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Bill Thanhouser |
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HONORS & AWARDS
2007 All-American
Academic All-America Candidate (3.65)
U.S. Junior National Team (2006)
Men's Sabre Team Captain
Brings excellent leadership skills and focus
on team goals ... lefthanded battler who has
excellent technique and effective creation of
speed to go along with keen reaction skills ...
an emotional competitor and vocal leader who
thrives in big bouts ... combines great footwork
with strong will to win ... hails from Oregon
Fencing Alliance elite sabre academy that also
has produced three current sophomores on the
Irish squad (Avery Zuck, Sarah Borrmann and
Eileen Hassett), plus recent four-year All-
Americans Patrick Ghattas and Valerie
Providenza (in addition to 2004 and 2008
Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis) ... has
strong drive to reach his own Olympic dream
in the upcoming years ... joined Notre Dame
classmate Adi Nott (women's foilist) and ND
teammate Kelley Hurley (epee) as members of
U.S. contingent that competed at Junior World
Championships in Taebek City, South Korea
(April '06) ... had one of the top U.S.
individual finishes in Korea (14th) at 2006
Junior World Championships ... turned in a
sixth-place finish amidst an elite field at the
North American Cup held in Tucson, Ariz. (April '07) ... his other recent international
events have included various Junior World
Cups: sixth in Sosnowiec, Poland (summer
'05); 23rd in Dormagen, Germany (Nov. '05);
67th in Budapest (Jan. '06); and 126th in
Dourdan, France (Feb '06) ... could emerge as
a top candidate for Academic All-America
honors as an invited participant in the Notre
Dame athletics department's Academic Honors
Program (faculty mentoring).
AS A JUNIOR: Had impressive regular
season (47-19) before placing third at the
Midwest Conference Championships, fifth at
the NCAA Midwest Regional and 13th at the
NCAA Championships ... placed 12th at the
annual Penn State Open, in the fall of 2007 ...
opened the spring season with a 13-2 record at
the Western Invite ... finished 9-7 at the NYU
duals ... went 9-5 at the Northwestern Duals
and 7-5 at the Duke Duals ... finished the
regular season by going undefeated at the
Notre Dame Duals (9-0) ... finished third at
the Midwest Conference Championships ...
went 2-3 in the first round pool at the NCAA
Midwest Regional to earn a seventh seed in
the direct-elimination portion of the
tournament ... advanced to the finals with a
15-8 win over Notre Dame teammate Tom
Horton and a 15-7 win over Ohio State's
Sergey Smirnov ... fell to Smirnov (15-11) in
the quarterfinals before defeating Lawrence's
Nils Schaede (15-4) and Ohio State's Mike
Momtselidze (15-13) to finish fifth and
advance to the NCAA Championships ... at
the NCAA Championships, went 11-12 in the
round robin portion, good for a 13th-place
finish.
AS A SOPHOMORE: Finished the 2007
regular season with the 10th-most wins (51-
12) ever by a Notre Dame men's sabre fencer
... went on to have a strong postseason, placing
fifth at the Midwest Fencing Conference
Championships, second at the NCAA Midwest
Regional and sixth at the NCAAs (good for
second team All-America honors) ... opened
with 24-3 record at the Notre Dame Duals,
highlighted by wins over several All-Americans
and NCAA Tournament veterans - such as
Ohio State's Jason Paul (5-4), Stanford's Teddy
Levitt (5-3), UC San Diego's Jason Runyan (5-
1) and Detroit's Jarek Jelinek (5-3) ... his 10-5
record at the NYU Duals included similar noteworthy wins over Columbia's James
Williams (5-4), Luther Clement of St. John's
(5-3), OSU's Jason Paul (5-2) and Yale's
Christopher Peterson (5-4) ... kept rolling at
the Duke Duals (10-2), with more top wins
over Air Force's C.J. Baran (5-0), North
Carolina's Will Randolph (5-4) and Peter
Truszkowski from the home team (5-0) ...
topped his club teammate Ian Farr (from Penn
State; 5-2) as part of his 7-2 record at the
Northwestern Duals ... lost to OSU's Paul in
the MFC quarterfinals (12-15; placed 5th) but
avenged that loss the next day in the MFC
team final (with a 5-3 win over Paul) ...
entered Midwest Regional (at ND) as the #4
seed but had to overcome early upset loss to
OSU's Dexter Wilde (9-15) ... battled back to
reach the regional semifinals, beating Smirnov
(15-13) but losing the final to OSU
Momtselidze (10-15) ... opened NCAAs in
Madison, N.J., with 10-4 record on day one -
featuring top wins over Columbia's Alexander
Krul (5-4) and Detroit's Jelinek (5-2) ... added
7-2 record on day two of NCAAs, tying for
fourth place (17-6; ended up sixth, based on
total-point indicators) ... that strong finish
included his first career wins over OSU's
Momtselidze (5-4) and another All-American,
Ben Igoe of Rutgers (5-3), plus other
noteworthy victories over OSU's Smirnov (5-
0), SJU's Torian Brown (5-3), Stanford's Levitt
(5-1) and PSU's Farr (5-4) ... he and Ghattas
(18-5) had the most combined wins in the
2007 NCAA men's sabre field ... their 35
combined wins are third-most ever by an ND
men's sabre duo in NCAA action (since current format started in '95) - behind the 2000 pair
of Gabor Szelle (20) and Andrzej Bednarski
(17), and the 1997 duo of Bill Lester (21) and
Luke LaValle (15) ... combined with Ghattas to
win 18 straight bouts at one point during the
NCAAs, spanning the two days ... went 3-1 in
one-touch bouts during the NCAAs ... entered
Penn State Open in fall of 2006 as #8 seed and
placed 12th, with pair of early wins over OSU's
Paul (5-2; 5-3) before losing in round of 16 to
Momtselidze (9-15) ... placed eighth in his
final event of 2006, the North American Cup
in Richmond,Va. - finishing behind some top
names in U.S. men's sabre fencing (former
NCAA champs Keeth Smart, Crompton and
Lee, plus Harvard's Tim Hagamen, RU's Igoe,
Penn's Matt Kolasa and national-teamer Tim
Morehouse) ... gave Smart a battle in the
Richmond N.A.C. quarterfinals before falling,
12-15.
AS A FRESHMAN: Turned in a solid first
season with the Irish, going 41-10 in regularseason
bouts before 12th-place finish at the
MFCs and eighth-place showing at Midwest
Regional (leaving him just shy of spot in
NCAAs) ... opened with 13-3 record at
Northwestern Duals that included top wins
over Stanford's Levitt (5-4), UCSD's Bret
Martin (5-2) and the UNC duo of Robert
Ziechmann (5-4) and Randolph (5-1) ...
posted several impressive wins at NYU Duals
(8-6), including comeback from 0-4 deficit
versus Columbia's Krul (5-4) and win by same
score over two-time NCAA champion
Crompton of Ohio State (5-4), plus victories
over Columbia's Alex Diacou (5-2) and SJU's
Nikita Tsukhlo (5-4) ... did not compete in
ND Duals (Jan. '06) due to Junior World Cup
event in Spain, where he placed third ... closed
regular season 6-0 at OSU Duals and 14-1 at
UCSD Duals, with top wins over Stanford's
Curtis Andrus (5-2), Air Force's Baran (5-1),
and the UCSD duo of Martin (5-1) and
Runyan (5-1) ... finished 12th at MFCs, after
loss in round of 16 to OSU's Paul (13-15) ...
headed to Cleveland as #3 seed for regional
but dropped to #7 seed for direct elimination
(4-2 in pool bouts) before losing to Paul in
quarterfinals (10-15), followed by losses to his
ND teammate Matt Stearns (14-15) and then
Detroit's Jelinek (12-15) in seventh-place bout
... reached round of 16 (10-15 loss to Ghattas)
at Penn State Open in fall of '05 ... his 2005-
06 USFA events included placing 16th at
N.A.C. in Overland Park, Kan. (Jan. '05), a
third-place showing in U-19 bouts at 2005
Summer Nationals (Sacramento, Calif.), a fifthplace
finish at the Albuquerque N.A.C. (Nov.
'05), placing 11th in U-20 bouts and 24th
overall at the Houston N.A.C. (Jan. '06), and
finishing 15th at 2006 Summer Nationals in
Atlanta.
PREP & PERSONAL: Attended Oregon
Episcopal School (as did Ghattas) while
training at Oregon Fencing Alliance, coached
by former ND assistant Ed Korfanty ...
nationally ranked throughout youth fencing
career ... undefeated in bouts with OFA as
junior and senior (team captain both years) ...
his 2004-05 national and international results
included: 22nd at Junior Olympics, 14th at
Summer Nationals, 19th at Louisville (Ky.)
Junior World Cup and 63rd at Dormagen
(Germany) Junior World Cup ... member of
U.S. cadet-level (U-17) men's sabre national
team in 2003 ... won cadet and junior-level
men's sabre title at 2003 Pan-Am
Championships (in Guadeloupe) ... placed
13th at 2003 Junior World Championships
(Trapani, Italy) ... other top 2003 results
included: winning U-17 title, taking 3rd-place
in U-20s and helping junior men's sabre team
post 4th-place showing at Summer Nationals
(Austin,Texas); and placing 10th in Columbus,
Ohio, 12th in Palm Springs, Calif., and 19th in
Overland Park, Kan. (all as a D-I competitor in
those N.A.C.'s) ... selected for Nov. 24, 2003,
issue of Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the
Crowd" ... his top 2002 events included
winning U-17 title at N.A.C. in Orlando, being
runner-up at similar event in Greenville, S.C.,
and pair of eighth-place cadet finishes at World
Cup in Godollo, Hungary, and Junior World
Cup in Louisville ... lettered as midfielder on
OES soccer team during junior year ... served
as student body vice-president ... son of Ned
and Anne Thanhouser ... full name is William
Lloyd Thanhouser ... born March 18, 1986, in
Portland, Ore. ... a Program of Liberal Studies
major, in the College of Arts and Letters.
