Karol Kostka 2007-08 Fencing Roster
Epee
HONORS & AWARDS
2007 and 2008 All-American
Three-Time NCAA Participant
NCAA Midwest Regional Champion
Men[apos]s Epee Team Captain
Has shown more confidence and overallimprovements on his way to claiming All-America honors in 2007 and 2008 … has verygood footwork and an effective continuation ofhis lunge, producing valuable points on thefleche attack … has strong all-around attackingtechniques and a precise point on his touches… one of five Polish fencers to join the NotreDame program in recent years … hastremendous physical potential and excellenttechnical preparation, which help overcome hisdisadvantage when fencing bigger opponents …an intelligent fencer who knows what isneeded to get consistent results on the strip …his top international results have includedhelping Poland[apos]s epee team win bronze at the2003 World Championships (Plovdiv, Bulgaria)… member of bronze-medal team at JuniorEuropean Championships (Porec, Croatia).
AS A JUNIOR: Posted a 46-16 record(.742) … finished in ninth place at NCAAs toearn third team All-America honors …Midwest Regional Champion … part of a 1-2-3 Notre Dame finish at the Midwest Regional… a Midwest Fencing Conference third-place finisher … a first team all-Midwest FencingConference selection … finished the campaignby posting a 7-2 mark at the Notre DameDuals, helping the team post a perfect ledger of10-0 at the duals … went 17-7 at theNorthwestern Duals, including perfect 3-0marks against UC San Diego, Johns Hopkinsand Stanford … posted a 12-5 record at theNew York University Duals and helped theIrish to a 5-1 overall team record at the venue… opened the fencing season by puttingtogether a 10-2 ledger at the 2008 NCAAWestern Invitational and helping the Irishteam go 4-1 at the competition … posted asixth-place finish at the Penn State Open (fall[apos]07), after topping Ohio State[apos]s Avi Somir (10-5) to reach the round of eight.
AS A SOPHOMORE: Had strong 2007regular season that saw him win nearly 75percent of his bouts (48-18; .727) beforeplacing third at both the Midwest FencingConference and Midwest Regional, followedby an All-America finish (11th) at the NCAAs… his 18-6 day at the Notre Dame Dualsincluded pair of 5-2 wins in 13-14 battle withOhio State (vs. Mykhaylo Mazur and ChristianRivera) … beat Phil Andrews (5-2) from thehome team, as part of his 10-7 record at theNYU Duals … won all three of his bouts at theMidwest Duals (held at ND) and then went 8-3 at the Duke Duals, highlighted by 5-4 winover North Carolina[apos]s Mike Burkhart and 5-2victory over 5-2 over Dan Zieleinski (JohnsHopkins) … closed regular season with 10-2record at Northwestern Duals, including 5-4wins over Penn State[apos]s Arthur Urman andJames Moody … advanced to MFC semifinals (after 15-10 win over ND teammate PatrickGettings) but lost 10-15 semifinal versus WayneState[apos]s Slava Zingerman … posted 5-4 winover OSU[apos]s Rivera in MFC epee teamsemifinals … entered regional (at ND) as #7seed but improved to #3 after his pool bouts …went on to post big win over Zingerman inthe regional direct elimination, adding anotherwin over the WSU newcomer (15-14; roundof-8) but then losing to OSU[apos]s Mazur insemifinals (10-15) … edged his ND teammateGreg Howard in regional third-place bout (15-14) … opened NCAAs (in Madison, N.J.) with9-5 record that included key wins over OSU[apos]sMazur (5-2),Wayne State[apos]s Marez Petraszek (5-4) Yale[apos]s Michael Pearce (5-4) and Air Force[apos]sPeter French (2-1) … picked up three wins onday two of the NCAAs, after topping Harvard[apos]sTeddy Sherrill (5-4), PSU[apos]s Steffen Launer (5-4) and Columbia[apos]s Max Czapanskiy (5-4) …rallied from 2-4 deficit to beat Czapanskiy inhis final bout, securing All-America/top-12status by the narrowest of margins (11th place;12-11 record) … he and Howard (14)combined for the fifth-most wins (25) in theNCAA men[apos]s epee field … helped 2007 squadbecome third Irish team ever to produce the maximum six All-Americans (the 85 wins werethe most by an ND men[apos]s team since 2003) …went 7-4 in one-touch bouts at the 2007NCAAs … placed 14th at Penn State Open inthe fall of 2006, improving one spot on his #15seed … his top wins at the PSU Open includeda 5-4 bout with PSU[apos]s Dennis Kraft beforeultimately losing in the round of 16 to Yale[apos]sPearce (10-15).
AS A FRESHMAN: Qualified for theNCAAs (placing 18th), after compiling a 43-11record in the regular season and overcoming asubpar effort at the MFC meet (17th) to placethird at the Midwest Regional … his 15-1opening record at the Northwestern Dualsincluded noteworthy wins over Stanford[apos]sMartin Lee (5-3) and North Carolina[apos]s BentonHeimsath (5-3) … added series of impressivewins at the NYU Duals (9-5) over OSU[apos]sDenis Tolkachev (5-1) and Jason Pryor (5-3),Columbia[apos]s Bill Verigan (5-3), NYU[apos]s Andrews(5-3) and Benjamin Bratton of St. John[apos]s (5-4)… his pair of wins over OSU helped the Irishmen[apos]s epee team post a 5-4 win over theBuckeyes … beat his countryman Petraszek ofWayne State (5-3) as part of 10-1 record at theND Duals … closed regular season with 9-4record at the UC San Diego Duals … was topseed for the regional (in Cleveland) but slippedto #7 going into direct elimination … postedanother win over OSU All-AmericanTolkachev in regional quarterfinals (15-13) butlost to Petraszek in a tight semifinal (13-14)before beating his ND teammate Howard inthe third-place bout … his 18th-place finish (8-15) at the NCAAs (in Houston) included winsover Petraszek (5-1), OSU[apos]s Pryor (5-2) andPSU[apos]s Moody (5-3) … earlier had postedfourth-place finish at Penn State Open in thefall of 2005, losing his final two bouts versustop Princeton fencers (Tommi Hurme andthen Ben Solomon, 11-15, in the third-placebout), after earlier beating Solomon in the poolbouts (5-1).
PREP & PERSONAL: Trained at the sameclub (AZS-AWF Krakow) and attended thesame high school in Poland (First LiceumOgolnoksztalcace Bartlomieja Nowodworskiego)as his former Notre Dameteammate Michael Sobieraj … son of Antoniand Marta Kostka … full name is KarolMateusz Kostka … born May 22, 1986, inKrakow, Poland … a mechanical engineeringmajor, in the College of Engineering.