Notre Dam junior Valerie Providenza is the defending women's sabre champion at the Penn State Open (photo by Pete LaFleur).

Defending Champion Valerie Providenza Set To Lead Notre Dame Contingent At Annual Penn State Open

Oct. 22, 2005

Members of the Notre Dame fencing program will compete in their first college bouts of the 2005-06 season this weekend, at Penn State’s annual Max Garret Open. The two-day individual competition will feature the women’s bouts on Saturday, Oct. 22, with the men’s bouts to follow on Sunday. The event traditionally is held during the second week of November but was moved up a couple of weeks this fall, overlapping with Northwestern’s Remenyik Open that also will be held this weekend (a handful of ND fencers, including sophomore foilist Melanie Bautista, are expected to compete at Northwestern this weekend).

Each day’s bouting will open with the foil competition at 8:30 a.m., followed be epee at 10:00 and sabre at noon.

Junior sabre Valerie Providenza will lead Notre Dame’s 17-fencer contingent at the ’05 Penn State Open. The two-time All-American and 2004 NCAA champion won the PSU Open title in the fall of ’04, besting one of her current college rivals – Ohio State’s Siobhan Byrne – in the 15-10 title bout.

Other All-Americans expected to be in action for the Irish this weekend include junior epeeist Amy Orlando, sophomore foilist Jakub Jedrkowiak and junior sabres Patrick Ghattas and Matt Stearns. Jedrkowiak was the runner-up at the ’04 PSU Open – besting two-time NCAA champ Boaz Ellis of Ohio State in the semifinals before falling to another former NCAA champ, PSU’s Non Panchan – while Orlando and Ghattas placed 4th and Stearns 6th at the ’04 event.

Notre Dame’s top four men’s saber fencers are on the trip to PSU, with senior Nico Diacou and highly-regarded freshman Bill Thanhouser (Portland, Ore.) joining Ghattas and Stearns.

The Irish also will be well represented in women’s epee and men’s foil. Fifth-year senior Becca Chimahusky (an alternate for the ’05 NCAAs) joins Orlando among the veterans of the epee squad while freshmen Madeleine Stephan (Tauberbischofsheim, Germany) and Kimberlee Montoya (Las Vegas) will be opening their college fencing careers in State College. Junior foilist Frank Bontempo – a 2004 NCAA participant who narrowly missed qualifying for the ’05 NCAAs – returns for his third PSU Open, with sophomore Diego Quinonez and nationally-ranked freshman Mark Kubik (San Antonio, Texas) rounding out ND’s solid foil group this weekend.

Notre Dame’s only men’s epee entrants at PSU are sophomore Greg Howard and freshman Karol Kostka (Krakow, Poland) while two freshmen comprise the team’s women’s foil competitors: Adi Nott (Pittsford, N.Y.) and Emilie Pro (Limoges, France).

In addition to Providenza, other winners at the ’04 PSU Open included Panchan in men’s foil, PSU epeeist Katarzyna Trzopek, OSU saber Adam Crompton, Princeton epeeist Soren Thompson and OSU foilist Hanna Thompson (whose semifinal win stopped the four-beat bid of former ND fencer Alicja Kryczalo).

Here are additional notes on previous PSU results for the ND veterans competing this weekend:

WOMEN’S SABRE – Providenza placed 3rd at the ’03 PSU Open before winning the ’04 event … she was seeded 3rd after going 13-2 in the pool round and then defeated Yale’s Carly Guss (#14 seed, 15-5) before besting PSU’s Ashley Gin Fong Linker in the quarterfinals … Providenza followed with a semifinal win over Harvard’s Carolyn Wright and bested OSU’s Siobhan Byrne in the 15-10 final … the final bout was tied (5-5) before Providenza claimed an 8-5 lead at the 1st break (she stretched to 11-5 and answered three straight points by Byrne with three more of her own, for a 14-8 edge).

MEN’S SABRE – Stearns placed 4th at the ’03 PSU Open (Ghattas did not compete due to a Junior World Cup conflict) … Stearns’ early wins in ’03 included a 15-7 decision over PSU’s Alexander Breuske (round of 16) … he then posted a noteworthy win over UNC’s Wes Newkirk in the round-of-16 (15-9) before losing to PSU’s Marten Zagunis (brother of current ND sophomore sabre Mariel Zagunis) in the semifinals (11-15) and Ben Igoe of Rutgers in the 3rd-place bout (9-15) … Ghattas was the #3 seed at the ’04 PSU Open (after going15-0 in pools) and beat Newkirk (#14 seed) in the round of 16 (15-9) before winning a close bout vs. Igoe (15-13) … PSU’s Franz Bogichev then edged Ghattas in a 15-12 semifinal (Ghattas later would reverse that result in the ’05 NCAA semifinals) while OSU All-American and ’04 Olympian Jason Rogers beat Ghattas in a controversial 3rd-place bout (15-12) … Ghattas held a 4-0 lead vs. Rogers and later led 7-3 when an apparent miscall by the referee prevented Ghattas from claiming an 8-3 lead at the break (Rogers instead made a run for an 8-7 score) … Rogers won the next point and later stretched to 12-9 (Ghattas battled back to 12-13 but Rogers closed it out) … Stearns (#5 seed, 11-4 in pools) battled #12 seed Jason Paul of Ohio State in a 15-14 thriller before injuring his leg while losing to Rogers in the ’04 quarterfinals (15-7) … Diacou was 16th at the ’02 PSU Open, reached the consolation final in ’03 (losing to ND teammate Brian Dosal) and was eliminated after the 1st round in ’04 …

MEN’S FOIL – Bontempo’s freshman season saw him reach the quarterfinals of the ’03 PSU Open, facing ND teammates in his final two bouts (15-11 win over Forest Walton, 10-15 quarterfinal vs. Derek Snyder) … Bontempo then went 9-6 in the ’04 pools and was the #13 seed before losing to #4 seed Cory Werk of Yale in the round-of-16 (8-15), finishing 14th … Jedrkowiak earned the #3 seed in ’04 (14-1 in pools) before beating Princeton’s Daniel Hohensee in the round-of-16 (15-3) … he then won 8 of the final 9 points to top PSU All-American Ian Schlaepfer (#6 seed) in a 15-8 quarterfinal before a similar surge in the semifinals vs. #2-seed Ellis (15-10) … that bout was tied five times before Jedrkowiak went ahead 10-8 at the end of the 1st period … after some key advice from assistant coach Zoltan Dudas, he came out of the break and scored the next point, later leading 12-9 and scoring the final 3 touches for the 15-10 win … Panchan ran out to a 8-1 lead in the final, then led 13-2 en route to the 15-6 victory … Quinonez went 5-9 in the ’04 pool bouts and finished 21st.

WOMEN’S EPEE – Orlando, who missed the ’03 PSU Open due to the World Cup conflict, went 14-1 in the ’04 pools to earn the top seed … she then beat Penn’s Angelika Kyrimi (#16 seed) in a 15-9 bout before besting PSU’s Case Szarwark in a 15-8 semifinal … PSU’s Trzopek (the ’03 NCAA champ) then posted a 15-8 win over Orlando in the semifinals (Trzopek led 2-0 after the 1st period and 5-4 after the 2nd before running out to an 11-6 cushion) … Princeton’s Kira Hohonsee won the 3rd-place bout vs. Orlando (15-13) … Orlando trailed early (7-3, then 11-7 at end of 2nd period) but rallied to 14-12 before the bout ended on a double touch … Trzopek won the ’04 final vs. Wayne State’s Anna Garina (the ’04 NCAA champ).

MEN’S EPEE – Howard earned the #15 seed at the ’04 PSU Open (8-6 in pools) and upset Harvard’s Philip Sherill (#2 seed) in a battle of lefthanders (15-13).that bout was tied eight times, including 4-4 at the end of the 1st period … Howard then led 10-9 after the 2nd period, followed by a double touch, a Lindblom point and another double touch (12-12) … Howard won the next two points and answered the next touch (15-13) with the clinching point … he faced another Harvard fencer in the quarterfinals but lost a 15-11 bout to #7 seed Ian Lindblom … Howard trailed 5-1 after the 1st period and was behind 10-3 before scoring 4 straight touches, followed by a double and the 2nd break (12-8; Lindblom then stretched to a 14-9 cushion).

Note that results from the Penn State and Northwestern Opens will be posted on Sunday night/Monday morning. An updated team roster and compete ’05-’06 season schedule (which recently was finalized and approved for release) also will be posted on und.com in the next few days.