Sasha Gay, Howard Li, and Viviene Goor are just a few of the Day 7 medalists reaching new heights at the USA Fencing National Championships & July Challenge, also known as Summer Nationals.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sasha Gay (Halberstadt Fencers' Club) reached new heights when she earned her moment and stood at the top of the podium, “It felt really tall because I never been that tall. But also it felt really good. Like for all my hard work to pay off because I grinded a lot.”
Sasha was one of seven gold medals earned on Friday, July 5 at the USA Fencing National Championships & July Challenge, also known as Summer Nationals.
During her final, she was down, and says “I didn't really ever think that I could get gold, but I just believed like one touch at a time.”
“And I like comebacks. It's kind of like a good story. Right? But for me, I was losing hope. But then I started getting more touches. I was just hoping to get the next touch and get the comeback.” Sasha completed the comeback.
Howard Li (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona) was ranked number one out of pools.
His secret to success? Li’s answer “Make sure your conditioning is good before your tournament, and have a snack in the middle.”
Li says fencing in front of the large crowd that the finals strip brought can either hype him up or he locks in and finishes the bout. Once his final got to 14-14, and he realized he got a touch but it was under review Li was “was crossing my toes in my shoes, I was just surprised!”
Viviene Goor (Massialas Foundation) went undefeated in pools and kept that momentum going all the way to the top of the podium. Being named the Y-14 Women’s Foil national champion “feels really good,” she says.
She goes on to say “I haven't gotten a medal in a while. So it's great that it was first place.”
Coming out of pools “I was really determined to get top eight because I was tied with a bunch of other people. So I wanted to get top eight,” she says.
“I was really proud of myself. But I wanted to keep going. Because obviously, I thought I could win the whole thing. So then I won the next one, which was really hard. And then in the final, I really focused because I was like, there's no way I'm getting second.”
Day 7 Results
Y-12 Women’s Saber
Gold and 2024 National Champion: Sasha Gay (Halberstadt Fencers' Club)
Silver: Elaine Lin (West Coast Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Ashmiee Gaikwad (Southern California Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Ellie Kang (Halberstadt Fencers' Club)
5th: Soleil Castelo (Cobra Fencing Club LLC)
6th: Stella Yu (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)
7th: Korina Leou (Bergen Fencing Club)
8th: Hannah Kwon (Sabio Fencing Academy)
Y-12 Men’s Saber
Gold and 2024 National Champion: Howard Li (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)
Silver: Vedh Srivats (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)
Bronze: Jacob Sanchez (San Diego Fencing Center)
Bronze: Evan Bai (Platinum Fencing Academy)
5th: Bowen Yu (Lone Star Fencing Center)
5th: Rian Wei (Capital Fencing Academy)
7th: Adamantis Khanna (Fencing Academy Of Boston)
8th: Cedric Luc (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)
Y-12 Women’s Epee
Gold and 2024 National Champion: Sophia Habek (East Bay Fencers Gym)
Silver: Morgan Hankins (Academy Of Fencing Masters)
Bronze: Anika Adyanthaya (Medeo Fencing Club)
Bronze: Navya Neelam (Elite Fencing Academy)
5th: Serena Xu (Cavalier Fencing Club)
6th: Michelle Wu (New York Fencing Academy)
7th: Macy Franger (Escrime Du Lac)
8th: Sama Abuelfutuh (Kaizen Academy LLC)
Y-14 Women’s Foil
Gold and 2024 National Champion: Viviene Goor (Massialas Foundation)
Silver: Iris Yang (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)
Bronze: Joy Zhaoyi Liu (Golubitsky Fencing Center)
Bronze: Taisiia Doroshkevich (Fencing Center Of Chicago)
5th: Lavender Lee (Top Fencing Club)
5th: Emilia Shen (Star Fencing Academy)
7th: Chloe Sun (SoCAL Fencing Center)
8th: Emily Cho (V Fencing Club)
Y-14 Men’s Foil
Gold and 2024 National Champion: Youlong Lin (LA International Fencing)
Silver: Ethan Choi (Golubitsky Fencing Center)
Bronze: Alber Y. Wu (Silicon Valley Fencing Center)
Bronze: Aaron Zhang (LA International Fencing / Orange County Fencing Center)
5th: Brendan Lee (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)
5th: Hugo Rautureau (North Bay Fencing Academy)
7th: Bradley Yao (Star Fencing Academy)
7th: Aidan Tan (Star Fencing Academy)
Division II Men’s Epee
Gold and 2024 National Champion:Maxwell Tse (North Shore Fencers Club)
Silver: Jeffrey Longstreet (New York Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Edison Tai (Battle Born Fencing Club)
Bronze: Steven Wu (Academy Of Fencing Masters)
5th: Farhan Ali (Elite Fencing Academy)
6th: Zeph Yang (University of Incarnate Word Fencing)
7th: Owen Hannon (Northwest Fencing Center)
8th: Bennett Corbin (Tampa Fencing & Tennis Academy)
Veteran Team Men's Foil
Gold: The Worked in the 90s (Dong-Ying Pai, James Flanagan, Stephen Jan, and Zhiyong Zhao)
Silver: Fencers Club (Philippe Bennett, Frets Olivares, Roustam Pimoutkine, and Marek Wyszynski)
Bronze: Vintage Fencing (Oliver Foellmer, Jamie Douraghy, Andrew Gearhart)
Day 7 Photos
Find all the great Day 7 photos on Facebook.
