The CF360 blog has received confirmation for 21 collegiate fencers who will be competing in the Junior Olympics (Feb. 13-16), in addition to "confirmation" of some key fencers who will not be attending. The USFA rankings referenced below are the most recent "rolling" rankings. Also note that many top fencers are opting not to attend this event (likely because they already have clinched spots on the respective 2009 U.S. Junior World Championship teams). We will try to track this event through Monday (please email us any JO info. you'd like to pass along).
Here's a preliminary list of varsity collegiate fencers who are confirmed for the JOs:
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Friday Events (Feb. 13)
Notes: Osborne has been a pleasant surprise for the Irish this season and could emerge as Notre Dame's #2 men's epeeist (along with senior Karol Kostka) heading into the NCAAs ... Princeton sophomore Graham Wicas will not be attending the JOs ... Wicas was the 3rd-place finisher at the '08 NCAAs and placed 5th at the '08 JOs, behind Peter French, Corwin Duncan, Bobby Cottam and James Hawrot.
WOMEN'S FOIL
Notre Dame – Hayley Reese (So.; Crestwood, KY; #7 in USFA junior rankings)
Notre Dame – Darsie Malynn (Fr.; Grapevine, TX)
Notre Dame – Rada Sarkisova (Fr.; Grand Rapids, MI)
Princeton – Lucile Jarry (Fr.; Larchmont, NY)
Pennsylvania – Laura Paragano (Fr.; Bernardsville, NJ)
Northwestern – Irisa Chen (So.; Warren, NJ)
Northwestern – Rebecca Grohmam (Fr.; South Orange, NJ)
Northwestern – Camille Provencale-Dayle (Fr,; St. Paul, MN)
Northwestern – Devynn Patterson (Fr.; Seattle, WA)
Northwestern – Lisa Sachs (So.; Greenwich, CT)
Notes: Reese earned All-America honors with her 11th-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Championships ... it appears that Columbia All-American Nicole Ross may not be attending this event (Ross, like Wicas, placed 3rd at the '08 NCAAs) ... Ross currently is #5 in the USFA junior rankings and placed 7th at the 2008 JOs (one spot ahead of ND's Reese), with the top-6 JO women's foil finishers in '08 being Lee Kiefer, Luona Wang, Hyun-Kyung Yuh, Epiphany Georges abd Ambika Singh ... Jarry is coming off an impressive 9-0 record at the Ivy League Round-Robin event (her sweep of Harvard's veteran trio included a win over Olympian Emily Cross) ... Paragano also fenced in all three of her team's Ivy League matches (5-4 for Penn, on Feb. 8) ... Sarkisova (42-14 collegiate regular-season record) and Malynn (39-7) have combined with Reese (51-6) and senior Adi Nott (53-13) to give ND a solid four-fencer rotation at women's foil ... Provencale-Dayle and Patterson are the most noteworthy of the 11 total Northwestern fencers heading to this event (the pair each has totaled over 30 collegiate wins this season).
WOMEN'S SABRE
Northwestern – Annelise Eeman (Fr.; St. Louis Park, MN)
Northwestern – Jill Mahen (So.; Chester, NJ)
Notes: Mahen (32) and Eeman (23) have combined to win 65 bouts this season for Northwestern (the #3 and #4 win totals on the NU women's sabre team) ... it appears possible that two elite Ivy League freshmen (Harvard's Caroline Vloka and Columbia's Samantha Roberts, may not be attending the '09 JOs ... current Penn State freshman Monika Askamit won this event in 2009, followed by Eliza Stone, Allison MIller and Celine Merza
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Saturday Events (Feb. 14)
MEN'S SABRE
Princeton – John Stogin (So.; Wilmette, IL; #22 USFA junior rankings)
Harvard – Valentin Staller (Fr.; Old Field, NY; #5 in USFA junior rankings)
Notes: Staller had an impressive 3rd-place finish at the 2008 JOs (as a high school senior), while Stogin was 7th ... Staller (8-1) and Stogin (2-4) both competed at the recent Ivy League Round-Robin event, with Staller handing Columbia's Jeff Spear (the '08 NCAA champ) his only loss in 12 bouts that day (Feb. 8) ... Notre Dame's list of five entries does not include sophomore men's sabreists Avery Zuck and Barron Nydam (current #1 and #2 in the USFA junior rankings) ... Zuck tied with with Staller at the '08 JOs, finishing behind only Daniel Bak (Penn State) and Columbia's Spear ... the 5-9 finishers were Peter Souders, Dan Berliner, Stogin, Aleksander Ochocki and Nydam ... we are curious to see if Sacred Heart's Marty Williams is competing in this event (Williams has turned in an impressive college season that included several noteworthy wins earlier this week in the quad meet at NYU).
WOMEN'S EPEE
Northwestern – Elizabeth Casano (Fr.; Alexandria, VA)
Northwestern – Chloe McGuffin (Fr.; Lexington, MA)
Northwestern – Sara Peck (So.; North Havem, CT)
Northwestern – Nicole Tilley (So.; Chandler, AZ)
Notes: The above fencers have been part of NU's secondary women's epee group this season (each has totaled 13-21 wins) ... defending JO champion Courtney Hurley (Notre Dame) and 3rd-place finisher Sussannah Scanlan (Princeton) will not be competing at the 2009 JOs ... Kristin Howell was the 2008 JO runner-up in women's epee, while Francesca Vassa joined Scanlan tied for 3rd.
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MEN'S FOIL
Notre Dame – Steve Kubik (So.; San Antonio, TX; #20 in USFA junior rankings)
Pennsylvania – Zane Grodman (Fr.; Califon, NJ; #33 in USFA junior rankings
Notes: Kubik earned All-America honors with his 8th-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Championships ... Grodman went 6-3 while fencing in all of Penn's matches at part-1 of the Ivy League Round-Robin Championship (Feb. 8) ... Kubik's younger brother Nick is one spot behind him (21st) in the USFA junior rankings ... 2008 Olympian Gerek Meindhardt (Notre Dame) will not be competing in the 2009 JOs (he also did not fence in the '08 JOs) ... the top-8 men's foil finishers at this event in 2008 were David Willette, Penn State's Nick Chinman, ND's Enzo Castellani, PSU's Miles Chamley-Watson, Princeton's Alexander Mills, Alexander Massialas, Duke's Dorian Cohen and Benjamin Van Son ... we have received word that Castellani is taking some time away from USFA competitions (it will be interesting to see what top foilists, among those still age-eligible, will compete at the JOs this year).