USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Team USA’s first squad arrived in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on Monday to prepare for competition at the Junior and Cadet World Championships.

Cadet women’s foil fencers Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.), Iman Blow (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Stefani Deschner (Mechanicsville, Va.) were the first U.S. athletes to arrive in Bulgaria and will be followed by their junior and cadet teammates over the course of the next week.

On Tuesday, the team visited the International Fair Plovdiv where the athletes trained at the practice hall and saw the competition venue at Pavilion 13 prior to the tournament start on Thursday.

The Junior and Cadet World Team is aiming to build on its success from last year’s event in which Team USA won nine medals.

The 2014 team is led by London Olympians Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) and Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) The foil fencers have each won individual medals at the last three Junior World Championships with Massialas becoming the first U.S. men’s foil fencer ever to win an individual title at the event in 2013.

The two each have younger siblings who will be fencing in Plovdiv as well. Massialas’s younger sister, Sabrina, won silver at the 2013 Cadet Worlds and will fence in both the cadet and junior events this year. Kiefer’s younger brother, Axel, fenced as a cadet last year and is fencing the junior team event next week.

Massialas and Kiefer have fenced together on every Junior and Senior World Team since 2009 and both athletes are expected to anchor in the team event where the men’s foil team has won gold three out of the last four years and the women’s squad took silver in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Massialas’s men’s foil teammates include Axel Kiefer as well as 2013 Junior World team silver medalist Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.) and first-time team member Michael Woo (Wayne, N.J.)

In the women’s foil event, Lee Kiefer’s teammates are all former medalists at either the Junior or Cadet Worlds and include Sabrina Massialas, three-time Junior World team medalist Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J.) and four-time Junior World medalist Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) Kiefer, Dubrovich and Massialas will fence in the individual event and Lu will join the trio for the team competition.

Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.), a 2013 Senior World Team member, will attempt to win his first gold medal at the Junior Worlds after the saber fencer won silver in 2012 and bronze in 2013. Ranked as the No. 1 junior fencer in the world at the start of the season, Dershwitz will enter Junior Worlds as the No. 2 seed.

Three members of the women’s saber team that won gold in 2013 also will be back in action in Plovdiv. Adrienne Jarocki (Middle Village, N.Y.) won silver as an individual and anchored Team USA to the 2013 championship title, but the reigning NCAA Champion took this season off from international competition and will only be fencing the team event this year. Sage Palmedo (Portland, Ore.) finished in the top eight as a cadet and the top 16 as a junior in 2013 and is among the favorites to medal this year. After fencing in the team event last year, 2012 Cadet World medalist Francesca Russo (Wayne, N.J.) earned an individual position on the squad with a silver medal at the Budapest Junior World Cup in February. Jarocki, Palmedo and Russo will be joined by Gracie Stone (Chicago, Ill.) who will be fencing at her first Junior Worlds after winning a silver medal and earning two top-eight finishes on the Junior World Cup circuit this season.

Live results will be posted at http://fencingworldwide.com/en/competition/9576/overview/.

Competition schedule is as follows:

Thursday, April 3
Cadet Women’s Foil Prelims – Table of 64
Cadet Men’s Saber Prelims – Table of 64

Friday, April 4
Cadet Women’s Foil Table of 32 – Finals
Cadet Men’s Saber Table of 32 – Finals
Cadet Women’s Epee Prelims – Table of 64
Cadet Men’s Epee Prelims – Table of 64

Saturday, April 5
Cadet Women’s Epee Table of 32 – Finals
Cadet Men’s Epee Table of 32 – Finals
Cadet Women’s Saber Prelims – Table of 64
Cadet Men’s Foil Prelims – Table of 64

Sunday, April 6
Cadet Women’s Saber Table of 32 – Finals
Cadet Men’s Foil Table of 32 – Finals
Junior Women’s Foil Prelims – Table of 64
Junior Men’s Saber Prelims – Table of 64

Monday, April 7
Junior Women’s Foil Table of 32 – Finals
Junior Men’s Saber Table of 32 – Finals
Junior Women’s Epee Prelims – Table of 64
Junior Men’s Epee Prelims – Table of 64

Tuesday, April 8
Junior Women’s Epee Table of 32 – Finals
Junior Men’s Epee Table of 32 – Finals
Junior Women’s Saber Prelims – Table of 64
Junior Men’s Foil Prelims – Table of 64

Wednesday, April 9
Junior Women’s Saber Table of 32 – Finals
Junior Men’s Foil Table of 32 – Finals
Junior Women’s Team Foil Table of 32
Junior Men’s Team Saber Table of 32

Thursday, April 10
Junior Women’s Team Foil Table of 16 – Finals
Junior Men’s Team Saber Table of 16 – Finals
Junior Women’s Team Epee Table of 32
Junior Men’s Team Epee Table of 32

Friday, April 11
Junior Women’s Team Epee Table of 16 – Finals
Junior Men’s Team Epee Table of 16 – Finals
Junior Women’s Team Saber Table of 32
Junior Men’s Team Foil Table of 32

Saturday, April 12
Junior Women’s Team Saber Table of 16 – Finals
Junior Men’s Team Foil Table of 16 – Finals

Complete athlete roster is as follows:

Junior Men’s Epee
Lewis Weiss (Houston, Texas)
Justin Yoo (La Verne, Calif.)
Joshua Cole (Chappaqua, N.Y.)
Team Fourth: Alex House (Upton, Mass.)

Junior Women’s Epee
Anna Van Brummen (Houston, Texas)
Amanda Sirico (Bowie, Md.)
Nina Van Loon (Boulder, Colo.)
Team Fourth: Mason Speta (Chicago, Ill.)

Junior Men’s Foil
Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.)
Michael Woo (Wayne, N.J.)
Team Fourth: Axel Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)

Junior Women’s Foil
Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J.)
Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Team Fourth: Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)

Junior Men’s Saber
Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.)
Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.)
Geoffrey Loss (Laguna Beach, Calif.)
Team Fourth: Gabe Armijo (San Diego, Calif.)

Junior Women’s Saber
Sage Palmedo (Portland, Ore.)
Francesca Russo (Wayne, N.J.)
Gracie Stone (Chicago, Ill.)
Team Fourth: Adrienne Jarocki (Middle Village, N.Y.)

Cadet Men’s Epee
Justin Yoo (La Verne, Calif.)
Joshua Cole (Chappaqua, N.Y.)
Charles Horowitz (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Cadet Women’s Epee
Kasia Nixon (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Charlene Liu (Bridgewater, N.J.)
Giana Vierheller (Houston, Texas)

Cadet Men’s Foil
George Haglund (Califon, N.J.)
Aaron Ahn (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Jarred Gou (Saratoga, Calif.)

Cadet Women’s Foil
Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
Iman Blow (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Stefani Deschner (Mechanicsville, Va.)

Cadet Men’s Saber
Ben Natanzon (Manalapan, N.J.)
Karol Metryka (Linden, N.J.)
Calvin Liang (Chandler, Ariz.)

Cadet Women’s Saber
Sarah Merza (Wayne, N.J.)
Riya Dave (Ardsley, N.Y.)
Violet Michel (Cambridge, Mass.)

Complete staff roster is as follows:

Men’s Epee Coach
Benoit Bouyssett (Houston, Texas)

Women’s Epee Coach
Andrey Geva (Houston, Texas

Men’s Foil Coach
Greg Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)

Women’s Foil Coach
Buckie Leach (New York City, N.Y.)

Men’s Saber Coach
Zoran Tulum (Natick, Mass.)

Women’s Saber Coach
Ed Korfanty (Portland, Ore.)

Chef de Mission
Sam Cheris (Aurora, Colo.)

Team Captain
Wes Glon (State College, Pa.)

Team Leader
Jennifer Yamin (Allendale, N.J.)

Athletic Trainers
Giuseppe Giovatto (Clearwater, Fla.)
Ronda Peterson (Moorhead, Minn.)

Armorers
Albert Merritt (Billerica, Mass.)
Brian Rosen (Mars, Pa.)