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Home arrow Media arrow Press Releases arrow 2007 0415 - Weekend Junior Worlds Report - Silver for Wicas
2007 0415 - Weekend Junior Worlds Report - Silver for Wicas Print E-mail
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For Immediate Release
15 April 2007

Weekend Junior Worlds Report - Silver for Wicas

In the Junior Men's Epee event on Sunday, U.S. junior Graham Wicas (17, Philadelphia, Pa.) took on the largest field of the weekend at 132 competitors and emerged with a silver.

Unfortunately, Wicas, seeded only 46th after his pool round, had to stage a 15-10 upset of his teammate Dwight Smith (19, Elmont, N.Y.) to advance from the round of 64.

Wicas then advanced steadily through the table, and by the quarterfinals, had upset the #3 seed, Peter Szenyi of Hungary, 15-9. In the quarterfinals, Wicas beat Sebastien Lamon of France 15-11, and in the semifinals, he defeated Fredrik Backer of Germany 15-12.

Wicas was defeated only by the Junior World Cup Champion, France's Alexandre Blaszyck, 15-12 in the final. The silver is Wicas's second medal in his second year on the team. Wicas was the 2006 Cadet (Under-17) World Champion. He finishes the Junior World Cup season ranked 9th in the world.

Stanley Vaksman (18, North Woodmere, N.Y.), the third epee junior, won a bout in the round of 128 and was then defeated by Guillaume Boisseau of France 15-11.

On the women's side, Epee fencer Courtney Hurley (16, San Antonio, Texas) took her performance up a notch on Saturday, finishing in the top eight of the Junior Women's Epee competition. Hurley finished ninth in the Cadet event earlier in the week.

The U.S. junior saber men did not have their best day. Jeff Spear (18, Wynantskill, N.Y.) had the highest finish among the trio, at 23rd.

Spear defeated his first opponent but then fell to An Sung Jung of Korea  15-13 in the round of 32. Harrison Mahaffey (16, Los Angeles, Calif.) and Raskyrie Davidson (18, Newark, N.J.) each lost their round of 64 matches -- Davidson to Alberto Pellegrini of Italy and Mahaffey to Andriy Yagodka of Russia. The scores of both bouts were 15-13.

She defeated a strong contender from Poland, Katarzyna Dabrowa, 15-14 in the top 16 but then lost to Dobrowa's Polish teammante Dominika Mosler 15-4 in her attempt to reach the medal rounds.

Her sister Kelley Hurley (18, San Antonio, Texas) and teammate Susannah  Scanlan (16, St. Paul, Minn.) both finished in the top 64 of the field.  Scanlan lost her direct elimination bout to Katalin Iszo of Hungary 15-9 and Hurley lost hers to Mosler 10-9 in a bout that went to time.

In the women's foil competition, Doris Willette (18, Rodeo, Calif.) was the highest finisher, at 17th. Seeded 6th after the pools, Willette defeated Anastasiya Moskovska of the Ukraine handily 15-4 in her first direct elimination bout, but then fell to Ye Seul Jang of Korea 15-11 in the round
of 32.

The youngest member of the U.S. team, Nzingha Prescod, lost her direct elimination match in the round of 64 to Shuang Meng of China 15-7. Sam Nemecek (19, Alto, Mich.) lost her bout in the same round to Nadiya Voychenko of the Ukraine in a 14-13 bout that went to time.

Monday marks the start of the team competitions, with the Junior Women's Saber Team and Junior Men's Foil Team events. The highly-ranked U.S. women's saber squad stands in excellent contention to repeat last year's gold-medal finish.

Junior Women's Epee
102 competitors
1 SAMUELSSON Emma SWE
2 MURONI Marzia ITA
3 BERGDAHL Johanna SWE
3 MOSLER Dominika POL
5 SHECHTMAN Iris ISR
6 MESTRES Julie FRA
7 ANTAL Edina HUN
8 HURLEY Courtney Hurley (16, San Antonio, Texas/Team Hurley)
46 HURLEY Kelley (18, San Antonio, Texas/Team Hurley/Notre Dame '09)
37 SCANLAN Susannah (16, St. Paul, Minn./Twin Cities F.C.)

Junior Men's Saber
100 competitors
1 BEISHEIM Benedikt GER
2 PARK Young Jun KOR
3 BEAUDRY Philippe CAN
3 IACOMETTI Luca ITA
5 DOLNICEANU Tiberiu ROU
6 PUNDYK Dmytro UKR
7 HOLLOSI Bence HUN
8 PELLEGRINI Alberto ITA
23 SPEAR Jeff (18, Wynantskill, N.Y./Fencers Club/Columbia '10)
39 MAHAFFEY Harrison (16, Los Angeles, Calif./Los Angeles Int'l .F.C.)
40 DAVIDSON Raskyrie (18, Newark, N.J./Westbrook Found.)


Junior Men's Epee
132 competitors
1 BLASZYCK Alexandre FRA
2 WICAS Graham Wicas (17, Philadelphia, Pa./Fencing Acad. Of Phila.)
3 BACKER Fredrik NOR
3 JIAO Yunlong CHN
5 SUKHOV Pavel RUS
6 LAMON Sebastien SUI
7 BOREYKO Denys UKR
8 BESKIN Grigori ISR
38 SMITH Dwight (19, Elmont, N.Y./Westbrook Foundation/Columbia '09)
74 VAKSMAN Stanley (18, North Woodmere, N.Y./NYAC/St. John's '09)

Junior Women's Foil
91 competitors
1 BINGENHEIMER Sandra GER
2 KOROBEINIKOVA Larisa RUS
3 ERRIGO Arianna ITA
3 KREISS Fanny HUN
5 BAILEY Victoria FRA
6 NISHIOKA Shiho JPN
7 JANG Ye Seul KOR
8 MENG Shuang CHN
17 WILLETTE Doris (18, Rodeo, Calif./Golden Gate/Penn State '10)
36 PRESCOD Nzingha (14, New York, N.Y./Westbrook Found.)
49 NEMECEK Samantha (19, Alto, Mich./West Mich. F.A/Northwestern '09)

For More Information, Please Contact:
Cindy Bent Findlay
US Fencing Media Relations
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614.746.6733
www.USFencing.org