Monday June 30th, 2025 12:43AM

Smart, Mattern win fencing titles

By The Associated Press
<p>Keeth Smart knocked off a fellow Olympian in the semifinals, then went on a torrid run in the final to win the men's saber title Sunday on the final night of individual competition in the U.S. Fencing National Championships.</p><p>Cody Mattern of Portland, Ore., captured the title in men's epee at the Georgia World Congress Center.</p><p>Trailing 7-8 at the break in his final against Mike Momtselidze, Smart took over the attack and won seven straight points en route to a 15-10 win.</p><p>Smart faced Ivan Lee in the semifinals in the only bout of the evening involving two 2004 Olympians.</p><p>Lee won the first four points of the match against his teammate from the Peter Westbrook Foundation in New York, but Smart scored the next four to tie it. Trailing by one at the break, Smart won five of the next six points to take the lead and went on to win the bout 15-13.</p><p>The U.S. roster for the Athens Olympics is set.</p><p>Previously, all three U.S. men's teams (epee, foil, and saber) had qualified for the Olympics as the top sides in the Americas region. The top three fencers in the national rankings made their respective Olympic teams.</p><p>Smart and Lee, both from New York, will be joined by Jason Rogers of Los Angeles on the saber team. Rogers lost to Momtselidze in the quarterfinals Sunday.</p><p>Mattern beat Olympic teammate Soren Thompson of San Diego in the quarterfinals. The third member of the U.S. epee team, Seth Kelsey of Colorado Springs, Colo., did not compete in the tournament.</p><p>Dan Kellner, from Warren, N.J., won the men's foil title on Friday. He'll be joined on the Olympic squad by Jed Dupree of Bethlehem, Pa., and Jon Tiomkin of Hewlett, N.Y.</p><p>Qualifiers for the U.S. women were determined at the end of March. Sisters Sada and Emily Jacobson of Dunwoody, Ga., will compete in saber in Athens. Kamara James of New York will be the lone U.S. fencer in women's epee, while Smart's sister, Erinn, will compete in women's foil.</p>
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