USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Following a month-long online voting process, four USA Fencing members were elected to two-year positions on the board of directors.

More than 1,000 members voted in the annual election with 12 candidates running for a total of four director positions: two at-large directors, one age group parent director and one elite coach director. 

Lorrie Marcil-Holmes (Washington, D.C.) and David Blake (North Billerica, Mass.) were elected as at-large directors. Marcil-Holmes, an attorney and the mother of two-time Junior World medalist Katharine Holmes (Washington, D.C.), earned 402 votes. Blake, owner of the Prise de Fer Fencing Club who was elected to his third term as an at-large director, earned 363 votes.

Carla-Mae Richards (Marietta, Ga.) finished third in the at-large race with 314 votes. Serge Timacheff (Issaquah, Wash.) and Aaron Clements (Lubbock, Texas) were separated by 10 votes with 274 and 264, respectively. Lee Shelley (Spring Lake, N.J.) earned 205 votes.

Michael Aufrichtig (Brooklyn, N.Y.), head coach at Columbia University and the chairman of the New York Athletic Club fencing program, earned a position on the board as the elite coach director with 472 votes. The first-time USA Fencing board member defeated Wes Glon (State College, Pa.) and Ro Sobalvarro (St. Paul, Minn.) who garnered 321 and 214 votes, respectively.

Lianne Merchant (New Rochelle, N.Y.), the mother of saber fencers Julian and Marcel Merchant, won the age group parent director election with 341 votes. This is the first term on the USA Fencing board for the real estate private equity capital raiser. Merchant’s opponents, Kirsten Crouse (Conroe, Texas) and Maria Panyi (Cooper City, Fla.) earned 292 and 271 votes, respectively.

All four directors will begin their new roles on Sept. 1.