Jan. 22, 2003
Two Notre Dame fencers, senior men’s epee All-American Jan Viviani (Haworth, N.J.) and sophomore NCAA foil champion Alicja Kryczalo (Gdansk, Poland), earned gold and bronze medals at their respective tournaments this past weekend. Viviani competed at the North American Cup (Jan. 17-20) in San Diego, Calif., while Kryczalo returned to her hometown in Gdansk for the Polish Cup (Jan. 17).
Viviani, a three-time All-American for the Irish, is ranked 13th nationally in Senior men’s epee (Viviani has the potential to move up in the rankings because the poll was released before the NAC). Following a tight semi-final, where Viviani won a 9-8 overtime bout (epee scores to 15, unless the time expires which sends the bout to a sudden death, one-touch overtime), he won his final bout against 2002 NCAA champion Arpad Horvath of St. John’s under the same circumstances. Viviani earlier bested rival All-American Seth Kelsey (currently ranked 4th in Senior men’s epee) in a 7-6 overtime bout.
Kryczalo, who won the NCAA championship as a freshman for the Irish, competed with some of the world’s best fencers as she competed at the Polish Cup. Her third-place finish places her on Poland’s elite foil squad, with only four fencers qualifying for each weapon. Kryczalo’s impressive day was capped off by a tough bout against Sylwia Gruchala, arguably the world’s best women’s foilist, where Kryczalo lost 11-10 as time expired.
Viviani and Kryczalo will continue to compete in world competitions while also leading their Notre Dame squads into collegiate competition.