NCAAs on horizon for m., w. fencing squads

Its awesome baby! The Tigers are bound for the NCAA Tournament.

We're referring to the Tiger fencing squad of course. After days of complex calculations based upon strength of schedule, indicators and number of bouts, the NCAA regional committee announced its selections to compete in this weekend's NCAA regional competition at Drew University.

Sophomore Jacqueline Leahy was seeded No. 1 in the regional tournament and was joined by a total of 15 others. The top seven fencers from each weapon after this weekend's tournament will be recommended to attend this year's NCAA Fencing Championship on March 18-21 at Brandeis University. Due to a recent back injury, the women's captain, junior Catherine Pack, will be unable to compete for the rest of the season.

While scored as an individual competition, the Tigers enter this weekend's tournament atop the non-scholarship fencing programs in the region.

"We are the No. 1 team of real students," head coach Michel Sebastiani said.

Princeton is in one of the most difficult fencing regions in the nation, which includes America's top scholarship programs, including Penn State, which achieved second place ranking at last year's NCAA finals, and Ohio State. The ability to give significant scholarships has allowed such schools to attract Olympians, who have handily beaten the more traditional scholar-athletes.

"We expect our toughest competition to come from Penn St., Penn and Rutgers," senior men's captain Jon Jew-Lim said. "Our goal is to qualify [the maximum] two fencers for each weapon, which will be a test since the region typically takes only about seven fencers total, and there are many good fencers who come from lesser known schools."

While last year the No. 6 men did not qualify any fencers in sabre, they have hope for dramatic changes this year. Those sabre fencers chosen to compete are senior James Leighton, freshman Joseph Cho and Jew-Lim. They will be joined by senior Eric Stodola, junior Scott Sherman and freshman Alejandro Bras at foil as well as sophomore epees Ben Soloman and Fenil Ghodadra.

The format of the competition is three to four rounds of pools, with the top six or seven fencers going to the NCAA championships later in the month.

"I could wish for more time to prepare for the tournament," Leighton said. "Having the tournament immediately following midterm week does not encourage lengthy stays in the gym, more the reverse."

The women too will compete at regionals with a strong contingent of seven fencers. While Pack will be unable to fence, her co-captain, junior Inhwa Song, will lead the women with the help of Leahy. They will be joined by a squad entirely comprised of freshmen: Sara Jew-Lim, Kira Hohensee, Erin McGarry, Mina Morova and Elan DiMaio.

The Tigers have traditionally had strong showings with a slew of individual first-place finishes and three top-four finishes in the last five years. Last year the Tigers finished sixth behind Ivy rival Columbia, though after last week's successful competition against the Lions at IFAs the Tigers stand a real chance to finish top among non-scholarship programs. In recent memory, the top finishers have all been scholarship schools with an Ivy League school not far behind. Still, Sebastiani was confident of a respectable Princeton showing and even perhaps a win at NCAA's if "the Olympians stop caring about a little college meet."