Two medals in two days for Bowie Olympic hopeful fencer Amanda Sirico
Amanda Sirico (back row, second from left) celebrates her gold in Junior Women’s Epee, January North American Cup, in Salt Lake City, January 2015. Photo by David Ruskin.
For immediate release
January 14, 2015
Contact: DC Fencers Club
Two medals in two days for Bowie Olympic hopeful fencer Amanda Sirico
SILVER SPRING, MD — Amanda Sirico, 18, of Bowie, Maryland won gold in Junior (Under 20) Women’s Epee and bronze in Division 1 Women’s Epee at the January North American Cup, held January 9-12 in Salt Lake City, Utah. With another gold under her belt, Sirico maintains her rank at #1 Junior Women’s Epee fencer in the United States. She is also ranked fourth in the world for Juniors and 6th in the US for seniors.
Sirico is a freshman at Notre Dame University, and continues to train at DC Fencers Club under the guidance of Head Coach Janusz Smolenski.
When asked how she took the gold in the junior event on Friday, Sirico replied, “Keeping a very cool head helped me win gold in Junior. I needed a cool head because there were many bouts that I started down, so I needed a level head to find the solutions to the bouts and ultimately win.”
In the Division 1 event on Sunday, Sirico went undefeated through the quarterfinals, including a win against 2012 Olympic medalist Kelley Hurley. Division 1 (Senior) events are open to fencers ages 16 and up, and can be full of surprises. “The main difference between junior and senior women’s epee is the experience level of the competitors, which is attributed to the difference in age categories. This being said, there is a huge mix of people that you might fence in senior, age-wise, skill-wise, and experience-wise, that it’s important to prepare for anything.”
[pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”30%”] “There is a huge mix of people that you might fence … age-wise, skill-wise, and experience-wise … it’s important to prepare for anything.”[/pullquote]
Top results for Amanda Sirico
In the 2014-2015 fencing season, Sirico is attempting to qualify for both the Junior and Senior World Championship teams. Some of Sirico’s recent results include:
- Gold, Junior Women’s Epee, North American Cup, Salt Lake City, UT (January 2014)
- Bronze, Division 1 Women’s Epee, North American Cup, Salt Lake City, UT (January 2014)
- Silver, Young Lions Women’s Junior World Cup, Helsinki, Finland (November 2014)
- Gold, Junior Women’s Epee, North American Cup, Columbus, OH (July 2014)
- Bronze, Senior Team Women’s Epee, Summer National Championships, Columbus, OH (July 2014)
- Silver, U.S. Junior Women’s Epee Team, Junior World Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (July 2014)
- Bronze, Division 1 U.S. National Championship, Minneapolis, Minnesota (April 2014)
- Bronze, Dijon (FRA) Junior World Cup (January, 2014)
What’s next for Sirico? “Finishing the second semester of my freshman year, and continuing to train hard for my upcoming competitions.” Sirico added. Her next international competition is in Barcelona, Spain.
About fencing tournaments
Fencing competitions in all three weapons (epee, sabre, foil) usually consist of two rounds of bouting. In the first round of “pools,” six to eight fencers compete in a round-robin of 5-touch/3 minute bouts. Pool results inform the seeding of the next round, Direct Elimination or “DE.” Direct elimination bouts are 15 touch/9 minute bouts. Winners of each DE round advance to the table of 128, 64, 32, 16, semifinals, and finals.
About DC Fencers Club
Whether you are an elite fencer or a recreational fencer, DCFC welcomes you. For 22 years, DC Fencers Club (DCFC) has consistently produced national and international champions. We polish the skills of fencers who strive to compete at the highest level, and we encourage fencers of all ages and ability levels. DCFC offers instruction through classes, camps, workshops, and individual lessons. DCFC coaches have a combined 100 years of training, competition, and teaching experience, and they include credentialed fencing masters and National and World Champions. DC Fencers Club promotes excellence, sportsmanship, and safety in a friendly environment. Find out more at www.dcfencing.com.
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