Nov. 17, 2002
University Park, Pa. – The Notre Dame men’s and women’s fencing team finished the Max Garret Penn State Open (following Sunday’s women competition) with two individual champions in the two-day event. Champions included senior All-America men’s epee captain Jan Viviani (Haworth, N.J.), and sophomore women’s foilist NCAA champion Alicja Kryczalo (Gnansk, Poland).
Viviani repeated his 2001 performance, at the event by finishing atop a strong epee field. Other competitors included Penn Sate All-Americans Adam Wiercioch and Daniel Landgren and 2002 NCAA runner-up Soren Thompson of Princeton. Viviani defeated Thompson 15-9 to claim his championship. Teammate Michal Sobieraj, a sophomore All-American from Krakow, Poland, finished ninth in the pool of 47 epeeists.
Kryczalo also repeated as the champion of the Penn State Open, finishing ahead of Wayne State All-American Inga Wallrabenstein in a pool of 44. Irish sophomore Andrea Ament (Gates Mill, Ohio) finished eighth, followed by senior captain Liza Boutsikaris (Sparta, N.J.) in ninth.
All-America senior captain Ozren Debic (Zagreb, Croatia) led the Irish in the men’s foil pool of 55 with a third-place finish, after winning the championship at last year’s Penn State Open. He lost to Penn’s Yale Cohen in a 15-14 bout, before defeating Ian Schlaepfer of Penn State for the bronze medal. Close behind Debic was sophomore All-American Derek Snyder (Chatsworth, Calif.), who placed fifth. Senior foilist and 2001 All-American Forest Walton (Londonderry, N.H.) returned to action with a 10th-place finish.
Junior Kerry Walton (Londonderry, N.H.) – the 2002 NCAA epee champ – competed in her first Penn State Open, placing third in a 43-woman epee field. Penn State topped the field with All-American Jessica Burke placing first, followed by teammate Katarzyna Trzopek. Notre Dame All-America classmates, captain Anna Carnick (Mishawaka, Ind.) and Meagan Call (Eugene, Ore.), finished eighth and 15th, respectively.
Junior women’s sabre captain Destanie Milo (Knox, Ind.) topped her freshman year performance (fifth), with a fourth-place finish while her classmate Maggie Jordan (Maplewood, N.J.) placed 19th in the 38 fencer women’s sabre pool.
The Irish men’s sabre squad was led by senior Matt Fabricant (Elizabeth, N.J.), who placed eighth in a 44-man pool that was dominated by Penn State (All-American Alex Weber repeated as champ, followed by Marten Zanugis in second, Wyatt Kasserman in fifth and Amir Rahimi in ninth). Freshman Nicolas Diacou (New York, N.Y.) continued his Irish debut with an eventual 16th-place finish, after fencing extremely well against Weber, who defeated Diacou 15-10.
The Irish have concluded the 2002 fall individual competitions, as they await the onset of team competitions – beginning with the Ohio Dual meet, in Columbus, Ohio on Jan. 25th.