Archive for January, 2006

Mike takes 66th, Ben Takes 5th!

284 of the best cadet foil fencers in the world, representing over 16 countries, competed recently in the Cadet World Cup in Germany.

In the first round of the grueling two day four pool format, Ben swept pools with 6 victories, Mike was close behind with 4 wins and 2 losses. In the second round of pools Ben and Mike both went 4-2. In the third round Ben again was 4-2 but Mike stepped up his performance with a 3-3 record. Once again both made it into the next round. In the final, fourth pool, Ben was 5-1! Unfortunately, Mike did not make it on to direct elimination round. He missing the cut by just one touch – with a 2-3 record in the fourth round.

In the round of 64, Ben won his the first DE against one of Russia’s best foilists, then beat his next opponent, from Belgium. Ben also won his next bout against a German foilist, then squared off a against one of Frances best cadet foilists – and narrowly lost 15-13.

Luckily, this format included repachages and he was still in it. He fenced another youth from Germany and beat him 15-13. Then trounced another fencer from France 15-9. Now in the round of the 12 Ben beat Davis from England 15-5! Ben’s road to the gold ended in the round of 8 where he lost to a Russian fencer in a nail biter of a bout.

Ben ended up 5th place and Mike end up 66th out of 284! Congratulations!

In one of our strongest performances of the season, Salle Mauro Captures 6 Medals at the Houston North American Cup January 13-16th at the George Brown Center. There were many highlights of the tournament. Mario Rodriguez Captured 3 of the 6 Medals, a 1st Place in Wheelchair Men’s Saber, and two 2nd Place medals in Wheelchair Men’s Epee and Foil respectively.

Other Medalists include Neely Brandfield-Harvey, who took 6th Place in Junior Women’s Epee, and Cadet Benjamin Parkins who took 5th Place in Junior Men’s Foil . By achieving these great results both Neely and Benjamin have earned the Number two ranks in the nation for cadet team point standings and this will strongly support them to qualify as a member of the national team competing in the world championships in South Korea this coming April.

Colin Sutter took 5th Place Division I Men’s Foil, who was seeded first after the pools then fenced hard to make it into the top 8, this is Sutter‘s best finish of the season so far. The medal count for Salle Mauro keeps going up – mainly due to the quality of our coaches and the dedication of our fencers.

Congratulations to all of our fencers who competed in the Houston North American Cup. You represented yourselves and Salle Mauro admirably Continue to work hard and we will see you on the MEDAL STAND soon!

On December 30th Salle Mauro celebrated a highly successful 2005 fencing season with an end of year party. Fencers were presented with a certificate of achievement and a gift to honor their commitment to the sport. Salle Mauro would like to thank the fencers, families and coaching staff for a highly successful year and an even better 2006! We are proud to have such committed athletes and parents. Without them, we could not have achieved the results we did.

The club has a sizeable number of youth and adult recreational and fitness-motivated fencers, but it is perhaps best known nationally for its competitive programs.  Salle Mauro members featured prominently on tournament result sheets this past year by winning and placing in events ranging from local youth club tournaments on up through regional, national, and even elite World Cup competitions.

The highlights of this past year are:

International

2 medalists in Cadet World Cups

Several top 16 and top 32 finishers in both Cadet and Junior World Cups

Salle Mauro looks forward to 2006 with three fencers working hard to qualify for the Cadet World championships in April.

National

21 medals at the Summer National Championships 2005.

30+ medals in Junior Olympics, Super Youth Circuit event, and Division I, II, III, Youth & Veteran events at North America Cups.

Fencers highly ranked in the nation:

Neely Brandfield-Harvey  : second in Cadet Women’s Epee.

Benjamin Parkins : second in Cadet Men’s Foil.

Rebecca Rea : fourth in Cadet Women’s Epee.

Neely Brandfield-Harvey  : seventh  in Junior Women’s Epee.

Benjamin Parkins : seventh in Junior Men’s Foil.

Michael El-Saleh : tenth in Cadet Men’s Foil

John McDermott : fifth in Veteran-60 Men’s Saber.

Neely Brandfield-Harvey : first in youth-14 in Women’s Epee.

Elizabeth Donnenberg : fourth in Youth-14 Women’s Epee.

Gregory Micek: Second in Youth-14 Men’s Epee.

Travis Overton : tenth in Youth-14 Men’s Saber.

Jack Hudson: fifth in Youth-12 Men’s Epee.

Michael Dudey: eighth in Youth-12 Men’s Foil.

David Filteau : second in Youth-10 Men’s Saber.

Pierce McNamara: second in Youth-10 Men’s Foil.

Sam Freiman: second in Youth-10 Men’s Epee.

Thomas Dudey: sixth in Youth-10 Men’s Foil.

Regional (southwestern US)

Several Overall Regional Youth Circuit champions in Epee, Foil and Saber for both Boys and Girls

17 Gold, 11 Silver, and 11 bronze medalists in individual series events

Local Series and Club Tournaments

Numerous medalists from regional club tournaments.

Most of our fencers improved their ratings and earned medals in local and regional tournaments.

Coaching Staff

This past fall Maestro Istvan Marton joined our coaching staff as head epee coach. Maestro Marton added significant Olympic and international coaching experience to the academy. He has served as head coach of numerous national teams including his native Hungary, Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, India andSenshu University in Japan.  He was an Olympic head coach at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and was himself a member of the Hungarian Olympic team at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Maestro Marton further enhances our trademark of high level individual training for Salle Mauro fencers.

Our club feels justifiably proud of the accomplishments of our fencers and look forward to continued success at all levels in 2006.