Nov. 17, 2015
By Joanne Norell
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Notre Dame fencing team returned a handful of top performances over the weekend as several Irish freshmen and sophomores competed at the November North American Cup in Kansas City, Missouri.
Freshman Elyssa Kleiner scored a career-best NAC finish, garnering first place in the junior women’s foil event. Classmate Dylan French picked up another medal, snaring bronze in junior men’s epee.
Axel Kiefer and Michael Antipas finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the junior men’s foil event, marking a career-best finish for Antipas. Tara Hassett picked up 12th place in junior women’s sabre, while David Brown topped Irish finishers in junior men’s sabre with an 11th-place showing.
With only Junior, Cadet and Youth-14 events contested over the weekend, only freshmen and a few sophomores were eligible to compete at this month’s NAC. Division I and II events will next be held at the December NAC, held December 4-7 in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Irish will kick off their NCAA season Saturday at the Penn Elite Invitational, held at the Coach Dave Micahnik Fencing Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
USA Fencing 2015 November North American Cup
Kansas City, Mo.
November 13-16, 2015
Friday
Junior Men’s Epee
3. Dylan French
20. Darius Zacharakis
Saturday
Junior Women’s Foil
1. Elyssa Kleiner
18. Erin Dietsche
70. Zoe Loh
Sunday
Junior Men’s Foil
6. Axel Kiefer
7. Michael Antipas
Junior Women’s Sabre
12. Tara Hassett
Monday
Junior Men’s Sabre
11. David Brown
24. Jonah Shainberg
51. Blake Murphy
53. Jonathan Fitzgerald
Junior Women’s Epee
16. Madeline Antekeier
62. Molly Hudson
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To keep up with Irish fencing, visit UND.com/NDFencing, follow @NDFencing on Twitter and like Notre Dame Fencing on Facebook.
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Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and fencing programs. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University and earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 2013.