End of Year National Rankings

At the end of the 2007-2008 competition season, eight Windy City fencers are ranked on the USFA National Points list (reflecting their national rankings). Here are their rankings and a summary of some of their best results.

• Lydia Kopecky is ranked 25th in Division 1, the top division for Womens epee, and 14th in Juniors. Lydia's best performances this year include 8th in Juniors at the Summer Nationals, 24th at the Division 1 National Championships, and 11th in Div. 1 at the Atlanta NAC.
• Mason Speta is ranked 1st in Y12 Womens epee, and 11th in Y14. Mason's Gold Medal in Y12 at the Summer Nationals was a repeat of her 2007 Gold Medal in the same event. Mason was also 6th in Y14 at both the Summer Nationals and the Portland Youth NAC. Mason was 1st in Y12 at 3 Super Youths, and 2d in Y14 at the San Jose Super Youth.
• Dante LaVia is 4th in Y12 Mens epee, and 25th in Y14. Dante was 6th in Y12 at the Portland Youth NAC and 15th in Y14. He was 1st in Y12 at the Kentucky Super Youth, 6th in Y14 in Kentucky, and 7th in Y12 at the New Hampshire Super Youth.
• August Malueg is ranked 9th in Y10 Mens. August was 2d at the Kentucky Super Youth.
• Harrison MacRae is 15th in Y12 Mens. Harrison was 7th in Y12 at the Summer Nationals and 2d at the New Hampshire Super Youth.
• Samantha Perry is 16th in Y12 Womens. Sam was 12th in Y12 at the Summer Nationals, 3d at the New Jersey Super Youth, 3d at the Kentucky SYC, 6th at the New Hampshire Super Youth, and 17th at the Portland Youth NAC.
• Donna ("Ellie") LaVia is 16th in Y10 Womens. Ellie was 14th in Y10 at the Summer Nationals.
• Thomas Donnell is 81st in Y14 Mens.

Summer Nationals - Recap

Summer Nationals in San Jose, California, was a great tournament. Although perhaps lacking some of the around-the-clock party atmosphere of last-year's Nationals in Miami Beach, the hotel and venue were very nice and the fencing was (of course!) fantastic.

As always, Windy City had one of the largest turnouts of any club in the country -- with 18 fencers competing in 36 different events: Matthew Davis, Thomas Donnell, Lydia Kopecky, Dante LaVia, Ellie LaVia, Lane Lubell, Harrison MacRae, August Malueg, Emma Malueg, Arpad Neale, Samantha Perry, Rebecca Rose, Nabil Salem, Allison Shapiro, Kevin Shapiro, Mason Speta, Albert Starshak, and Michael Zook.

Windy City fencers won 4 medals (see below). Also, check out our gallery of pictures from Nationals.

Summer Nationals -- 4 Medals!

At the Summer Nationals in San Jose, CA, three Windy City fencers won 4 medals.


Mason Speta won the Gold Medal in Y12 Womens Epee. This was a repeat for Mason, having also won the Gold Medal in Y12 at the 2007 Nationals. Mason also won the 6th place medal in the Y14 event.






Lydia Kopecky had a great tournament as well, medaling in the Juniors event (under 20). She was 8th in Juniors. Even more impressive, Lydia was 10th in the Div. 1A event, losing a very close bout to go onto the medal stand. Lydia earned her "A" rating, the top rating for USFA fencers.





Harrison MacRae was 7th in the Y12 Mens Epee event, a breakout performance for Harrison.