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Fencing NCAA Title Chase Begins This Weekend With Regional Qualifiers
Portions courtesy of Columbia Sports Information/Media
Relations and Princeton Athletic Communications
PRINCETON, N.J. -- The fencing postseason
continues this weekend with the NCAA Midwest, Mid-Atlantic/South
and Northeast Regionals slated to take place. On Saturday, March
12, members of Princeton and Penn will take part in the
Mid-Atlantic/South Regional on campus at Drew University in
Madison, N.J. Then, on Sunday, March 13 select fencers from Brown,
Columbia, Cornell, Harvard and Yale will take to the strips at
Vassar in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in NCAA Northeast Regional
action.
The Ivy League teams are looking to qualify as many individuals as
possible for the NCAA Championships, which begin March 24 on the
campus of the Ohio State University. Teams can qualify up to two
fencers per weapon (per gender) for the Championships, meaning up
to 12 fencers from a school sponsoring men’s and
women’s teams could make the championship field. A total of
24 fencers (per weapon) will make the NCAA finals from across the
country’s four regions. Aside from automatic qualify spots
from the Regionals (which differ across the four regions), two
fencers nationally in each weapon will earn at-large berths to make
up the final field of 24.
The NCAA Fencing Championship is a co-ed title, awarded to the team
with the most pool wins over four days of fencing. Additionally, an
individual champion in each weapon (for both genders) will be
awarded.
The Ivy League fencing teams have achieved great success at the
NCAA Fencing Championships over the years. Last season, Harvard
finished fifth overall, followed by Princeton (6), Columbia (7) and
Penn (8). On the individual level, Harvard sabreist Caroline Vloka
and Columbia foilist Nicole Ross took 2010 women’s gold
medals. Harvard women’s epeeist Noam Mills took home silver,
while Columbia men’s epeeist earned a bronze giving the Ivy
League four medalists at the 2010 NCAA Championships.
Columbia and Penn have released their 2011 NCAA Regional
participants:
Columbia (14 entries // NCAA Northeast
Regional)
Women’s
Epee
Neely Brandfield-Harvey
Katya English
Lydia Kopecky
Women’s
Foil
D’Meca Homer
Women’s
Sabre
Essane Diedro
Loweye Diedro
Sammy Roberts
Men’s
Epee
Magnus Ferguson
Alen Hadzic
Sean Leahy
Men’s
Foil
Bo Charles
Alex Pensler
Men’s
Sabre
Billy Fink
Mel Rodriguez
Penn (18 entries // NCAA Mid-Atlantic
Regional)
Women’s
Epee
Stephanie Wheeler
Amrit Bhinder
Gabby Foor
Women’s
Foil
Laura Paragano
Wendy Zhao
Aida Abdikulova
Women’s
Sabre
Danielle Kamis
Dominika Franciszkowicz
Men’s
Epee
Jacob Wischnia
Clifford Fishler
Joseph Isaac
Men’s
Foil
Zane Grodman
Vidur Kapur
R.J. Shipp
Men’s
Sabre
Evan Prochniak
Josh Hammond
Michael Mills
Elliot Tusk
