The Southern California Division of the US Fencing Association held its Junior Olympic Qualifiers last weekend in Santa Clarita. Eight fencers from Santa Barbara’s Presidio Fencing Club attended, including Lydia Kaestner of Dos Pueblos High School/Santa Barbara City College, who finished 2nd in the Junior Womens Epee.
Kaestner, along with teammates Keric Moore, Paul Wintz, and Jake Weiner, earned a spot in the Junior Olympics to be held in Memphis, TN in February.
Moore, a senior at San Marcos, finished 6th in the Junior Mens Foil. Wintz, of the Santa Barbara Homesteaders, placed 12th in the foil and qualified in the Junior Mens Epee by finishing 5th. Weiner, a sophomore at Dos Pueblos, also qualified in the Junior Mens Epee, finishing 6th.
Other Presidio fencers competing at the qualifiers were Gage Delany of Santa Barbara City College (10th place Junior Mens Foil); Mary Alice Wintz of Santa Barbara City College (5th place Junior Womens Foil); Christiana Lyman of the Homesteaders (12th place Cadet Womens Epee); and Parker Olson of Dos Pueblos (17th place Cadet Mens Foil).
In addition to the juniors and cadets, a number of younger Presidio fencers made a strong showing at the first Central Coast Youth Event of the 2009/2010 season. Jieh Meinhold defeated clubmate Parker Muir in the finals of the Y14 Foil to earn the gold. Isabella Franco and Selah Carr finished 5th and 6th respectively.
In the Y12 Foil, Sean Strong defeated teammate Matt Schmidt in the semi-finals and went on to defeat San Luis Obispo fencer Michael Roberts for the gold. Both the final and semi-final matches were decided by a single point. In the same event Amanda Chung finished 5th, Steven Henderson placed 6th, and Will Geare placed 8th. Geare’s finish also earned him the top spot in the Y10 age group.
In the Womens Foil Event, Mary Alice Wintz placed 2nd, Sophie Russo 3rd, Loa Wintz 5th and Selah Carr 6th. Mary Alice Wintz narrowly lost (13-15) in the final match to San Luis fencer Anna Koprack.
The second Central Coast Youth Foil Event will be held on December 5 at the Presidio Fencing Club, 216 East Cota Street in downtown Santa Barbara.
