Jan. 20, 2002

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame’s talented group of young fencers continued to turn in top finishes Sunday in third-day North American Cup action at the Century Center, as sophomore Kerry Walton (Londonderry, N.H.) finished seventh in the senior women’s epee competition while freshman Andrea Ament (Cleveland, Ohio) was the runner-up in junior women’s foil. Senior captain Andre Crompton (Irvington, N.J.) finished 10th in the competitive senior men’s sabre competition, with two Irish fencers also advancing in both senior men’s foil and senior women’s sabre (the final 48 in those weapons will conclude competition on Monday, beginning at 8:00 a.m.).

Walton-who also placed seventh in the senior women’ epee competition at last month’s North American Cup event in Palm Springs-entered the South Bend tournament as the No. 8 seed, finishing ahead of four of the fencers that were seeded above her. Walton entered the week listed No. 5 in the U.S. senior women’s epee rankings but managed to finish ahead of No. 2 -ranked Elizabeth Spilman (the No. 6 seed and 35th-place finisher) and fourth-ranked Kristin Suchorski (the top seed and 9th-place finisher).

Penn State’s Stephanie Eim (third seed, No. 9 ranked) won the epee title, followed by top-ranked and second-seeded Julia Leszko, Daisy Gilker (10th seed, 7th-ranked) and Kamara James (7th seed, 3rd-ranked). Meghan Phair and Jasmine McGlade also finished ahead of Walton, who earlier had placed fifth in Friday’s junior women’s epee competition.

Ament-who matched her seed by placing fifth in Saturday’s senior women’s foil competition-closed with a strong runner-up finish in Sunday’s junior foil event. The title bout featured a matchup of the top-ranked U.S. junior foilists, with second-ranked Emily Cross besting top-ranked Ament for the gold medal (Cross also is ranked No. 2 in the U.S. senior foil rankings while Ament is fourth). Cross entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed in the senior/open division.

Crompton matched his No. 10 seed, just one spot behind his younger brother Adam. Crompton secured a top-12 finish thanks to a tightly-contested 15-13 win over ninth-seeded Alexander Krul before losing 15-11 to eventual runner-up Mike Momtselidze. Tim Hagamen won the gold medal while Crompton’s Midwest rival Colin Parker of Ohio State tied for third.

Fifth-year captain Carianne McCullough and local product Destanie Milo (Knox, Ind./Culver Girls Academy) advanced to Monday’s final 48 in women’s sabre, as did former Notre Dame two-time epee All-American Nicole Mustilli (she is the No. 4 seed and a member of the U.S. sabre team). Irish junior captain Ozren Debic and freshman Derek Snyder also will be in action Monday as two of the 48 remaining men’s foil competitors (Snyder placed seventh in Saturday’s junior foil event).

Eight other Notre Dame fencers competed in Sunday’s action, with junior epee captain Anna Carnick and fifth-year men’s sabre Andrzej Bednarski failing to advance into the round of 32. Sophomore foilists Maggie Jordan and Jessie Filkins also fenced on Sunday, as did men’s foilists Steve Mautone and Matt Castellan and men’s epeeists Mike Macauley and Nick Schumaker.