Sheila Taormina (Livonia, Mich./Colorado Springs, Colo.), currently the second ranked pentathlete in the UIPM World Rankings, led the USA women, finishing a strong second place in Group B with 4,220 total modern pentathlon points. Taormina posted individual discipline scores of 1,036 in the shoot, 832 in fencing, 1,356 in the swim and 996 in the run. Michelle “Mickey” Kelly (New York, N.Y./Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army), currently 13th in the UIPM World Rankings, and Emily Shertzer (Hershey, Penn./Colorado Springs, Colo.) also did well enough in today’s semifinal to qualify for Saturday’s final. Kelly finished 13th in Group A with 4,060 total modern pentathlon points, while Shertzer finished in 18th place in Group A with 4,028 total points. Margaux Isaksen (Fayetteville, Ark./Colorado Springs, Colo.) just missed advancing to the final, finishing 19th in Group B with 4,008 total modern pentathlon points. For this event, the women’s team is coached by Scott Christie (Colorado Springs, Colo.), the Head Modern Pentathlon Coach for the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, and Michael Cintas (Rancho Mirage, Calif.), the Head Riding Coach for USA Pentathlon.

Individual event scores for Team USA are listed below:

Group A
Mickey Kelly - 13th Place - 4060 points
Shoot - 168 (952 points)
Fence - 10V – 20D (692 points)
Swim - 2:23.99 (1196 points)
Run - 10:25.63 (1220 points)

Group A
Emily Shertzer – 21st Place – 4028 points
Shoot - 176 (1048 points)
Fence - 8V – 22D (636 points)
Swim - 2:33.11 (1084 points)
Run - 10:15.22 (1260 points)

Group B
Sheila Taormina – 2nd Place - 4220 points
Shoot - 175 (1036 points)
Fence - 15V - 15D (832 points)
Swim - 2:10.56 (1356 points)
Run - 11:21.47 (996 points)

Group B
Margaux Isaksen – 19th Place - 4008 points
Shoot - 168 (952 points)
Fence - 13V - 17D (776 points)
Swim - 2:28.11 (1144 points)
Run - 10:46.28 (1136 points)

For complete women’s semifinal results from the UIPM World Cup #5 in Szekefehervar, Hungary, please visit the UIPM website at www.pentathlon.org.

The USA Pentathlon Team is split for the second World Cup weekend in a row with the men competing in Drzonkow, Poland. Representing the United States in tomorrow’s opening day of the men’s competition will be Eli Bremer (Monument, Colo./Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Air Force), Dennis Bowsher (Dallas, Texas/Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army), Niul Manske (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army) and Sam Sacksen (Somerset, Pa./Colorado Springs, Colo.). The men’s team will be coached by Janusz Peciak (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Pentathlon’s Fencing/International Modern Pentathlon Coach, for World Cup #5. The men’s will compete in the semifinals tomorrow with the finals taking place on Sunday, May 27.

World Cup #5 is the culmination of a three-week European campaign for the USA Pentathlon Team. World Cup #4 opened the European campaign with the women competing in Moscow, Russia and the men in Budapest, Hungary. Following the World Cup #4, the USA Pentathlon Team reunited in Drzonkow, Poland for a training camp at Poland’s National Pentathlon Training Center from May 14-23. The training camp was a continuing extension of international cooperation between the Pentathlon teams representing the two countries. The USA and Poland have both participated in training camps at each other’s national training centers over the past few years. Janusz Peciak, 1976 Olympic Gold Medalist in Modern Pentathlon for Poland and the Fencing/International Modern Pentathlon Coach for the USA Pentathlon Team has been instrumental in developing this relationship with the Polish team.

For more information, please contact Cecil Bleiker, USOC Manager of NGB Media Services in the USOC Media & Public Relations Division at 719-866-4608.