{"id":1535,"date":"2017-12-08T01:50:59","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T08:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/?p=1535"},"modified":"2023-02-19T18:43:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T01:43:47","slug":"the-origin-of-the-junior-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/the-origin-of-the-junior-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Origin of the Junior Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The 2016 Junior Olympic Fencing Championships, Cleveland, Ohio.<\/p><\/div>\n

Every February, the top Junior and Cadet fencers in the United States gather to compete in what is essentially the National Championships for Under-20 fencers: The Junior Olympics. But this important and prestigious tournament would have never existed if it wasn\u2019t for the vision and determination of one man.<\/p>\n

The Junior Olympic Fencing Championships were the brainchild of Rev. Lawrence Calhoun, a name many in the Southern California fencing community will recognize, as he was the fencing coach at Chaminade High School in West Hills from 1987 to 2006 and the founder of the Masque De Fer fencing club. But in 1966, Father Calhoun was just starting his teaching career at Notre Dame High School in Niles, Illinois, when the school\u2019s athletic director asked the staff for suggestions for club activities for the students. Father Calhoun suggested fencing.<\/p>\n

Father Calhoun had never been a coach nor a competitive fencer, but he had become acquainted with the sport while serving as chaplain of the fencing team at the University of Notre Dame during his time as a graduate student, there. Much to his surprise, the high school AD instructed him to form a club immediately. So he sent out a call and six students signed up.<\/p>\n

Father Calhoun and his fledgling team began frequenting the local YMCA, where his students learned the fundamentals of fencing and he learned to coach. His team lost all of their tournaments that first year, but the next year they went 5-8. By the 4th year the varsity team finished the season with a 15-0 record and were Conference Champions. Before long, Father Calhoun became the head of high school fencing in Illinois, as well as Chairman of the Illinois Division of the Amateur Fencers League of America (now called USA Fencing).<\/p>\n

The FIE had been conducting a Junior World Championships every year since 1950. Junior fencers in the US who wished to compete had to go through a very restrictive process that required them to first qualify through their Sectional Championships, then finish in the top three at the US Nationals in June. But the Junior Worlds didn\u2019t take place until April of the next year\u2014ten months later! During this long lag time, it was not uncommon for the young fencers to lose their competitive edge. In addition, fencers who were otherwise qualified, often were over 20 by the time the Junior Worlds came around, so they couldn\u2019t compete. In 1966 the AFLA took the unusual step of changing the Under-20 event at the US Nationals to Under-19. No other country in the world had such an age category.<\/p>\n

Father Calhoun could see that the US was not going to get its best representation in international Junior competition unless the system was improved. He came to strongly believe that there was a need for a second National Championships, just for Under-20 fencers, that would take place a few weeks before the Junior Worlds.<\/p>\n

Father Calhoun began attending the meetings of the AFLA in New York to present his big new idea, but no one paid much attention to him. The meetings were dominated by mundane budgetary matters. Just as the business portions of the meetings were wrapping up, he would have to catch his plane back to Chicago. This pattern continued for two years without success.<\/p>\n

Then, an act of Congress gave Father Calhoun the opportunity he had been waiting for. In 1971, The Uniform Monday Holiday Act went into effect, establishing, among other things, a permanent holiday on the 3rd Monday of every February (which eventually became known as \u201cPresidents\u2019 Day\u201d). That meant there would be a 3-day weekend every year, just two months before the Junior World Championships\u2014perfect timing for a qualification tournament.<\/p>\n

Armed with this new angle, he presented his idea once again and this time got the response he had been hoping for. He was named \u2018National Junior Olympic Development Chairman,\u2019 and published his proposal in the Nov. 1971<\/a> and Jan. 1972<\/a> issues of American Fencing.<\/em> It was too late in the year to take advantage of the Presidents\u2019 Day holiday, so the first Junior Olympic competition was set for April.<\/p>\n

On Friday, April 7, 1972, at 9:00 AM, two saber fencers took to the piste and fenced the first bout of the first-ever Junior Olympic Championships. The strips were set up in the gym and cafeteria of the high school where Father Calhoun taught. The NCAA Championships had just taken place at nearby University of Illinois Circle Campus a few weeks earlier, so all of the necessary equipment was readily available. The electric scoring machines were powered by 48 car batteries provided by Sears. The competition, which lasted 3 days, consisted of four Under-20 events: Men\u2019s Foil, Men\u2019s Epee, Men\u2019s Saber, and Women\u2019s Foil. There were a total of 98 entries from 25 divisions. Most of the competitors were housed and fed by local parents.<\/p>\n

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Father Calhoun presents a trophy to Chris Jennings who won the Junior Men’s Foil and Epee events at the first Junior Olympics in Niles, Ill., April 7-9, 1972.<\/p><\/div>\n

Los Angeles was the host for the second Junior Olympics in 1973, which were expanded to include Under-16 and Under-14 events. A gifted young fencer from the Los Angeles Athletic Club named Bradley Thomas won the Under-14 gold medals in all three weapons! He was coached by Delmar Calvert. (You can see a recent interview with both of them, here.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

But an incident took place at this competition that put an end to any Under-14 fencing at the Junior Olympics for many years to come. As Father Calhoun recounted, \u201cIn a saber bout in which [AFLA president] Steve Sobel was directing, one of the fencers\u2014a really obnoxious little kid\u2014just cussed out Steve, he cussed out his coach and he cussed out his parents! So for several years, this age group was considered too immature.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In the following years the format settled in on Under-20 and Under-16 events (changed to Under-17 in the late 80\u2019s), although Under-15, Under-13, and Under-11 events were included for a few years in the early 90\u2019s. Since the addition of team events for Junior fencers in 2010, the program has remained consistent.<\/p>\n

The Junior Olympics have earned their place as an essential element in the development of world-class fencers in the United States. USFA Vice President Dr. Ralph Zimmermann called the Junior Olympics \u201cthe single most important achievement in the entire history of our organization.\u201d In the summer of 2010, Father Calhoun was inducted into the US Fencing Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

The next Junior Olympic Championships will be held in Memphis, Tennessee, on Feb. 16-19, 2018. SoCal fencers who wish to compete should attend the SoCal 2017-2018 JO Qualifiers<\/a> which will be held at the Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California, on Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017. The top 25% will qualify.<\/p>\n

Junior Olympic Champions - Junior Men<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
YEAR<\/th>MEN\u2019S FOIL<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>MEN\u2019S EPEE<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>MEN\u2019S SABER<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
2024<\/td>Vinni Yu<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Alexander Fray<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Alexander Jeffords<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2023<\/td>Chase T. Emmer<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Nicholas Candela<\/td>Nevada<\/td>Jaden P. Callahan<\/td>New England<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2022<\/td> Bryce Louie<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Samuel A. Imrek<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Hyunseok Choi<\/td>New England<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2021<\/td>Edriss Ndiaye<\/td>Virginia<\/td>Nicholas Lawson<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Nickoloz Lortkipanidze<\/td>West-Rock<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>Joon Paik<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Cedric Mecke<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Trenton Schmitt<\/td>Mt. Valley<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>Daniel Zhang<\/td>New England<\/td>Stephen Ewart<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>James (Luke) Linder<\/td>Arizona<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>Julian Knodt<\/td>Central CA<\/td>Stephen Ewart<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Andrew Doddo<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2017<\/td>Andrew Machovec<\/td>Long Island<\/td>Alan Temiryaev<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Khalil Thompson<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2016<\/td>Nolen Scruggs<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Jack Bradford<\/td>Colorado<\/td>Karol Metryka<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2015<\/td>Julian Knodt<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>Anton Piskovatskov<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Andrew Doddo<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2014<\/td>Axel Kiefer<\/td>Kentucky<\/td>Alexander Eldeib<\/td>Virginia<\/td>Edward Chin<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2013<\/td>Michael Dudey<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Ariel Simmons<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Peter Pak<\/td>Long Island<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012<\/td>Robert Nunziato<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Matthew McGrath<\/td>Arizona<\/td>John Hallsten<\/td>Mt. Valley<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2011<\/td>Michael Dudey<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Peregrine Badger<\/td>New England<\/td>Kaito Streets<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2010<\/td>Gabriel Acuna<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Tyler Adams<\/td>Georgia<\/td>Will Spear<\/td>Huds-Berks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2009<\/td>Alexander Pensler<\/td>Illinois<\/td>Eric Gurnowski<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Bryan Cheney<\/td>Tennessee<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2008<\/td>David Willette<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>Peter French<\/td>Colorado<\/td>Daniel Bak<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2007<\/td>Ariel Desmet<\/td>Oregon<\/td>Sean Harder<\/td>Columbus OH<\/td>Aleksander Ochocki<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2006<\/td>Nicholas Chinman<\/td>Colorado<\/td>Teddy Sherrill<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Aleksander Ochocki<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005<\/td>Kai Itameri-Kinter<\/td>New England<\/td>Nicholas Chinman<\/td>Colorado<\/td>Raskyrie Davidson<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2004<\/td>Clinton Kershaw<\/td>Mt. Valley<\/td>Dwight Smith<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Patrick Ghattas<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2003<\/td>Michael Galligan<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Benjamin Solomon<\/td>Northern OH<\/td>David Douville<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002<\/td>Dimitri Kirk-Gordon<\/td>Central CA<\/td>Benjamin Solomon<\/td>Northern OH<\/td>David Douville<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001<\/td>Gabriel Sinkin<\/td>Western NY<\/td>Jansson Viviani<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>G. Colin Parker<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/td>Steve Gerberman<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Weston Kelsey<\/td>Oregon<\/td>Harvey Miller<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n

Junior Olympic Champions - Junior Women<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
YEAR<\/th>WOMEN\u2019S FOIL<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>WOMEN\u2019S EPEE<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>WOMEN\u2019S SABER<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
2024<\/td>Jaelyn A. Liu<\/td>New England<\/td>Regina Lee<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Alexandra B. Lee<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2023<\/td>Jaelyn A. Liu<\/td>North TX<\/td>Christina Watrall<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Jenna Shoman<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2022<\/td>Katherine Apelian<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Ketki Ketkar<\/td>Western WA<\/td>Magda Skarbonkiewicz<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2021<\/td>Zander Rhodes<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Kyle Fallon<\/td>Connecticut<\/td>Magda Skarbonkiewicz<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>Maria Stamos<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Faith Park<\/td>Virginia<\/td>Chloe Fox-Gitomer<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>Nicole Pustilnik<\/td>San Diego<\/td>Dariya Yefremenko<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Alexis Anglade<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>Samantha Viqueira<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Claire Beddingfield<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Edith Johnson<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2017<\/td>Delphine Devore<\/td>Connecticut<\/td>Kasia Nixon<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Veronica Czyzewski<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2016<\/td>Sylvie Binder<\/td>West-Rock<\/td>Kasia Nixon<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Ryan Jenkins<\/td>Orange Coast<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2015<\/td>Ashley Tsue<\/td>Kansas<\/td>Amanda Sirico<\/td>Capitol<\/td>Malia Hee<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2014<\/td>Miranda Litzinger<\/td>Central CA<\/td>Dariya Yefremenko<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Malia Hee<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2013<\/td>Iman Blow<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Amanda Sirico<\/td>Capitol<\/td>Claudia Kulmacz<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012<\/td>Nicole McKee<\/td>Long Island<\/td>Anna Van Brummen<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Adrienne Jarocki<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2011<\/td>Jacqueline Dubrovich<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Audrey Abend<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Desirae Major<\/td>Indiana<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2010<\/td>Mona Shaito<\/td>North TX<\/td>Isabella Barna<\/td>Oregon<\/td>Eliza Stone<\/td>Illinois<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2009<\/td>Margaret Lu<\/td>Connecticut<\/td>Katharine Holmes<\/td>Capitol<\/td>Emily Cheng<\/td>Columbus OH<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2008<\/td>Lee Kiefer<\/td>Kentucky<\/td>Courtney Hurley<\/td>South TX<\/td>Monica Aksamit<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2007<\/td>Kylei McGill<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Neely Brandfield-Harvey<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Caroline Vloka<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2006<\/td>Emily Cross<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Courtney Hurley<\/td>South TX<\/td>Daria Schneider<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005<\/td>Doris Willette<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>Courtney Hurley<\/td>South TX<\/td>Ibtihaj Muhammad<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2004<\/td>Jacqueline Leahy<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Keri Byerts<\/td>Oregon<\/td>Valerie Providenza<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2003<\/td>Metta Thompson<\/td>Western NY<\/td>Catherine Szarwark<\/td>Tennessee<\/td>Valerie Providenza<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002<\/td>Jacqueline Leahy<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Alli Schirtz<\/td>Oregon<\/td>Caitlin Thompson<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001<\/td>Jacqueline Leahy<\/td>Western NY<\/td>Kerry Walton<\/td>Northeast<\/td>Sada Jacobson<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/td>Katy Cavan<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Andrea Ament<\/td>Northern OH<\/td>Mariel Zagunis<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n

Junior Olympic Champions - Cadet Men<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
YEAR<\/th>MEN\u2019S FOIL<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>MEN\u2019S EPEE<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>MEN\u2019S SABER<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
2024<\/td>Steven A. Miall<\/td>New England<\/td>Alexander Bezrodnov<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Emilio A. Gonzalez<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2023<\/td>Nickolas Rusadze<\/td>West-Rock<\/td>Alexander Bezrodnov<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Anthony Jiang<\/td>San Diego<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2022<\/td>Nicholas W. Kim<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Samuel A. Imrek<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Gian K. Dhingra<\/td>Orange Coast<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2021<\/td>Andrew Chen<\/td>Kentucky<\/td>Henry Lawson<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Darii Lukashenko<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>Brandon Li<\/td>New England<\/td>Ethan Kushnerik<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>RJ Anglade<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>Bryce Louie<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Justin Haddad<\/td>Capitol<\/td>Nickoloz Lortkipanidze<\/td>West-Rock<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>Ethan Gassner<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>Hunter Candreva<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Kamar Skeete<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2017<\/td>Joon Paik<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Robert Hondor<\/td>New England<\/td>Daniel Solomon<\/td>Long Island<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2016<\/td>Michael Li<\/td>Central CA<\/td>Adrien Thein-Sandler<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Andrew Sun<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2015<\/td>Geoffrey Tourette<\/td>Central CA<\/td>Mick Yamanaka<\/td>Long Island<\/td>Andrew Sun<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2014<\/td>Nolen Scruggs<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Tristan Krueger<\/td>Oregon<\/td>Karol Metryka<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2013<\/td>Thomas Dudey<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Clinton Rodell<\/td>Virginia<\/td>Ian Jones<\/td>Orange Coast<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012<\/td>Axel Kiefer<\/td>Kentucky<\/td>Matthew McGrath<\/td>Arizona<\/td>Andrew Mackiewicz<\/td>New England<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2011<\/td>Nobuo Bravo<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>Trevor Shepard<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Christofer Ahn<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2010<\/td>Brian Kaneshige<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Alex House<\/td>New England<\/td>Will Spear<\/td>Huds-Berks<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2009<\/td>Alex Chiang<\/td>Georgia<\/td>Cornelius Saunders<\/td>West-Rock<\/td>Michael Tom<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2008<\/td>David Willette<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>Michael Raynis<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Bryan Cheney<\/td>Tennessee<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2007<\/td>Frederick Bentley III<\/td>Kentucky<\/td>Joshua Dolezal<\/td>Indiana<\/td>Harrison Mahaffey<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2006<\/td>Miles Chamley-Watson<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Michael Elfassy<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Aleksander Ochocki<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005<\/td>Nicholas Chinman<\/td>Colorado<\/td>Graham Wicas<\/td>Philadelphia<\/td>Raskyrie Davidson<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2004<\/td>Brendan Meyers<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Nicholas Chinman<\/td>Colorado<\/td>Jonathan Berkowsky<\/td>South Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2003<\/td>Clinton Kershaw<\/td>Mt. Valley<\/td>Teddy Sherrill<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Jonathan Berkowsky<\/td>South Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002<\/td>Parker Miner<\/td>Utah-S. Idaho<\/td>Benjamin Bratton<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Patrick Ghattas<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001<\/td>Bredan Meyers<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Jackson Ranes<\/td>Nevada<\/td>Mike Momtselidze<\/td>Columbus OH<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/td>Steve Gerberman<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Joshua Guevara<\/td>North TX<\/td>Maten Zagunis<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n

Junior Olympic Champions - Cadet Women<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
YEAR<\/th>WOMEN\u2019S FOIL<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>WOMEN\u2019S EPEE<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>WOMEN\u2019S SABER<\/th>DIVISION<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
2024<\/td>Caterina S. Fedeli<\/td>Georgia<\/td>Regina Lee<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Natalie Tsui<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2023<\/td>Hailey M. Eyer<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Yasmine A. Khamis<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Sophie Liu<\/td>Capitol<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2022<\/td>Ivy Zheng<\/td>New England<\/td>Sumin Lee<\/td>Nevada<\/td>Jenna Shoman<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2021<\/td>Ivy Zheng<\/td>New England<\/td>Sedna Gandhi<\/td>West-Rock<\/td>Veronica Mika<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>Evelyn Cheng<\/td>Central CA<\/td>Hadley Husisian<\/td>Virginia<\/td>Zoe Kim<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>Nicole Pustilnik<\/td>San Diego<\/td>Ari Rausch<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Mikaela Avakian<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>Maia Weintraub<\/td>Philadelphia<\/td>Emily Vermeule<\/td>New England<\/td>Ryan Jenkins<\/td>Orange Coast<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2017<\/td>May Tieu<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Gabrielle Hill<\/td>Minnesota<\/td>Edith Johnson<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2016<\/td>Lauren Scruggs<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Greta Candreva<\/td>Huds-Berks<\/td>Edith Johnson<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2015<\/td>Natalie Yang<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>Belinda Mo<\/td>Orange Coast<\/td>Violet Michel<\/td>New England<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2014<\/td>Morgan Partridge<\/td>New England<\/td>Tatijana Stewart<\/td>Utah-S.Idaho<\/td>Malia Hee<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2013<\/td>Quinn Crum<\/td>New England<\/td>Jennifer Horowitz<\/strong><\/td>Southern CA<\/strong><\/td>Lillian Chu<\/td>Central CA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012<\/td>Kaila Budofsky<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Amanda Sirico<\/td>Capitol<\/td>Alexa Antipas<\/td>Long Island<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2011<\/td>Mona Shaito<\/td>North TX<\/td>Audrey Abend<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Francesca Russo<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2010<\/td>Mona Shaito<\/td>North TX<\/td>Ashley Severson<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Julia Abelsky<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2009<\/td>Lee Kiefer<\/td>Kentucky<\/td>Katharine Holmes<\/td>Capitol<\/td>Francesca Russo<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2008<\/td>Lee Kiefer<\/td>Kentucky<\/td>Francesca Bassa<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Joanna Cichomski<\/td>Illinois<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2007<\/td>Hayley Reese<\/td>Kentucky<\/td>Francesca Bassa<\/td>Gulf Coast TX<\/td>Monica Aksamit<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2006<\/td>Lindsay Knauer<\/td>South Jersey<\/td>Courtney Hurley<\/td>South TX<\/td>Eliza Stone<\/td>Illinois<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2005<\/td>Jessica Wacker<\/td>Central CA<\/td>Christa French<\/td>North TX<\/td>Caroline Vloka<\/td>New Jersey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2004<\/td>Doris Willette<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>Courtney Hurley<\/td>South TX<\/td>Daria Schneider<\/td>New England<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2003<\/td>Doris Willette<\/td>Northern CA<\/td>Keri Byerts<\/td>Western NY<\/td>Daria Schneider<\/td>New England<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2002<\/td>Jacqueline Leahy<\/td>Metro NYC<\/td>Ruth Schneider<\/td>Western NY<\/td>Sarah Parker<\/td>Georgia<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2001<\/td>Jacqueline Leahy<\/td>Western NY<\/td>Eleanor Leighton<\/td>Indiana<\/td>Mariel Zagunis<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2000<\/td>Hannah Thompson<\/td>Western NY<\/td>Jasmine McGlade<\/td>Colorado<\/td>Mariel Zagunis<\/td>Oregon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every February, the top Junior and Cadet fencers in the United States gather to compete in what is essentially the National Championships for Under-20 fencers: The Junior Olympics. But this important and prestigious tournament would have never existed if it wasn\u2019t for the vision and determination of one man. The Junior Olympic Fencing Championships were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[284],"tags":[287,152,138],"class_list":["post-1535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-featured","tag-junior-and-cadet-world-championships","tag-junior-olympics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1535"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4251,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1535\/revisions\/4251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socaldivision.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}