USC Fencers particpate in NYSP Demonstration

-USC's National Youth Sports Program got a surprise visit from USC Fencing on Monday, July 18th, when 6 of our fencers put on a demonstration for all in attendence. The program, serving kids from the community, has been running at USC for years and it was a treat to be a part of it this year. Special thanks to Andrea McColl, Darryl Hwang, Jen Hollcroft, Mike Yurka, Rebecca Van Guilder, and Adam Johnson for taking time out of their day to present the sport to the kids.

Rebecca Van Guilder Represents USC at Summer Nationals

-USC Women's Epee Team member Rebecca Van Guilder travelled up to Sacramento, CA to compete in the Div. II and III Women's Epee Competition at the 2005 Summer National Fencing Championships. Rebecca fenced well, coming in 8th highest of representatives from SoCal in the Div II tournament and 6th highest in the Div III. For photos, click here

Arizona State University joins Fencing Conference

-On May 7th, ASU was officially welcomed to the IFCSC. Arizona State becomes the 8th university to join the Intercollegiate Fencing Conference, along with NCAA programs Cal State Fullerton, UCSD and Caltech and club programs UCLA, UCSB and UC Irvine. We look forward to fencing with the Sun Devils and travelling to their campus in January of 2006 for the West Coast Collegiate Invitational.

Small Cadre of Trojans Carry USC to 3rd Place at 2005 All Cal's

-Despite only 50% attendance by our members, USC Fencing took home 3rd place overall at the 2005 All Cal's Tournament at UC Santa Barbara on April 23-24. Highlights included Laura Johnson winning the Women's Sabre, Rebecca Van Guilder taking 3rd in Women's Epee and Adam Johnson capturing 4th in Men's Foil. Our Women's Sabre Team took 1st, and both Women's Foil and Epee took 3rd in the tournament. For photos, click here

USC Fencing Named "Best Recreational Organization" at USC

-On April 20th, we were pleased to be recognized by the USC Office of Campus Activities as the "Best Recreational Organization" of 2004-2005. Thanks to all of the fencers who turned up at the award presentation to support the club.

Three Trojan Fencers Qualify for 2005 Summer Nationals

-Congratulations to Rebecca Van Guilder, Alexis Demetriades and Brady Brim-DeForest who qualified for the 2005 Summer National Championships in Div II and III Women's Epee and Div III Men's Foil. Summer Nationals will be held in Sacramento, CA during the first week of July.

USC Fencing Webmaster wins Award

-Congratulations to Adam Johnson, our faithful webmaster (and humble President), whose efforts on the USC Fencing Website over the last three years won him third place at the 2005 Webfest Competition, honoring student achievement in web-based multimedia projects.

USC Fencing Newsletter, "The Riposte," now Online

-In February of this year, our first newsletter "The Riposte" went out to hundreds of USC Fencing alumni and friends of the organization. The newsletter features articles and photos relating to our present team as well the last 80 years of USC Fencing. If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please email us at fencing@usc.edu.

USC Fencers Compete in Sierra Nevada Open

-On Saturday and Sunday, March 19th and 20th, Yann Staelens and Laura Johnson competed in the Sierra Nevada Open in Chico, CA. Yann placed 3rd in the Open Foil, and Laura took 1st and 5th in Women's Sabre and Open Sabre, respectively. For a photo from the event, click here.

Trojans Compete in USFA Open Foil, Women's Epee

-Congratulations to fencers Adam Johnson and Rebecca Van Guilder who competed in a USFA Open Foil and Women's Epee Tournament on Sunday, March 20th at the Burbank Armoury.

Laura Johnson takes 3rd at NAC, earns B05

-On Sunday, March 13th, Laura Johnson competed in the Division II Women's Sabre Competition at the North American Cup in Denver, Colorado. Laura beat out some tough competition to take 3rd, and she received her B05. For a photo from the event, click here

USC Fencers finish Intercollegiate Season Strongly

-USC Fencing wrapped up the Intercollegiate Season on Saturday, February 26th at UC Irvine, facing off against the NCAA schools. The Trojans ended up 3rd place overall in Women's events and 4th overall in Men's. Men's Foil and Women's Sabre took 3rd place in the Conference. Individual standings had Yann Staelens 2nd and Adam Johnson 7th in Men's Foil; Serena Kuo 7th and Stacy Lin 9th in Women's Foil; Peter Neumann 8th in Men's Sabre; Tiffany Dell'Aquila 6th, Bailey Chadwick 7th and Jen Hollcroft 9th in Women's Sabre; and Rebecca Van Guilder 10th in Women's Epee. For photos click here

Laura 2nd, Rebecca 3rd at CSULB, earns E05

-Congratulations to fencers Rebecca Van Guilder, Laura Johnson, Stacy Lin, Lark Arrowood, Tiffany Dell'Aquila, David Li, Adam Johnson and Brady Brim-DeForest who competed in a USFA Open Foil, "D" Epee, and Open Sabre Competition at CSU Long Beach on Sunday, February 20th. Laura Johnson took 2nd in Women's Sabre and Rebecca Van Guilder took 3rd in Women's Epee, earning her E05. For photos, click here

USC Fencers Compete in 2005 Junior Olympics, earn National Points

-Congratulations to fencers Alexis Demetriades and Valerie Giambanco who competed in the 2005 Junior Olympics in Arlington, Texas from February 18-20. Alexis qualified for Women's U-20 Epee and Valerie qualified for Women's U-20 Epee and Women's U-20 Sabre. Alexis was the highest placing Women's Epee fencer from Southern California and, as a result of the tournament, is now ranked 55th in the United States in Junior Women's Epee.

2005 USC Linkmeyer Invitational draws nearly 200 fencers

-This year's USC-Linkmeyer Invitational Tournament was another great success, as 187 fencers converged on the USC campus for the Open Foil, Epee, Sabre and Women's Epee competitions on February 12th. First places went to Cedric Anen in Foil, Matthew McConnaughy in Epee, Paul Hicha in Sabre and Oriana Isaacson in Women's Epee. Several USC Fencers competed in the tournament as well. For results and photos, click here

USC Fencers go 13-5 against SoCal Clubs at UCSB

-Men's Foil, Men's Sabre and Women's Sabre Teams went undefeated on the day and USC was 13-5 against UCLA, UCSB and UCI as USC took on the SoCal Club schools at UCSB on Sunday, February 6th. For photos, click here

Yann Staelens takes 3rd at Duel, earns A05

-On January 28, USC Fencers Yann Staelens, Stacy Lin, Adam Johnson, Armourer Darryl Hwang, and Serena Kuo headed to Las Vegas for the 2005 Duel in the Desert. Yann won 3rd place and received his A05. For photos, click here

USC Women's Sabre, Men's Foil take top places in West Coast Collegiate Invitational

-Congratulations to Bailey Chadwick, Jen Hollcroft, Tiffany Dell'Aquila and Lark Arrowood who defeated the University of Florida and Cal State Fullerton to capture the West Coast Collegiate Invitational Women's Sabre Title. Hearty congratulations also to Yann Staelens, Adam Johnson and Albert Williams who topped Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Berkeley and Arizona State University to take 2nd in Men's Foil behind Fullerton. All of our eight teams fenced brilliantly in this competition held at UCLA on January 22nd-23rd which featured colleges from all over the West Coast and even some from across the country. For photos, click here

Yann Staelens fences at North American Cup in Overland Park, KS

-Congratulations to USC Fencer Yann Staelens who competed in the Division I Men's Foil Tournament in Overland Park, Kansas on Januray 16th. In this A4 competition of 170 fencers, Yann took 48th place.

Intercollegiate Mid-season Results posted

-USC Fencing captured 3rd in Women's Overall and 4th in Men's Overall for the first half of the 2004-2005 season of the Intercollegiate Fencing Conference of Southern California.

Yann Staelens competes in North American Cup in Richmond, VA

-Congratulations to USC Fencer Yann Staelens who competed in the Division I Men's Foil Tournament in Richmond, Virginia on December 11th.

USC Fencing appears in December Issue of "Saturday Night Magazine"

-Our humble club appeared in the December issue of "Saturday Night Magazine," a college magazine devoted to News and Entertainment at USC. How can you resist a paragraph that begins with, "Have a desire to wear unnecessarily large hats adorned with feathers and speak French? Then read The Three Musketeers. But if your interest is in crossing blades, the USC fencing team has a place for you." To read the full excerpt, click here

USC Fencers compete against Club Schools at UCLA

-USC Fencing showed off its skills at the Club v. Club tournament at UCLA on November 21st. All 6 of our teams fought fiercely against UCLA, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barabara. For photos from the tournament, click here

Alexis Demetriades and Valerie Giambanco Qualify for 2005 Junior Olympic Fencing Championships

-Congratulations to USC Fencers Alexis Demetriades and Valerie Giambanco who qualified for the Junior Olympics to be held in Arlington Texas in February of 2005. Alexis qualified for Women's U-20 Epee and Valerie qualified for Women's U-20 Epee and Women's U-20 Sabre.

USC Fencers Attend 2004 Couturier Open

-Congratulations to fencers Adam Johnson, Laura Johnson, Stacy Lin, Brady Brim-DeForest, Kathy Vilnrotter and Matthew Lee who competed in the Couturier Open at the Burbank Armoury on November 14th. Laura took 2nd in Women's Sabre and Adam took 10th in the Open Foil. For photos, click here

USC Fencing Welcomes Trojans at Annual Homecoming Festival

-Trojan fencers were on hand at the Homecoming Festival on November 13th, greeting alumni and students and selling our famous foam Tommy Swords. A good time was had by all and we were very happy to answer questions about our sport to all who came by. Along the way, we also scouted several potential young recruits. For photos from Homecoming, click here

USC Fencer competes in Orange Coast tournament

-Congratulations to Brady Brim-DeForest who competed in the Open Foil tournament at Cal State Long Beach on November 7th.

Trojans compete against NCAA teams

-USC fencers competed against the NCAA schools of Cal State Fullerton, UC San Diego and Caltech on November 6th at Caltech. Our newly formed teams fenced well and several team victories were won by USC. For photos, click here

USC Fencers compete in 2004 UC Irvine Invitational

-USC made a good showing at the first Intercollegiate Tournament of the season at UC Irvine on October 24th. This individual tournament saw Yann Staelens taking 3rd in Men's Foil and 2nd in Men's Epee, Laura Johnson taking 2nd in Women's Sabre and 5th in Women's Foil, Stacy Lin and Kathy Vilnrotter 7th and 10th in Women's Foil, Mike Muhlmeyer 10th in Men's Sabre, Bailey Chadwick 9th in Women's Sabre, and Alexis Demetriades and Cristina Lichtenberger 7th and 10th in Women's Epee. For photos of the tournament, click here

USC Fencing appears in Daily Trojan Newspaper

-A photo of fencers Monika Lind and Jen Hollcroft graced the cover of the October 19th issue of the Daily Trojan. To see a full-size image (.pdf), click here

USC Fencing bids a fond farewell to Recreational Sports Advisor Kate Hubery

-After several years of devoted service to our team, Kate Huberty is leaving USC and moving to Louisiana. We truly appreciate all of the the work she has done and wish her all the best! USC Fencing would also like to welcome its new Recreational Sports Advisor, Gabriel Valenzuela, Assistant Director of Club Sports.

Yann Staelens competes in 3rd Annual Kendall-Jackson International Fencing Tournament

-Congratulations to Yann Staelens who competed in this prestigious tournament in Sonoma County on October 2nd. Entrants to the tournament included World Cup Champions and Olympic Medalists.

USC Fencers fence at USFA Tournament

-Congratulations to Laura Johnson, Adam Johnson and Kathy Vilnrotter who represented USC at the Burbank Armoury on September 26th. Laura took 3rd in the Women's Foil and Open Sabre, and Adam and Kathy fenced the Open Foil and Women's Foil Tournaments. For photos, click here

Dr. Francis Zold
October 28, 1904 - September 6, 2004

-On September 6th, Dr. Francis Zold, former coach of USC Fencing, passed away in his home in Washington with his family at his side. Our sincere condolences go out to his family on their loss. Dr. Zold, who taught fencing at USC in the 60's and 70's, was himself a fencing champion and a pioneering figure in bringing fencing to higher education institutions in Southern California. For more information on Dr. Zold, please see the following:
USC Fencing's Bio of Dr. Zold
Memorial Article (includes where to send donations)
Obituary from the Bellingham Herald

Adam Johnson attends Referee Clinic

-On September 9th, Adam Johnson attended a referee clinic hosted by Larry Dunn and internationally recognized referee, Derek Cotton. Cotton was an Olympic Referee in 2000 and 2004, and is a 4-time referee to the World Championship. Adam was given this opportunity through the gracious sponsorship of the SoCal Division of the USFA.

Yann Staelens wins first USFA SoCal Open for the year

-Congratulations to Yann Staelens who won the Open Foil at the LA International Fencing Center on September 5th. Also fencing were epeeist Jens Stephan and foilists Adam Johnson, Kathy Vilnrotter, Collin Kelly and USC Fencing alum John Donchig. Click here for the gold medal photo.

USC Fisher Gallery Exhibition to Feature Photographs of Jan Romary, USC Fencer and 6-time Olympian

-"Women of Troy,"an exhibition celebrating the achievements of female USC athletes, will feature photographs of 6-time Olympian Janice Romary. Romary, a celebrated American fencer, was the first woman to carry the American flag in an Olympic Opening Ceremony. The exhibition opens on September 9th. Click here for more information.