Sixth Grader Sophia Holmquist continues to demonstrate great skill with the foil and competed successfully in the Summer Nationals in Miami this June.  The US Fencing Association updated the official national rankings after the tournament and she is now tied for 6th nationally in the Y-10 age group.

At the Summer Nationals in Miami, Sophia demonstrated her growing skills and finished as a medalist in the Y-10 Women's Foil event.  The top 8 received medals at the awards ceremony in each event and Sophia placed 6th of 46 competitors.  She won 10 of 12 bouts and was within one point of being in the finals.   

In the Y-12 event that Sophia will now be competing in, and where many of the girls are two years older, she placed 56th of the 95 competitors.  This is a marked improvement over her performance in the North American Cup in Tucson last April where she finished 9th of 17 in Y-10 and 47th of 52 in Y-12.  As she has continued on the fencing circuit her confidence has grown along with her ranking in the sport. The Summer Nationals was the last Y-10 event of Sophia's young fencing career, as she moves up to the next age bracket this year. The Y-10 is also the youngest age group ranked by the United States Fencing Association (USFA).  

Sophia is currently ranked 36 in the Y-12 category and there is hope that Sophia can rise to the top 10 ranking in this event next year based on Sophia's current placement and attrition of several of the top fencers in this age group having to move up to the next bracket.  Expectations are that Sophia can earn the required points to qualify for national fencing events in Portland, Oregon and San Jose, California next year. Sophia’s training coach, Stan Gutilovsky, a former foil fencing champion from Belarus expects her training for the sport will only increase as she continues to excel.  

Congratulations Sophia!

July 26, 2007