Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Irish Youth Perform Well At Junior Olympic Championships

Feb. 20, 2018

By Joanne Norell

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Youthful members of the University of Notre Dame fencing program recorded top performances over the long weekend at the Junior Olympic National Championship in Memphis, Tennessee.

Sophomore women’s foilist Samantha Viqueira and freshman men’s epeeist Stephen Ewart each snared gold in their respective events in their final tune-up ahead of this weekend’s Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Sophomore women’s foilist Morgan Partridge (seventh), freshman women’s epeeist Dasha Yefremenko (eighth) and freshman sabreuse Reghan Ward (ninth) all finished in the top 10, as well, and will be among the Irish contingent competing at ACCs.

Additionally, incoming freshman sabreuse Kara Linder grabbed silver in her event, while future classmate Miriam Grady placed 20th in junior women’s epee.

Across the pond, incoming freshman foilist Amita Berthier of Singapore finished sixth in at the Junior World Cup in Moedling, Austria. Her placement in the top eight helped elevate her to No. 2 in the world junior women’s foil rankings.

The Irish will return to the strip as a team Saturday and Sunday at the ACC Championships, hosted by the University of North Carolina. The No. 1 Irish women and No. 2 men are each the top-seeded teams in the field. The event will be broadcast beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday with the women’s individual finals and men’s team championship and 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday with the men’s individual finals and women’s team championship.

US Fencing Junior Olympic National Championships
Feb. 16-19, 2018
Memphis, Tenn.
Junior Women’s Sabre
2. Kara Linder (incoming freshman)
9. Reghan Ward
Junior Women’s Epee
8. Dasha Yefremenko
20. Miriam Grady (incoming freshman)
Junior Women’s Foil
1. Samantha Viqueira
7. Morgan Partridge
37. Mari Summers
56. Isabelle Elizondo
120. Beatrice Verecchia
Junior Men’s Sabre
47. Ben Scholl
Junior Men’s Epee
1. Stephen Ewart
T-97. Zachary Cheng
Junior Men’s Foil
30. Joseph Marino
35. Matthew Tichacek

–ND–

Joanne Norell, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2014 and coordinates communications efforts for the Notre Dame men’s tennis and fencing programs, in addition to assisting with football communications and overseeing production of the football Gameday Magazine. Norell is a 2011 graduate of Purdue University and earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University in 2013.