Avery Zuck Class: Freshman Hometown: Beaverton, OR High School: Jesuit Height / Weight: 6-2 / 185 Event: Sabre Birthdate: 02/22/1989 Club: Oregon Fencing Alliance

One of Notre Dame's latest additions to its "Portland Pipeline," as an elite fencer from the Oregon Fencing Alliance sabre academy, where he has trained under former Notre Dame assistant coach Ed Korfanty ... joins classmates Sarah Borrmann and Eileen Hassett - plus junior Bill Thanhouser - as OFA fencers on Notre Dame's current team ... two other OFA products, Patrick Ghattas and Valerie Providenza, were four-year All-Americans with the Irish from 2004-07 ... Providenza won the NCAA title as a freshman and reached the semifinals two other times while Ghattas was a three-time NCAA runner-up (2005-07) ... could benefit from the daily presence of Ghattas (an intern assistant coach) at Notre Dame practices this season ... combines a tall frame with long arms, innate speed and quick thinking on the strip ... a very talented competitor, both technically and tactically ... had impressive result at the Junior World Cup in Sosnowiec, Poland (Oct. '07), placing 15th among a top field of 115 U-20 fencers ... was knocked out of that tournament by the eventual champion (Massimiliano Murolo of Italy) ... was listed 35 on the USFA rankings for all U.S. men's sabre fencers (as of Nov. 15, 2007) while holding a 6th-place ranking among U.S. junior-level (Under-20) men's sabreists ... combines with Nydam (28th overall/13th U-20) to give Notre Dame one of the top young men's sabre duos in the nation ... placed 26th in the U-20 bouting at the North American Cup held in Dallas (Nov. '07) ... formerly a nationally-ranked youth racquetball player who was able to transition skills from that sport (such as hand-eye coordination and mental toughness) into his fencing approach ... could emerge as one of the NCAA's top contenders for the men's sabre title, as he gains experience in the unique format of college fencing ... the only fencers ahead of him in the USFA U-20 rankings were Raskyrie Davidson, Aleksander Ochocki, Harrison Mahaffey, Jeff Spear, and Daryl Homer ... also owns an FIE U-20 world ranking of 49th (as of Nov. 15, 2007).

2006-07 EVENTS: Had an impressive 11th-place finish (field of 56) in his first Junior World Cup of the season (in Odessa, Ukraine; Sept. '06) ... competed in November of 2006 at Junior World Cups in Ariccia, Italy (23rd; field of 98), and Dormagen, Germany (65th of 133) ... opened 2007 with impressive 6th-place showing among 136 fencers at the Junior World Cup in Budapest ... competed in the Las Vegas Senior Grand Prix (June '07) and placed 67th among sabre fencers from all age groups (field of 99) ... also competed at several USFA events in the 2006-07 season, starting with the North American Cup in Albuquerque, N.M. (19th in the U-20 bouts; field of 155; Nov. '06) ... competed the next month at the N.A.C. in Richmond, Va., versus a talented overall men's sabre field of 103 that included four current/future ND fencers among the top-30 finishers (Thanhouser 8th, Ghattas 22nd, Zuck 27th, Nydam 30th; no U-20 bouting) ... went on to place 40th out of 141 total men's sabreists at another elite-level N.A.C., in Columbus, Ohio (Jan. '07; also 33rd out of 133 in U-20 competition) and then was 18th out of 97 total men's sabre entrants at the N.A.C. in Tucson, Ariz. ... added strong 9th-place showing at the annual Junior Olympics, in Denver (field of 179; Feb.) and then placed 14th in an overall field of 43 at 2007 Summer Nationals, in Miami (7th among 107 in the U-20s).

PREP & PERSONAL: Attended Jesuit High School while training for the past six years at the Oregon Fencing Alliance ... had been a nationally-ranked racquetball player before transitioning to fencing as a seventh-grader ... has been nationally-ranked in fencing since the 10th grade ... took a stab at the senior-level competition during a North American Cup held in Sacramento (April '06) and had a solid placing of 27th at that event ... also placed 15th in the U-19 sabre bouts at 2006 Summer Nationals ... born Feb. 22, 1989, in Portland, Ore. ... son of Jeremy Zuck and Anita Wentworth ... full name is Avery John Zuck ... enrolled in the First Year of Studies ... intends to major in finance.