Illinois Fencers Club Sends 12 Fencers to the USFA Summer Nationals in Dallas, Texas

In a few days a group of 12 IFC fencers will travel to Dallas, Texas, to participate in the 2016 USFA Fencing Summer Championships and July Challenge. The event is stretched from June 29 until July 8. The IFC fencers will participate in multiple epee and foil events from Y14 to Vet 70. The athletes, who qualified and registered this year include: Anna Paul, Geeta and Nikita Jhangiani, Maciek Zmyslowski, Tony Coonrod, Jakub Nowak, Zimo Zhu, Evan Stauber, Peter Kulaga, Bob Baldwin, John Lartz and David Swanson.

In early May, Illinois Fencers Club held its annual Dominick Epee Challenge at its home club at Lions Recreation Center, Mount Prospect. This tournament is the Chicago area's largest epee only fencing event, and it brought in over 100 fencers from many states, ages 12 to over 70. In the Senior Mixed Epee, an A3 event with 88 competitors, IFC fencers Maciek Zmyslowski won first, David Zeko placed second, and Jakub Nowak finished fifth. In the Senior Women's Epee Anna Paul won the silver medal. Among the nine teams competing, the IFC team (Zmyslowski, Bradford, Zeko and Zhu) won first place. In the Y12 Mixed Epee event IFC fencer Kaitlin Oh took second place, while Victoria Kulaga and Matthew Oh tied for third.

The Illinois Fencers Club also held its 2016 IFC Youth and Veteran Tournament on May 22. IFC fencer Peter Kulaga captured gold medals in both Y14 Mixed Epee and Y14 Mixed Foil. Another gold medal was earned by IFC Katherine Rummel in the Y10 Mixed Epee with Nadia Raza taking third place in the same event. Owen O'Brien won a second place medal in the Y14 Mixed Foil event. In the veteran competition IFC fencers John Lartz and Dave Swanson came away with first and third places.

While hosting its two events, Illinois Fencing Club athletes also participated in other local tournaments with great success. They brought home two bronze medals from the Windy City tournament that took place on May15. Jakub Nowak placed 3rd in Open Mixed Epee, while David Lender earned an E'16 rating with his 8th place finish in the same event. In Y14 Mixed Epee, David Liu grabbed a bronze medal.

During April's Illinois Divisional II & III and Y14 Summer National Qualifier, IFC's David Liu won the gold medal in Y14 Men's Epee, Jakub Nowak captured 2nd place in Div II Men's Foil, Jeremy Livshots was 2nd in Div III Men's Epee, and Peter Kulaga 5th in Div II Men's Foil. IFC's graduate Tony Coonrod also had a strong show placing 2nd in DIV II Men's Epee and 4th in DIV III Men's Foil.

The Illinois Fencers Club promotes and teaches the Olympic sport of fencing to students of all ages and skill levels and provides a friendly venue for members to practice their sport. It is a member operated non-for-profit sports association that has been serving beginning, recreational, and competitive fencers for more than 40 years.

IFC offers affordable classes with high quality instruction for kids, youth, and adults in several skill levels and offers three clinics for advanced competitive fencers. The youth program provides athlete centered fencing instruction that teaches self-discipline and sportsmanship and fosters athletic, academic, and personal success.

While fencing is typically a costly sport, IFC is committed to providing access to our favorite sport for reasonable fees. The current membership fee is only $225 per year, providing the opportunity to fence 7 to 8 hours per week, 12 months a year.

Illinois Fencers Club is open to visitors Monday or Thursday evenings in the lower level of the Lions Recreation Center at 411 S. Maple Street, Mount Prospect, Illinois, just three blocks from the METRA station.

Background information about the club can be found here: http://www.ifcfencing.org

and here:

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For additional information you can contact: Jim Auchinleck at jimauchinleck@yahoo.com or 267.304.2878