USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Sixteen-year-old Nicolas Wilson (Houston, Texas) won his first Cadet European Cup title on Saturday when he captured gold in Copenhagen, Denmark, besting a field of 186 athletes ages 17 and under.

Wilson finished the pool rounds with a 5-1 record and a bye into the table of 128 where he defeated Oscar Juul Skals (DEN), 15-9.

After a 15-10 win against Franco Alchiede Simonato (ITA), Wilson edged Tomas Geitung (NOR) by a 15-13 score.

Wilson defeated Yohito Masuda (JPN), 15-8, in the table of 16 and secured a medal with his 15-11 win against Andzej Gedzo (EST).

Wilson would need a pair of back-to-back wins against a pair of Romanian fencers in the medals to claim gold. In the semis he defeated David Biro, 15-10, and outscored Adam Masca, 15-14, to win the tournament.

His victory over Masca allowed Wilson not only to claim gold, but to move up to No. 3 in the Cadet Men’s Epee National Team Point Standings where his twin brother, Sean Wilson (Houston, Texas), holds the No. 1 position and both brothers are attempting to earn two of Team USA’s three positions on the 2016 Cadet World Team.

In the women’s event, 16-year-old Kenyata Plenty (New York City, N.Y.) followed her bronze medal finish at the Klagenfurt Cadet European Cup with a top-eight result in Copenhagen.

The No. 2-ranked cadet women’s epee fencer in the nation, Plenty finished the pool rounds as one of five U.S. athletes to earn a perfect 6-0 record.

Seeded sixth in the direct elimination rounds, Plenty earned a bye into the table of 64 where she defeated Federica Panfilio (ITA), 15-6.

Plenty fenced one of her top rivals for a position on the 2016 Cadet World Team, 16-year-old Dasha Yefremenko (Manalapan, N.J.), in the table of 32 and took the win, 12-9. Plenty fenced another teammate, Madeline Kim (Philadelphia, Pa.), in the table of 16 and won the bout, 15-9, to qualify for the quarters where she dropped her first bout of the day to Karoliine Lott (EST) by two touches and a score of 15-13 to finish in sixth place.

On Sunday, Team USA entered six squads in the mixed team competition. Top-16 finishers individual finishers Sean Wilson and Stephen Ewart (Lancaster, Calif.) fenced for USA 1 with Yefremenko and ninth-place finisher Tatijana Stewart (Ogden, Utah).

As the top seed in the tournament, USA 1 earned a bye into the table of 16 while USA 4 defeated Israel 2, 40-37, with Jessica Thow (Spring, Texas) anchoring a team that included Amit Sarma (Plainsboro, N.J.), Theodore Lombardo (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) and Maria Papadopoulos (Ashburn, Va.)

In the next round, USA 4 and USA 1 would face off for a position in the quarter-finals. USA 1 controlled the match, winning five of the first seven bouts to take a 35-27 lead. Sean Wilson outscored Sarma, 5-3, to finish the match, 40-30, for USA 1.

The USA 2 team of Adrien Thein-Sandler (Topanga, Calif.), Wolfe Crouse (Conroe, Texas), Meghan O’Reilly (Akron, Ohio) and Sofia Komar (Laurence Harbor, N.J.) fenced Croatia in the table of 32 and won the match, 40-21.

USA 2 defeated Italy 3, 40-28, in the table of 16 to set up a quarter-final against USA 1. With USA 1 up, 10-8, after the fifth bout, Thein-Sandler outscored Ewart, 7-4, to return the lead to USA 1 at 15-14. Stewart defeated Komar, 4-1, in the eighth and Wilson held off Crouse in the anchor bout to finish the match with a 24-23 win for USA 1.

In the semifinals, Israel won or tied six of the eight bouts to defeat USA 1, 40-31.

With the score tied at 19 between USA 1 and Switzerland in the bronze medal final, Ewart took the strip for the anchor bout against Gabriel Bonferroni and sealed the win for USA 1 at, 29-28.

USA 2 would battle USA 3 for fifth place with USA 2 coming out ahead by a touch with a 34-33 win as Nicolas Wilson, Alexander Bogert (St. Augustine, Fla.), Caroline Nixon (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Megan Eno (Salem, Ore.) ended the day in sixth place.

Click here to view complete results.

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:

Copenhagen Men’s Individual Epee Cadet European Cup
1. Nicolas Wilson (Houston, Texas)
2. Adam Masca (ROU)
3. David Biro (ROU)
3. Marco Balzano (ITA)
5. Filippo Armaleo (ITA)
6. Saar Lieva (ISR)
7. Giulio Gaetani (ITA)
8. Andzej Gedzo (EST)

10. Sean Wilson (Houston, Texas)
12. Stephen Ewart (Lancaster, Calif.)
18. Adrien Thein-Sandler (Topanga, Calif.)
20. Aaron Kogan (New Haven, Conn.)
22. Ryan Griffiths (Fairlawn, N.J.)
25. Zachary Kravitz (Los Angeles, Calif.)
29. Alexander Bogert (St. Augustine, Fla.)
31. Elias Cole (Chappaqua, N.Y.)
37. Cedric Mecke (New York City, N.Y.)
38. Anton Chmut (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
43. Andrew Lee (Tacoma, Wash.)
51. Elliot Herbst (Houston, Texas)
66. Wolfe Crouse (Conroe, Texas)
68. Amit Sarma (Plainsboro, N.J.)
87. Charles Roth (Chicago, Ill.)
101. Joseph Taylor (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
147. Kevin Chao (Manhattan Beach, Calif.)
157. Theodore Lombardo (Mount Kisco, N.Y.)

Copenhagen Women’s Individual Epee Cadet European Cup
1. Zsuzsa Schlier (ROU)
2. Karoliine Lott (EST)
3. Sandra Skoblov (EST)
3. Valentina Bos (NED)
5. Aurore Favre (SUI)
6. Kenyata Plenty (New York City, N.Y.)
7. Vera Maia Devi Kanesvski (ISR)
8. Luise Elmer (AUT)

9. Tatijana Stewart (Ogden, Utah)
10. Greta Candreva (Katonah, N.Y.)
14. Madeline Kim (Philadelphia, Pa.)
15. Jessica Thow (Spring, Texas)
17. Sofia Komar (Laurence Harbor, N.J.)
22. Amanda Pirkowski (Longwood, Fla.)
23. Dasha Yefremenko (Manalapan, N.J.)
24. Hanna Lee (Las Vegas, Nev.)
25. Caroline Nixon (Los Angeles, Calif.)
26. Megan Eno (Salem, Ore.)
27. Marina Bochenkova (Luxembourg, Texas)
29. Rebecca Barnes (Dover, Mass.)
31. Anya Harkness (San Jose, Calif.)
43. Maria Papadopoulos (Ashburn, Va.)
44. Meghan O’Reilly (Akron, Ohio)
45. Emily Vermeule (Cambridge, Mass.)
51. Catherine Beddingfield (Pacific Palisades, Calif.)
67. Huda Aldadah (Peoria, Ill.)
69. Isabel Kain (Boston, Mass.)

Copenhagen Mixed Team Epee Cadet European Cup
1. Israel
2. Estonia
3. USA 1
4. Switzerland
5. USA 2
6. USA 3
7. Japan 1
8. Great Britain

9. USA 6
11. USA 4
13. USA 5