USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Lauren Scruggs (Ozone Park, N.Y.) won her second gold medal of the weekend on Saturday at the March North American Cup in Memphis.

Scruggs followed her win in the Y10 women’s foil event with a second gold in the Y12 foil competition at the Memphis Cook Convention Center.

After winning six pool bouts and five straight direct elimination bouts on Friday, Scruggs went undefeated in both pools and DEs in the Y12 competition as well.

Seeded first out of the pools, Scruggs outscored her six opponents, 29-2, and didn’t give up more than four touches to any opponent in her next five direct elimination bouts. Rachel Zhang (Winchester, Mass.) proved to be Scruggs’s toughest opponent of the day, but Scruggs won their final bout, 15-11. 

Maxwell Yee (Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif.) entered the Division III men’s foil event for the first time at a NAC, but still came away with the gold after a 15-6 win in the gold medal final against Nathan Jeon (Palo Alto, Calif.)

A three-time medalist at the 2013 USA Fencing Nationals and July NAC, epee fencer Jonathan Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas) won his first NAC gold medal as a Y14 fencer on Saturday. Seeded third out of the pools, Piskovatskov won six direct elimination bouts to advance to the final where defeated Joey Taylor (Chicago, Ill.), 15-7.

Tori Johnson (Peachtree City, Ga.) came into the March NAC as the top-ranked Y14 women’s saber fencer in the nation and she retained her position in the standings after a 15-12 win over Miranda Gieg (Sudbury, Mass.) in the gold medal final.

A former Y10 saber medalist on the NAC circuit, Sam Keehan (Chandler, Ariz.) won his first NAC title in the Y12 event. Keehan outscored his opponents, 30-4 in the pools and won five direct elimination bouts en route to the gold medal final where he defeated 2012 Pan American Youth Champion Kamar Skeete (Duluth, Ga.), 15-12.

After top-eight finishes at the last two Y10 NACs, Jaclyn Khrol (Brooklyn, N.Y.) won her first NAC title in the Y10 women’s epee competition. Seeded second out of the pools, Khrol held her first three direct elimination opponents to no more than four touches each. In the finals, Keegan Glucksman (Bedford Corners, N.Y.) kept the score low, but Khrol still took the victory, 3-2.

Three team events also were held on Saturday.

In the Y14 women’s team epee event, Hooked on Fencing held a five-touch lead over Cool Story, Bro after the first eight bouts at 36-31. Cool Story’s Sofia Komar (Laurence Harbor, N.J.) fought back in the anchor bout and outscored LeeAnn Choy (Basking Ridge, N.J.), 14-8, to win the match for her team, 45-44. Komar’s gold medal teammates included Chloe Daniel (Sierra Madre, Calif.) and Ava Navarro (Frenchtown, N.J.) Hooked on Fencing took the silver medal and Choy stood on the podium with her teammates Greta Candreva (Katonah, N.Y.) and sisters Meghan and Aeryn O’Reilly (Akron, Ohio).

The Y10 men’s team epee competition also came down to the final touch. The Fiery Ones fencer Luke Kolbinskie (San Antonio, Texas) kicked off a comeback for his team in the seventh bout against New York Fencing Academy as he defeated Ethan Kushnerik (Brooklyn, N.Y.), 4-2. Although New York Fencing Academy still held a 24-21 lead, The Fiery Ones’s Milan Maddineni (Chappaqua, N.Y.) outscored Skyler Liverant (Brooklyn, N.Y.), 7-4. With his team up, 28-27, at the start of the final bout, anchor Zi Glucksman (Bedford Corners, N.Y.) tied Mark Dolgonos (Brooklyn, N.Y.), 2-2, to give The Fiery Ones a 30-29 victory.

In the Y10 women’s foil team event, Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy dominated the field en route to winning gold. Seeded first in the tournament, Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy held both of its opponents to single digit scores. After a 45-8 win over SFFC in the semifinals, Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy’s team of Lauren Kim (River Vale, N.J.), Renata Chusid (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) and Allison Lee (Kinnelon, N.J.) defeated MFC’s Montana Lee (New York City, N.Y.), Anna Ferretti (New York City, N.Y.) and Eileen Ye (New York City, N.Y.) by a score of 45-6.

Click here to view complete results.

Top eight results are as follows:

Division III Men’s Foil
1. Maxwell Yee (Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif.)
2. Nathan Jeon (Palo Alto, Calif.)
3. Brycen Rushing (Carrollton, Texas)
3. Kyle Evered (Guilford, Conn.)
5. Jonathan Hsu (Middletown, N.J.)
6. James Packman (Atlanta, Ga.)
7. Daniel Makogon (Sandy, Utah)
8. Darren Gu (San Jose, Calif.)

Y14 Men’s Individual Epee
1. Jonathan Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas)
2. Joe Taylor (Chicago, Ill.)
3. Nicolas Wilson (Houston, Texas)
3. Nyle Sykes (Greenwood Village, Colo.)
5. Adrien Thein-Sandler (Topanga, Calif.)
6. Zach Kravitz (Los Angeles, Calif.)
7. Hunter Candreva (Katonah, N.Y.)
8. Aaron Kogan (New Haven, Conn.)

Y14 Women’s Individual Saber
1. Tori Johnson (Peachtree City, Ga.)
2. Miranda Gieg (Sudbury, Mass.)
3. Casey Chan (Cresskill, N.J.)
3. Ryan Jenkins (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
5. Kara Linder (Chandler, Ariz.)
6. Lark Izenson (Atlanta, Ga.)
7. Esther Bentolila (Hollywood, Calif.)
8. Morgan Jenkins (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)

Y12 Women’s Individual Foil
1. Lauren Scruggs (Ozone Park, N.Y.)
2. Rachel Zhang (Winchester, Mass.)
3. Haley Koo (Old Tappan, N.J.)
3. Julia Thompson (Montclair, N.J.)
5. May Tieu (Belle Mead, N.J.)
6. Sophia Mandour (Perry Hall, Md.)
7. Karina Yaroshenko (New York City, N.Y.)
8. Maria Stamos (New York, N.Y.)

Y12 Men’s Individual Saber
1. Sam Keehan (Chandler, Ariz.)
2. Kamar Skeete (Duluth, Ga.)
3. Christopher Walker (Atlanta, Ga.)
3. Raymond Zhao (Duluth, Ga.)
5. Robert Vidovszky (Folsom, Calif.)
6. Bryce Belser (Jersey City, N.J.)
7. Richard Shin (Los Angeles, Calif.)
8. Stepan Sevostyanov (Rego Park, N.Y.)

Y10 Women’s Individual Epee
1. Jaclyn Khrol (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
2. Keegan Glucksman (Bedford Corners, N.Y.)
3. Talia Weiss (Houston, Texas)
3. Madeline Janowski (Atlanta, Ga.)
5. Maya Cherukuri (Allen, Texas)
6. Nishta Boys (San Antonio, Texas)
7. Tierna Oxenreider (Columbus, Ohio)
8. Lauren Burn (Peoria, Ill.)

Y14 Women’s Team Epee
1. Cool Story, Bro
2. Hooked on Fencing
3. LAIFC 1
4. OMS
5. Alliance Fencing Academy
6. Miami Pink Panthers
7. Windy City
8. The Lovely Girls

Y10 Men’s Team Epee
1. The Fiery Ones
2. New York Fencing Academy
3. Alliance Fencing Academy
4. Thunderblades
5. Woodlands Fencing Academy
6. Riptides

Y10 Women’s Team Foil
1. Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy
2. MFC
3. GRAFA GIRLS II
4. SFFC
5. Genesis Fencing Club
6. ISLAND ALL-STAR