Fencing NCAA Title Chase Begins This Weekend With Regional Qualifiers

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