M., w. fencing combine to finish sixth at NCAAs

With two Princeton fencers heading into last weekend's National Collegiate Athletic Association championships ranked among the top five in the world, an individual title was all but assured.

But despite a host of valiant bouts, the Tigers returned late Monday with no medals in hand. The men's and women's teams combined to place sixth at the 2003 NCAA Championships. Garnering 107 points and four top ten finishes in five events, they finished 75 points behind winner Notre Dame.

After nearly a decade of second place finishes to Penn State, the Fighting Irish edged out a national championship.

At the end of the first day of competition, freshman Benjamin Solomon stood atop the leader board holding on to first place in the men's epee competition. In the first day of competition he defeated the eventual champion, Weston Kelsey from Air Force, 5-2, with three touches on the foot.

While Solomon has consistently succeeded in intercollegiate events during the year, he has often been overshadowed by captain Soren Thompson — one of the world's top epees. While the last day of the event would see Solomon lose some unexpected bouts to Columbia and Ohio State, he would still end the tournament with the Tigers' best finish, at fifth.

"It was really great," Solomon said. "I fenced really well against the good fencers but unfortunately not as solid against some of the weaker fencers."

Solomon has really made a name for himself in his first year at Princeton. Winning gold at the Junior Olympics, Solomon is presently ranked first in the junior men's epee division. His success at NCAAs was hampered by a foot injury on which he hopes to have surgery after the world championships.

"With my nagging foot problem and my asthma acting up due to the altitude, it was hard not to lose focus," Solomon said.

While Solomon felt he was able to fence up to the level of many of the superior athletes, he admitted that it was "easy to let your guard down against people you might not respect as much."

The effects of three straight weekends of fencing in three different countries were painfully evident for Princeton favorite Soren Thompson. With bouts in Paris and Slovakia over the past three weeks, the Tigers' captain was unable to gain mental focus against his opponents. After a freshman year NCAA championship and last year's second place showing, Thompson finished a disappointing 12th on Sunday, losing 11 of his 23 bouts.

"Soren had a bit of a tough day," said Solomon. "Its nearly impossible to stay mentally fresh for triple weekends. He was absolutely the best fencer there, so look out for him in next year's Olympics."

The Tigers also had two men competing in the foil. Junior Eric Stodola placed 18th and junior Jon Jew-Lim placed 23rd.

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The women also had a degree of success, with three top 10 finishes. Freshman Jacqueline Leahy's unbeaten streak ended at the NCAAs. Leahy, who had dominated every opponent this year struggled against some of her opponents, and lost six of her 23 bouts. Still, she provided the Tigers' biggest point total, earning 32 points with her seventh-place finish.

Senior captain Mindy Rostal also captured ninth-place in foil.

Also on the women's side, Princeton placed two in the top 15 of the epee with freshmen Eleanor Leighton in seventh and Kira Hohensee in 15th. Princeton's lone competitor in the women's sabre was sophomore Catherine Pack, who finished 13th. Pack's success is even more impressive after her problems at NCAA regionals two weeks ago where an injury threatened to take her out of competition completely.

While Rostal noted that one of the team's main goals was to stand out as the best non-scholarship school at the tournament, Ivy League champion Columbia edged the Tigers for that title by six points, coming in fifth.

While the collegiate season is now over for the Tigers, many will go on to compete in the fencing world championships scheduled for early next month.