USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Team USA won a total of 10 medals on Wednesday during the first day of competition at the Pan American Youth and Veteran Championships in St. Cruz, Aruba.

The Americans went 1-2-3 in two veteran events – Veteran 2 (+60) women’s foil and Veteran 1 (50-59) men’s saber.

Both events were won by athletes who were using the tournament as their final major event before they leave for the Veteran World Championships in October.

While Lynnette Whitt (Owings, Md.) won bronze in a sweep of the Veteran 1 women’s foil event at the 2013 Pan Ams, this year Whitt stood on top of the Veteran 2 podium after she defeated her U.S. teammate, Debra Allen (Ashland, Ore.), in the gold medal final. Two-time Veteran World Team member Judith Evans (Greenwich, Conn.) finished the event with a bronze medal.

Chris Matt (Fairfax Station, Va.) won gold at his first major veteran international event. The Veteran 1 men’s saber fencer won his final bout over teammate Tamas Vidovszky (Folsom, Calif.) while Ray Blair (Naples, Fla.) claimed bronze.

In the Pre-Veteran (40-49) men’s foil competition, Nathan Anderson (Denver, Colo.) won gold in his Pan Am debut.

Dawn Lorentson (New Haven, Conn.) and Michelle Tayengco (Henderson, Nev.) rounded out Team USA’s veteran medal haul with silver and bronze medal wins, respectively, in the Pre-Veteran women’s epee event.

Atara Greenbaum (Boca Raton, Fla.) claimed Team USA’s first youth medal of the event with a gold in the Youth B (11-13) women’s saber competition.

Competition continues on Thursday with the schedule as follows:

9 a.m.
Youth A Women’s Foil
Youth B Men’s Epee

11 a.m.
Pre-Veteran Men’s Saber
Pre-Veteran Women’s Foil

1 p.m.
Veteran 1 Women’s Foil
Veteran 2 Men’s Saber