Bill Thanhouser 2007-08 Fencing Roster

HONORS & AWARDS

2007 All-American

Academic All-America Candidate (3.65)

U.S. Junior National Team (2006)

Men[apos]s Sabre Team Captain

Brings excellent leadership skills and focuson team goals … lefthanded battler who hasexcellent technique and effective creation ofspeed to go along with keen reaction skills …an emotional competitor and vocal leader whothrives in big bouts … combines great footworkwith strong will to win … hails from OregonFencing Alliance elite sabre academy that alsohas produced three current sophomores on theIrish squad (Avery Zuck, Sarah Borrmann andEileen Hassett), plus recent four-year All-Americans Patrick Ghattas and ValerieProvidenza (in addition to 2004 and 2008Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis) … hasstrong drive to reach his own Olympic dreamin the upcoming years … joined Notre Dameclassmate Adi Nott (women[apos]s foilist) and NDteammate Kelley Hurley (epee) as members ofU.S. contingent that competed at Junior WorldChampionships in Taebek City, South Korea(April [apos]06) … had one of the top U.S.individual finishes in Korea (14th) at 2006Junior World Championships … turned in asixth-place finish amidst an elite field at theNorth American Cup held in Tucson, Ariz. (April [apos]07) … his other recent internationalevents have included various Junior WorldCups: sixth in Sosnowiec, Poland (summer[apos]05); 23rd in Dormagen, Germany (Nov. [apos]05);67th in Budapest (Jan. [apos]06); and 126th inDourdan, France (Feb [apos]06) … could emerge asa top candidate for Academic All-Americahonors as an invited participant in the NotreDame athletics department[apos]s Academic HonorsProgram (faculty mentoring).

AS A JUNIOR: Had impressive regularseason (47-19) before placing third at theMidwest Conference Championships, fifth atthe NCAA Midwest Regional and 13th at theNCAA Championships … placed 12th at theannual Penn State Open, in the fall of 2007 …opened the spring season with a 13-2 record atthe Western Invite … finished 9-7 at the NYUduals … went 9-5 at the Northwestern Dualsand 7-5 at the Duke Duals … finished theregular season by going undefeated at theNotre Dame Duals (9-0) … finished third atthe Midwest Conference Championships …went 2-3 in the first round pool at the NCAAMidwest Regional to earn a seventh seed inthe direct-elimination portion of thetournament … advanced to the finals with a15-8 win over Notre Dame teammate TomHorton and a 15-7 win over Ohio State[apos]sSergey Smirnov … fell to Smirnov (15-11) inthe quarterfinals before defeating Lawrence[apos]sNils Schaede (15-4) and Ohio State[apos]s MikeMomtselidze (15-13) to finish fifth andadvance to the NCAA Championships … atthe NCAA Championships, went 11-12 in theround robin portion, good for a 13th-placefinish.

AS A SOPHOMORE: Finished the 2007regular season with the 10th-most wins (51-12) ever by a Notre Dame men[apos]s sabre fencer… went on to have a strong postseason, placingfifth at the Midwest Fencing ConferenceChampionships, second at the NCAA MidwestRegional and sixth at the NCAAs (good forsecond team All-America honors) … openedwith 24-3 record at the Notre Dame Duals,highlighted by wins over several All-Americansand NCAA Tournament veterans – such asOhio State[apos]s Jason Paul (5-4), Stanford[apos]s TeddyLevitt (5-3), UC San Diego[apos]s Jason Runyan (5-1) and Detroit[apos]s Jarek Jelinek (5-3) … his 10-5record at the NYU Duals included similar noteworthy wins over Columbia[apos]s JamesWilliams (5-4), Luther Clement of St. John[apos]s(5-3), OSU[apos]s Jason Paul (5-2) and Yale[apos]sChristopher Peterson (5-4) … kept rolling atthe Duke Duals (10-2), with more top winsover Air Force[apos]s C.J. Baran (5-0), NorthCarolina[apos]s Will Randolph (5-4) and PeterTruszkowski from the home team (5-0) …topped his club teammate Ian Farr (from PennState; 5-2) as part of his 7-2 record at theNorthwestern Duals … lost to OSU[apos]s Paul inthe MFC quarterfinals (12-15; placed 5th) butavenged that loss the next day in the MFCteam final (with a 5-3 win over Paul) …entered Midwest Regional (at ND) as the #4seed but had to overcome early upset loss toOSU[apos]s Dexter Wilde (9-15) … battled back toreach the regional semifinals, beating Smirnov(15-13) but losing the final to OSUMomtselidze (10-15) … opened NCAAs inMadison, N.J., with 10-4 record on day one -featuring top wins over Columbia[apos]s AlexanderKrul (5-4) and Detroit[apos]s Jelinek (5-2) … added7-2 record on day two of NCAAs, tying forfourth place (17-6; ended up sixth, based ontotal-point indicators) … that strong finishincluded his first career wins over OSU[apos]sMomtselidze (5-4) and another All-American,Ben Igoe of Rutgers (5-3), plus othernoteworthy victories over OSU[apos]s Smirnov (5-0), SJU[apos]s Torian Brown (5-3), Stanford[apos]s Levitt(5-1) and PSU[apos]s Farr (5-4) … he and Ghattas(18-5) had the most combined wins in the2007 NCAA men[apos]s sabre field … their 35combined wins are third-most ever by an NDmen[apos]s sabre duo in NCAA action (since current format started in [apos]95) – behind the 2000 pairof Gabor Szelle (20) and Andrzej Bednarski(17), and the 1997 duo of Bill Lester (21) andLuke LaValle (15) … combined with Ghattas towin 18 straight bouts at one point during theNCAAs, spanning the two days … went 3-1 inone-touch bouts during the NCAAs … enteredPenn State Open in fall of 2006 as #8 seed andplaced 12th, with pair of early wins over OSU[apos]sPaul (5-2; 5-3) before losing in round of 16 toMomtselidze (9-15) … placed eighth in hisfinal event of 2006, the North American Cupin Richmond,Va. – finishing behind some topnames in U.S. men[apos]s sabre fencing (formerNCAA champs Keeth Smart, Crompton andLee, plus Harvard[apos]s Tim Hagamen, RU[apos]s Igoe,Penn[apos]s Matt Kolasa and national-teamer TimMorehouse) … gave Smart a battle in theRichmond N.A.C. quarterfinals before falling,12-15.

AS A FRESHMAN: Turned in a solid firstseason with the Irish, going 41-10 in regularseasonbouts before 12th-place finish at theMFCs and eighth-place showing at MidwestRegional (leaving him just shy of spot inNCAAs) … opened with 13-3 record atNorthwestern Duals that included top winsover Stanford[apos]s Levitt (5-4), UCSD[apos]s BretMartin (5-2) and the UNC duo of RobertZiechmann (5-4) and Randolph (5-1) …posted several impressive wins at NYU Duals(8-6), including comeback from 0-4 deficitversus Columbia[apos]s Krul (5-4) and win by samescore over two-time NCAA championCrompton of Ohio State (5-4), plus victoriesover Columbia[apos]s Alex Diacou (5-2) and SJU[apos]sNikita Tsukhlo (5-4) … did not compete inND Duals (Jan. [apos]06) due to Junior World Cupevent in Spain, where he placed third … closedregular season 6-0 at OSU Duals and 14-1 atUCSD Duals, with top wins over Stanford[apos]sCurtis Andrus (5-2), Air Force[apos]s Baran (5-1),and the UCSD duo of Martin (5-1) andRunyan (5-1) … finished 12th at MFCs, afterloss in round of 16 to OSU[apos]s Paul (13-15) …headed to Cleveland as #3 seed for regionalbut dropped to #7 seed for direct elimination(4-2 in pool bouts) before losing to Paul inquarterfinals (10-15), followed by losses to hisND teammate Matt Stearns (14-15) and thenDetroit[apos]s Jelinek (12-15) in seventh-place bout… reached round of 16 (10-15 loss to Ghattas)at Penn State Open in fall of [apos]05 … his 2005-06 USFA events included placing 16th atN.A.C. in Overland Park, Kan. (Jan. [apos]05), athird-place showing in U-19 bouts at 2005Summer Nationals (Sacramento, Calif.), a fifthplacefinish at the Albuquerque N.A.C. (Nov.[apos]05), placing 11th in U-20 bouts and 24thoverall at the Houston N.A.C. (Jan. [apos]06), andfinishing 15th at 2006 Summer Nationals inAtlanta.

PREP & PERSONAL: Attended OregonEpiscopal School (as did Ghattas) whiletraining at Oregon Fencing Alliance, coachedby former ND assistant Ed Korfanty …nationally ranked throughout youth fencingcareer … undefeated in bouts with OFA asjunior and senior (team captain both years) …his 2004-05 national and international resultsincluded: 22nd at Junior Olympics, 14th atSummer Nationals, 19th at Louisville (Ky.)Junior World Cup and 63rd at Dormagen(Germany) Junior World Cup … member ofU.S. cadet-level (U-17) men[apos]s sabre nationalteam in 2003 … won cadet and junior-levelmen[apos]s sabre title at 2003 Pan-AmChampionships (in Guadeloupe) … placed13th at 2003 Junior World Championships(Trapani, Italy) … other top 2003 resultsincluded: winning U-17 title, taking 3rd-placein U-20s and helping junior men[apos]s sabre teampost 4th-place showing at Summer Nationals(Austin,Texas); and placing 10th in Columbus,Ohio, 12th in Palm Springs, Calif., and 19th inOverland Park, Kan. (all as a D-I competitor inthose N.A.C.[apos]s) … selected for Nov. 24, 2003,issue of Sports Illustrated[apos]s ‘Faces in theCrowd’ … his top 2002 events includedwinning U-17 title at N.A.C. in Orlando, beingrunner-up at similar event in Greenville, S.C.,and pair of eighth-place cadet finishes at WorldCup in Godollo, Hungary, and Junior WorldCup in Louisville … lettered as midfielder onOES soccer team during junior year … servedas student body vice-president … son of Nedand Anne Thanhouser … full name is WilliamLloyd Thanhouser … born March 18, 1986, inPortland, Ore. … a Program of Liberal Studiesmajor, in the College of Arts and Letters.