{mosimage} Barquisimeto, Venezuela – The United States Men’s Sabre Team of Ivan Lee (24, Brooklyn, N.Y. St. John’s ‘01), Timothy Morehouse (26, New York, N.Y. Brandeis ‘00), Jason Rogers (22, Los Angeles, CA., Ohio State U. ’06) and Timothy Hagamen (20, New York, N.Y., Harvard ’07) took the silver medal at the Grand Prix World Cup, held in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. The United States lost to France for the gold, 45-41. This is their second medal this season, as they captured the bronze in Warsaw, Poland on May 15. Although this result replaces their gold medal performance a year ago in New York, they are still ranked third in the world, maintaining their position as a bona fide international powerhouse.
This result marks the fourth time in which the men’s sabre team reached the round of four, dating back to June of 2004. While fencing in front of the home crowd in New York City, the sabre team took the gold medal in the final team event prior to the Olympics. They then finished a heartbreaking fourth in Athens, missing the Olympic Bronze Medal by one touch. After a mediocre 13th place finish February in Budapest, the team regrouped and came back strong, winning the bronze in Poland, finishing seventh in Senegal two weeks ago, and taking silver yesterday.
While national coach Yury Gelman could not make the trip, fellow national coach Daniel Costin stood in Gelman’s place, guiding the team throughout the weekend. “I’m very proud of these guys,” said Coach Costin. “They fought like true champions the whole way. They showed the world that they are a serious medal contender every time they set foot on the strip.”
Heading into the event seeded second behind the Olympic Gold Medal team from France, team USA trounced Canada, 45-31, led by Lee, who scored 15 touches against seven, for an indicator of +8. In the round of four, they drew a young, tough team from Germany, which included 1998 Junior World Champion Christian Kraus, and the current Junior World Champion Nicolas Limbach. However, anchored by Rogers, +6, who showed his cool and experience in the midst of a serious semifinal battle, team USA fought off the Germans, 45-37.
In an extremely exciting gold medal match, team USA fought off several deficits against France. Tim Morehouse, who scored 20 of the 41 touches alone, brought the Americans back from a 30-23 deficit, to tie the Frenchmen at 33-33, before a couple of questionable calls left them down 35-33. “I usually feel more pressure for the team events, because I know I have people depending on me,” said Morehouse, “but I also use that as my motivation to step my game up. I want my teammates to believe in me, the same way I believe in them.”
In the individual competition, Lee and Rogers reached the round of 32, before being defeated by Rares Dumitrescu of Romania, and Valery Pryemka of Belarus, respectively. Morehouse lost in the round of 64 to bronze medalist, Nourdin Marouf of France. Tim Hagamen fell to the other bronze medal Jorge Pina of Spain. Olympic Team Gold Medalist Julien Pillet of France took the individual gold, and Belarusian Dimitri Lapkes was second.
{mosimage}This was the final team event for the Americans before the 2005 World Championships, to he held in Leipzig, Germany in October. They will skip the final scheduled team event next month in Teheran, Iran. For now, the sabrists will go back to their regular everyday lives. Morehouse, a graduate of Brandeis University who works for Teach for America, finds time to train and travel while working everyday. “It’s tough to juggle both,” said Morehouse, “but I love my job and I love fencing, so it’s worth the sacrifice.” Lee, a St. is now an eighth grade English teacher at Public School 6 in Paterson, New Jersey, handles an extremely busy schedule of his own. “I work everyday, and then I go straight to practice,” said Lee. “Some nights, I get home after eleven, and then I’m off to work the next morning.” Rogers and Hagamen will go back to college to prepare for finals, before summer break. None of these athletes receives a salary for representing the United States in international competition.
Rogers and Morehouse will compete in an individual world cup next weekend in Sofia, Bulgaria, an event for which they will not be reimbursed, because there is no team event. Lee and Hagamen will stay in New York and train throughout the summer, preparing to compete in the world championships this fall.
