LOCAL FENCERS TAKE ON THE WORLD THIS WEEKEND

This weekend, the best fencers in the world will come together and compete for the
“World Championship title” at the 2018 Fencing Cadet and Junior World
Championships in Verona, Italy. Over 75 countries will bring their best 4 fencers
(based on their results from the previous season) to the competition taking place
April 1-9, 2018.
Houston’s own Alliance Fencing Academy has four (4) fencers representing Team
USA in this year’s Championships. Each country is allowed a maximum of four fencers
in the Junior (under 20 y.o) category and 3 in the Cadet (under 17 y.o) category.
Jonathon Piskovatskov is a junior at Stratford High School in Spring Branch. At only
17-years- old, Piskovatskov is ranked #10 in the world. Piskovatskov will be
competing in the Junior Individual and Team events. Team USA Men’s Epee team is
currently seeded #5 in the world.
Sixteen-year- old Isaac Herbst will be competing in the Individual Men’s Cadet Epee.
Herbst attends Memorial High School in the Spring Branch district. Placing 1st and
3rd at Cadet World Cups throughout the season, Herbst looks to take home some
hardware.
Alliance’s member Gigi Vierheller, now a Sophomore majoring in Engineering at
Columbia University, is seeded #16 in the world. She will be competing in
Individual and Team events for Juniors. The Women’s Epee Team USA is seeded #3
in the world.
Barbara Van Benthuysen, also from Alliance Fencing Academy, graduated from The
Woodlands and is now a Sophomore at Penn State University majoring in
Anthropolgy. Van Benthuysen will be fencing on the USA Junior Women’s Epee
Team.
The World Championships are the highest level of competition for fencers in their
age category. In each epee event, at least 50 countries are represented by the more
than 125 fencers competing in each event. In order to qualify for the World
Championships, fencers must earn points based on performance at national and
international events throughout the fencing season. The top 3 fencers for Cadet and
top 4 fencers for Juniors are selected based on cumulative points scored at national
and international tournaments over the course of the fencing season from July 2017
through February 2018.
Alliance Fencing Academy was founded in 2004 by United States Olympic Coach,
Andrey Geva. Geva led Team USA’s Women’s Epee Team in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Alliance Fencing Academy is the largest epee fencing club in the United States with
over 350 students at its two locations. It is also a top producer of collegiate fencers,

with many students receiving athletic and academic scholarships to universities
such as Columbia, U Penn, Penn State, Notre Dame, Northwestern and Stanford.
Alliance’s two locations – in downtown Houston and The Woodlands – share
students and World-class coaches. Two of Alliance’s coaches are Designated
Coaches for the United States National teams, including Andrey Geva (US Cadet and
Junior Women’s Epee Teams) and Sergey Danilov (US Cadet and Junior Men’s Epee
Team).

References:
http://fie.org/competitions
“Championnats du monde juniors-cadets”, Verona, Italy
E=Epee, M=Men, W=Women, I=Individual, T=Team
Roster – click on “entries”
Results – click on “follow”
Penn State Fencing Roster (Barbara Van Benthuysen):
http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/c-
fenc/mtt/barbara_vanbenthuysen_1028544.html
Columbia Fencing Roster (Gigi Vierheller):
http://www.gocolumbialions.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=9600&SPID=40
49&SPSID=45280