TOUCHÉ FOR CATANTAN
SAMANTHA KYLE CATANTAN has started to make her presence felt at Penn State after she bagged the women’s foil gold medal at the Garrett Open on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Catantan won the gold in style. She beat a US national junior team member, Delphine De Vore of Columbia School, 15-12, to improve on a series of third-place finishes for the past year.
“I’m really happy with her performance. She is getting stronger and better,” Philippine fencing Head Coach Amatov Canlas told Businessmirror on Sunday from the 22-member national fencing team’s Ormoc City bubble.
“I always encourage her to improve because she finishes third place most of the time, so I pushed her to get a gold,” Canlas added.
Now a sophomore, Catantan beat Zander Rhodes, 15-12, in the quarterfinals and Vivian Zheng also of Columbia School, 15-9, in the semifinals.
Catantan was a five-time juniors and a six-time seniors Most Valuable Player in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines while playing for University of the East.
She was offered an athletic scholarship at Penn State, which is now preparing for the US NCAA season and the NC Fencing Championship in March.
Catantan was named Penn State MVP rookie last year.
The Garret Open is played in honor of former Penn State and Illinois fencing coach Maxwell “Mac” Garret who died in 2013 in Florida. He was a candidate for the 1940 US Olympic foil team but was unable to compete because of World War II.
The National Fencing Coaches Association Hall of Fame was instituted in 1963 as a result of an initiative by Garret.