Maryland's Davis wins men's foil final

Appeared in the sports section of the Miami Herald
Published on July 8. 2007

D. Michael Quinones
dquinones@MiamiHerald.com

Don Davis knelt near the edge of the competition platform, taking in the advice of his coach between rounds of the Men's Veteran 40-plus foil fencing finals and replying with a confident, "Definitely!"

Judging from his nonchalant demeanor, one would find it hard to believe this Maryland native was competing in his first tournament at the 40-plus division against top-seeded Frets Olivares of Weston.

Nor would one guess at that moment he was holding a tenuous 4-3 lead.

"I've been fencing well lately, so I wasn't too surprised, " Davis said.

"But I think I got ahead and started playing a little more passively than I needed to."

In the second round, Olivares evened the match by attacking Davis' parry-heavy defense and not allowing him a riposte (or return strike) before his strikes.

Tied 7-7 at the end of regulation, Davis gave up on his defensive strategy. He immediately landed a laser-quick thrust to start the round, scoring the touch needed to secure the gold medal.

The match clock, which keeps time for each three-minute round, read 2:59.

Said Davis: "I had to change my game. At this level, everybody can lunge and parry, and everybody can do it well, so it becomes trying to trick your opponent, what you can do against them and what works against them, and that's what I consider real fencing."

U.S. Fencing continued its championship week at the Miami Beach Convention Center, determining champions in Men's Veteran 50-plus and 60-plus foil, as well as Women's 40-plus foil.

With all-morning preliminary action on more than 40 mats, it might have seemed a bit hectic to the novice, but the afternoon division finals proved to be a clinic on good fencing.

In the Women's 40-plus foil, Dallas' Katalin Kennessey Gasparin jumped out to a big lead over Anna Breinerd, scoring seven touches in the first 90 seconds and hung on to capture the gold medal 10-7.

"When you get to the gold-medal rounds, you don't mind if take a few touches, " Gasparin said as she awaited the medal presentation. "As long as you win."

Tom Lutton took gold in the Men's 50-plus foil with a 10-9 victory over fellow U.S. World Team member Frank Thomiszer. In other finals, James Adams took gold in Men's 60-plus foil and Cory Abbe swept her way to the Women's Division II epee championship.

U.S. Fencing wraps up its week of championships today with the Men's Veteran Sabre and Women's Veteran Epee finals.