| Karol Kostka |
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HONORS & AWARDS
2007 and 2008 All-American
Three-Time NCAA Participant
NCAA Midwest Regional Champion
Men's Epee Team Captain
Has shown more confidence and overall
improvements on his way to claiming All-
America honors in 2007 and 2008 ... has very
good footwork and an effective continuation of
his lunge, producing valuable points on the
fleche attack ... has strong all-around attacking
techniques and a precise point on his touches
... one of five Polish fencers to join the Notre
Dame program in recent years ... has
tremendous physical potential and excellent
technical preparation, which help overcome his
disadvantage when fencing bigger opponents ...
an intelligent fencer who knows what is
needed to get consistent results on the strip ...
his top international results have included
helping Poland's epee team win bronze at the
2003 World Championships (Plovdiv, Bulgaria)
... member of bronze-medal team at Junior
European Championships (Porec, Croatia).
AS A JUNIOR: Posted a 46-16 record
(.742) ... finished in ninth place at NCAAs to
earn third team All-America honors ...
Midwest Regional Champion ... part of a 1-2-
3 Notre Dame finish at the Midwest Regional
... a Midwest Fencing Conference third-place finisher ... a first team all-Midwest Fencing
Conference selection ... finished the campaign
by posting a 7-2 mark at the Notre Dame
Duals, helping the team post a perfect ledger of
10-0 at the duals ... went 17-7 at the
Northwestern Duals, including perfect 3-0
marks against UC San Diego, Johns Hopkins
and Stanford ... posted a 12-5 record at the
New York University Duals and helped the
Irish to a 5-1 overall team record at the venue
... opened the fencing season by putting
together a 10-2 ledger at the 2008 NCAA
Western Invitational and helping the Irish
team go 4-1 at the competition ... posted a
sixth-place finish at the Penn State Open (fall
'07), after topping Ohio State's Avi Somir (10-
5) to reach the round of eight.
AS A SOPHOMORE: Had strong 2007
regular season that saw him win nearly 75
percent of his bouts (48-18; .727) before
placing third at both the Midwest Fencing
Conference and Midwest Regional, followed
by an All-America finish (11th) at the NCAAs
... his 18-6 day at the Notre Dame Duals
included pair of 5-2 wins in 13-14 battle with
Ohio State (vs. Mykhaylo Mazur and Christian
Rivera) ... beat Phil Andrews (5-2) from the
home team, as part of his 10-7 record at the
NYU Duals ... won all three of his bouts at the
Midwest Duals (held at ND) and then went 8-
3 at the Duke Duals, highlighted by 5-4 win
over North Carolina's Mike Burkhart and 5-2
victory over 5-2 over Dan Zieleinski (Johns
Hopkins) ... closed regular season with 10-2
record at Northwestern Duals, including 5-4
wins over Penn State's Arthur Urman and
James Moody ... advanced to MFC semifinals (after 15-10 win over ND teammate Patrick
Gettings) but lost 10-15 semifinal versus Wayne
State's Slava Zingerman ... posted 5-4 win
over OSU's Rivera in MFC epee team
semifinals ... entered regional (at ND) as #7
seed but improved to #3 after his pool bouts ...
went on to post big win over Zingerman in
the regional direct elimination, adding another
win over the WSU newcomer (15-14; roundof-
8) but then losing to OSU's Mazur in
semifinals (10-15) ... edged his ND teammate
Greg Howard in regional third-place bout (15-
14) ... opened NCAAs (in Madison, N.J.) with
9-5 record that included key wins over OSU's
Mazur (5-2),Wayne State's Marez Petraszek (5-
4) Yale's Michael Pearce (5-4) and Air Force's
Peter French (2-1) ... picked up three wins on
day two of the NCAAs, after topping Harvard's
Teddy Sherrill (5-4), PSU's Steffen Launer (5-
4) and Columbia's Max Czapanskiy (5-4) ...
rallied from 2-4 deficit to beat Czapanskiy in
his final bout, securing All-America/top-12
status by the narrowest of margins (11th place;
12-11 record) ... he and Howard (14)
combined for the fifth-most wins (25) in the
NCAA men's epee field ... helped 2007 squad
become third Irish team ever to produce the maximum six All-Americans (the 85 wins were
the most by an ND men's team since 2003) ...
went 7-4 in one-touch bouts at the 2007
NCAAs ... placed 14th at Penn State Open in
the fall of 2006, improving one spot on his #15
seed ... his top wins at the PSU Open included
a 5-4 bout with PSU's Dennis Kraft before
ultimately losing in the round of 16 to Yale's
Pearce (10-15).
AS A FRESHMAN: Qualified for the
NCAAs (placing 18th), after compiling a 43-11
record in the regular season and overcoming a
subpar effort at the MFC meet (17th) to place
third at the Midwest Regional ... his 15-1
opening record at the Northwestern Duals
included noteworthy wins over Stanford's
Martin Lee (5-3) and North Carolina's Benton
Heimsath (5-3) ... added series of impressive
wins at the NYU Duals (9-5) over OSU's
Denis Tolkachev (5-1) and Jason Pryor (5-3),
Columbia's Bill Verigan (5-3), NYU's Andrews
(5-3) and Benjamin Bratton of St. John's (5-4)
... his pair of wins over OSU helped the Irish
men's epee team post a 5-4 win over the
Buckeyes ... beat his countryman Petraszek of
Wayne State (5-3) as part of 10-1 record at the
ND Duals ... closed regular season with 9-4
record at the UC San Diego Duals ... was top
seed for the regional (in Cleveland) but slipped
to #7 going into direct elimination ... posted
another win over OSU All-American
Tolkachev in regional quarterfinals (15-13) but
lost to Petraszek in a tight semifinal (13-14)
before beating his ND teammate Howard in
the third-place bout ... his 18th-place finish (8-
15) at the NCAAs (in Houston) included wins
over Petraszek (5-1), OSU's Pryor (5-2) and
PSU's Moody (5-3) ... earlier had posted
fourth-place finish at Penn State Open in the
fall of 2005, losing his final two bouts versus
top Princeton fencers (Tommi Hurme and
then Ben Solomon, 11-15, in the third-place
bout), after earlier beating Solomon in the pool
bouts (5-1).
PREP & PERSONAL: Trained at the same
club (AZS-AWF Krakow) and attended the
same high school in Poland (First Liceum
Ogolnoksztalcace Bartlomieja Nowodworskiego)
as his former Notre Dame
teammate Michael Sobieraj ... son of Antoni
and Marta Kostka ... full name is Karol
Mateusz Kostka ... born May 22, 1986, in
Krakow, Poland ... a mechanical engineering
major, in the College of Engineering.
