team Shark