Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Lee Kiefer, a senior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, is among 25 athletes named by USA Fencing to compete in the Senior World Championships, Oct. 8-16, at Catania, Italy.

Team USA, which swept all 12 gold medals two weeks ago in the Pan American Championships at Reno, Nev., will be competing in the largest qualifying event for the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games.

Kiefer and her World Championships teammates were selected based on USA Fencing senior point rankings at the end of the 2010-11 World Cup season in June. They will compete for Olympic qualification points in both individual and team events for women’s epee, men’s saber, and men’s and women’s foil. Men’s epee and women’s saber will not be contested as team events in London and, thus, the World competition in those disciplines will not count towards Olympic qualification.

Kiefer, at 17 a two-time Pan American champion in women’s foil, will be competing in her third Senior World Championships. She won the 2010 World Cadet championship.

Doris Willette, 23, from Lafayette, Calif., is the veteran of the women’s foil squad and will be competing in her fourth Worlds. Nzingha Prescod, the reigning World Junior champion from Brooklyn, N.Y., joins Kiefer as a three-time World Senior member. Nicole Ross of New York is on the team for the second time.

Team USA Women

Foil — Lee Kiefer (Lexington); Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Nicole Ross (New York); Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.). Saber — Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.); Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.); Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.); Daria Schneider (New York). Epee — Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.); Courtney Hurley (San Antonio); Kelley Hurley (San Antonio); Maya Lawrence (Teaneck, N.J.).

Team USA Men

Foil — Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia); Alexander Massialas (San Francisco); Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco); Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Saber — Daryl Homer (New York); Ben Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.); Tim Morehouse (New York); James Williams (New York). Epee — Ben Bratton (New York); Seth Kelsey (Colorado Springs, Colo.); Cody Mattern (Colorado Springs, Colo.); Soren Thompson (New York).