Salle Mauro Fencers Excel at Houston Super Youth Circuit

The city of Houston was host to a Super Youth Circuit (SYC) the weekend of March 14-16.  An SYC is a route for some fencers to earn National Rolling Points and qualify for Summer Nationals.  Salle Mauro had 43 entries and earned 23 medals.  Salle Mauro fencers earned 3 gold, 2 silver, and 6 bronze medals.  Salle Mauro fencers medaled in 15 of the 18 events.

The following fencers earned gold in their events:
Marwan Charafeddine                Y10 Men’s Epee
Ally Micek                                  Y10 Women’s Epee
Brandon Merz                             Y12 Men’s Epee.

 Silver medals went to:
Michael Dudey                             Y14 Men’s Foil
Sarah Followill                              Y14 Women’s Foil.

 Bronze Medalists were:
Evin Heintz                                    Y10 Men’s Saber
Alarice Chen                                 Y10 Women’s Foil
Chafic Charafeddine                      Y12 Men’s Foil
Ally Micek                                    Y12 Women’s Epee
Hayley Gillen                                 Y12 Women’s Saber
Denes Marton                               Y14 Men’s Foil

 Additionally, many of our fencers earned national rolling points.  National points are used to improve a fencer’s initial seeding at national tournaments.  Points also qualify a fencer automatically for Summer Nationals and allow a fencer to qualify for one age group higher even if younger than otherwise allowed.  This means any of our fencers with Y14 points are qualified for Y14 Championships in San Jose this summer.  A Y10 fencer with Y12 points is eligible to try to qualify for the Y14 Championships.

Once more our fencers showed good sportsmanship and fought hard in their events.  Logan Somera embodied this in his run in the Y14 direct eliminations, in which he upset the number 6 seed.  This earned him national points and a D08 rating.  Congratulations to Logan.

On a different note, we would like to congratulate two of our past youth champions.  Ben Parkins and Colin Sutter left this past year to attend Ohio State University.  Ben is on a full scholarship and Colin is on a partial scholarship.  This weekend as our current youth fencers were fighting for their points, Ohio State won the 2008 NCAA Fencing National Championship.  Well done guys.  While her team went home without a medal, Emma Buckingham also fenced in the NCAA Championships.  Congrats to her as well.

Finally, the coaches would like to thank the fencers and parents at Salle Mauro.  Without the hard work of the fencers, none of these results would be possible.  Without the support of the parents, we wouldn’t have the fencers who work so hard.  We look forward to continued excellence in fencing and working with all our fencers in the future.