Kelley Hurley Class: Sophomore Hometown: San Antonio, TX High School: Earl Warren Height: 5-10 Position: Epee Club: Team Hurley

NCAA Runner-Up (2007)
Women's Epee Team Co-Captain
U.S. National Team Member
Under-17 World Champion (2005)

World-class lefthander who is an Olympic hopeful for the 2008 women's epee competition in Beijing, following a dominating 2007 college season that saw her go 51-4 in the regular season, win conference and regional titles, and reach the NCAA title bout ... hoping to join her 17-year-old sister Courtney as the two women's epee entrants on the United States fencing team for the 2008 Olympics (TBA in late March/early April of 2008) ... due to a rotating configuration, there will be no team competition in women's epee at the 2008 Olympics, meaning that each national contingent can include only two fencers in that weapon (as opposed to four entrants when there is a team event) ... similar bad luck confronted Mariel Zagunis in 2004, when women's sabre did not have team events at that Olympics ... Zagunis - who ultimately filled a vacated spot when a fencer from the African region did not attend - went on to win Olympic gold and later was the 2005 NCAA runner-up (then '06 NCAA champ) ... was listed second in the USFA national rankings, behind her sister (as of Nov. 15, 2007), while also holding an FIE world ranking of 34th (10 spots behind Courtney) ... a highly passionate fencer whose love for the sport was developed by her parents and youth fencing coach Paul Pesthy ... has developed strong technique to go along with a strong 5-foot-9 frame, quick acceleration and confidence in her parry actions ... looking to improve her footwork in 2007-08, under the direction of first-year assistant coach Marek Stepien ... won the world fencing title for cadet-level women's epeeists (under-17) in 2005 ... a fighter on the strip who is eager to take on many challenges in all aspects of her life ... able to gather information quickly during bouts and read her opponent's actions, giving her a key advantage in the defensive-minded, slower-moving epee bouts ... an excellent student who comes from a highly ambitious and competitive family ... introduced into the sport by her parents Robert and Tracy Hurley, who both have experience in fencing as competitors and coaches ... her career highlights include: becoming the youngest fencer (16) ever to win the U.S. women's epee national championship (in '04); winning the 2005 U-17 world championship; winning the U.S. Junior National (U-19) title for the first time as a 14-year-old in 2002 (and again in '05); and competing with the U.S. National Team at the 2003, '05, '06 and '07 World Championships plus the Pan-Am Games in 2004 (where she helped the U.S. women's epeeists claim the silver medal) and 2006 (bronze, in Venezuela) ... ended 2002 listed 34th in USFA rankings before surging to third spot in 2003 and ascending to top ranking in 2005, above many elite fencers who are a decade older than her ... was ranked as high as 12th in the world for U-20 women's epeeists ... followed current junior foilist Mark Kubik as second San Antonio fencer to sign with Notre Dame in the past three years.

RECENT INTERNATIONAL AND USFA NATIONAL RESULTS: Had several top finishes during 2007 Senior World Cup circuit - placing 11th in Havana, Cuba (June; field of 121), and 24th in Sydney, Australia (May; 108) - plus three Grand Prix events: 29th in Nankin, China (May; 137), 106th in Montreal (June; 149) and 120th in Rome (Feb.; 136) ... also placed 46th at the 2007 Junior World Championships in Belek, Turkey (April; 102) ... fenced in three team events at Sr. World Cups/Grand Prix, helping her U.S contingent place 10th in Nankin, 11th in Rome and 15th in Montreal ... member of 7th-place team at the 2007 Jr. World Championships in Belek ... earlier competed alongside her sister, Lacey Burt and Maya Lawrence as members of the U.S. women's epee team at the 2006 World Fencing Championships (Oct.) in Torino/Turin, Italy (she placed 59th while the U.S. women were 17th) ... fenced with U.S. Junior National Team (U-20) at Jr. World Championships in Taebek City, South Korea, fencing alongside Harvard's Emily Cross and fellow high-schoolers Doris Willette (now a sophomore foilist at Penn State) and Lindsay Knauer (now an Ohio State sophomore) ... her future Notre Dame teammates Adi Nott (foil) and Bill Thanhouser (sabre) also were in Korea as members of their U.S. Junior National teams ... her 2006-07 USFA events included winning the North American Cup in Albuquerque, N.M., and losing title bout to Lawrence runner-up at N.A.C. in Richmond, Va. (also 6th-place finisher at N.A.C. in Columbus, Ohio) ... earlier won the 2006 Summer Nationals (besting future ND teammate Amy Orlando in final).

AS A FRESHMAN: Turned in a dominating debut on the college fencing scene that included a 51-4 record in the regular season and winning both the Midwest Fencing Conference and NCAA Midwest Regional title, before losing the NCAA final to thee-time champion Anna Garina of Wayne State ... her .927 win percentage in the 2007 regular season is third-best ever by a Notre Dame women's epeeist ... she and sophomore foilist Adi Nott were named co-MVPs of the 2007 Notre Dame women's fencing team (she also was named the women's epee team MVP) ... opened her college career by going 17-2 at the ND Duals, with her sweep of Ohio State (5-2 vs. Alexandra Obrazcova and Elyse Gurnowski; 5-4 vs. Leslie Lampman) leading the Irish women to a thrilling 14-13 win ... also had top wins over WSU's Garina (5-3) and UC San Diego's Chelsea Ambort (5-2) at that home meet ... had an ever more impressive day at the NYU Duals (17-1), with another sweep helping deliver a 14-13 win over Northwestern (5-3 vs. Christa French; 5-4 Kayley French; 5-2 vs. Courtney DuBois) ... her other key wins at the NCAAs came against St. John's All-American Joanna Guy (5-4), Columbia's Rachel Rowe (5-1) and NYU's Lauren Willock (5-2), plus another sweep of OSU (5-2 vs. Obrazcova and Elyse Gurnowski; 5-1 vs. Lampman; OSU won 14-13) ... won all five of her bouts at the Midwest Duals (at ND) and did not fence at the Duke Duals (due to a World Cup in Rome) before closing regular season 12-1 at the Northwestern Duals ... had top wins at that tournament versus Penn State's Anastasia Ferdman and Keri Byerts (both 5-2), and NU's Christa French (5-1) ... became seventh ND freshman ever to win a conference title, after topping her teammate Amy Orlando in the MFC final (15-11) ... others to do so have included foilists Pia Albertson ('84), Molly Sullivan ('95), Maria Panyi ('94), Alicja Kryczalo ('02) and Emilie Prot ('06), plus epeeist Anna Carnick in 2000 ... held her #1 seed after the MFC pool bouts, with a later 15-11 win over NU's Kayley French in the quarterfinal before edging WSU's Garina in the semifinal ... returned the next day to lead women's epee squad that won MFC team title, with her key win over Obrazcova giving Irish 4-3 lead (ND won that title matchup, 5-3) ... also maintained her top seed at the Regional (held at ND), followed by later wins over NU's Christa French in the round-of-8 (15-7), WSU's Garina in another semifinal (15-14) and OSU's Lampman in a dominating 15-5 final ... joined Nott as two of five Notre Dame fencers (two men, three women) during the current decade who have won an MFC and Regional title in the same season ... others who have completed that double include men's foilist Ozren Debic (each year from 2000-02), epeeist Brian Casas (in 2001), foilist Alicja Kryczalo ('02 and '03) and sabreist Patrick Ghattas in 2005 ... had a chance to pull off the postseason trifecta at the NCAAs (in Madison, N.J.), after finishing second in the round-robin (18-5; four 1-touch losses) and then reaching the title bout ... nearly went unbeaten (9-1) versus fencers from the other top contending teams ... opened NCAAs 11-3, with sweeps of Columbia (5-3 vs. both Tess Finkel and Alexie Rubin), Harvard (5-2 vs. both Maria Larsson and Jasmine McGlade) and Ohio State (5-1 vs. both Lampman and Obrazcova) ... each of her day-1 losses came in 4-5 bouts (vs. NU's Christa French and the WSU duo of Garina and Justyna Konczalska) ... closed on day-2 with a 7-2 mark that included a sweep of St. John's (5-0 vs. both Reka Szele and Tanya Novakovska), a 5-1 victory over PSU's Case Szarwark and 5-3 wins over Princeton's Erin McGarry and UNC's Courtney Krolokowski ... her other losses were to PSU's Ferdman (4-5) and Danielle Henderson of Rutgers (3-5) ... opened medal round with 15-10 semifinal victory over SJU's Szele (trailed 3-6, scored final six touches) before dropping 13-15 final to the 6-foot-1 Ukranian standout Garina ... her +42 in total-point indicators was fifth-best among the entire women's field (72 fencers) ... became 12th Notre Dame freshman fencer ever to reach an NCAA title bout ... the six previous ND women's freshman fencers to reach an NCAA final include epeeist Magda Krol ('97 champion), foilists Sara Walsh ('96 runner-up), Alicja Kryczalo ('02 champ) and Andrea Ament ('02 runner-up), and sabreists Valerie Providenza (204 champ) and Zagunis ('05 runner-up) ... placed second at Penn State Open (fall '06), her first college fencing event ... was top seed going into PSU Open, with key early wins over Yale's Rebecca Moss (5-0), Temple's Brianna Ferrara (5-3) and PSU's Szarwark (5-0), later beating OSU's Obrazcova in round-of-16 (5-4), NU's Kayley French in quarters and WSU's Justyna Konczalska in semi's (15-8) before losing 13-15 final to Garina.

PREP & PERSONAL: Graduated from Earl Warren High School while being coached in fencing by her mother, Tracy Hurley, and coach Paul Pesthy at the family's Team Hurley fencing club in San Antonio ... her events during the 2006 spring semester included placing 15th at both the Sr. World Cup in Prague and the Jr. World Cup in Osnabruck while also fencing at the Sr. World Cup in Saint-Maur, France ... her 2005-06 N.A.C. events included placing 11th in Houston (overall women's epee) and third in both Pittsburgh (overall) and Albuquerque (for u-20), with her sister Courtney winning both of those events ... her top 2005 events included: winning the cadet/u-17 world title in Linz, Austria; winning junior/u-19 national championship (in Sacramento) and the u-16 title (none of her opponents had double-digit points in the 15-touch bouts); taking third at senior nationals; representing the U.S. at the Sr. World Championships in Germany; and winning a Jr. World Cup in Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe ... her busy 2004 included: winning all three U.S. titles (overall, u-19 and u-16); helping the U.S. win silver at the Pan-Am Games in the Dominican Republic; fencing with the U.S. at the Sr. World Championships (in Cuba); posting top-16 finishes at Sr. World Cups in London and Saint-Maur, France; and posting top Jr. World Cup finishes in Bratislava, Slovakia (5th) and Pont de Sor, Portugal (9th) ... first became member of Senior World Championship team at age 14 (in '03), also winning u-16 national title (Austin, Texas) and fencing on silver-medal team at 2003 Pan-Am Games ... won 2002 junior national title (Greenville, S.C.) and was youth-14 national champ, after winning 2001 youth-12 national epee and foil titles ... entered 2007 already having fenced with 10 different U.S. national teams (senior teams in '03, '05, '06; cadet and junior teams from '03-'05; '06 junior team) ... daughter of Robert and Tracy Hurley ... full name is Kelley Anne Hurley ... born April 4, 1988, in Houston ... enrolled in the College of Arts and Letters ... intends to major in psychology.