With the top two fencers taking a hiatus from the Princeton fencing programs to prepare for the upcoming Olympics, the 2004 season for the Tigers was full of ups and downs, disappointments and successes.
One of those successes came at the end of the season, as the team claimed seventh-place at NCAA's. Though this impressive performance was earned with extraordinary competition from all of the Tiger players, there was one fencer who really stood out and made her individual mark on the national tournament: sophomore foil Jaqueline Leahy was crowned the fourth best fencer in the nation out of 24 individual participants.
The competition is designed so that every athlete must fence each other in a round robin the first day of the tournament. Once all the matches have been completed, the top four are announced, and those fencers then face one another for the national championship.
"The first day of the event was mixed. I had some really good bouts against top players, and I lost to some inexperienced fencers, so I wasn't sure what the final outcome would be," Leahy said. "I wasn't expecting to do as well as I did; I was just hoping to make the top eight."
The final day of the tournament led Leahy into the talented blade of Notre Dame's Alicja Kryczalo, who was the top seed in the competition. Though Leahy had beaten Kryczalo in five-touch bouts, Leahy had struggled in 15-touch bouts, losing by fairly large margins to her opponent. However, in this year's tournament Leahy displayed her fencing improvement and prowess and kept the battle close. In the end, Kryczalo edged out Leahy in a heartbreaker, 15-14.
Kryczalo went on to win the foil title, though the Notre Dame team finished behind champion Ohio St. and runner-up Penn St. Kryczalo was one of two Fighting Irish national champions this weekend, continuing the dominant fencing tradition at Notre Dame.
Although Leahy and her Tiger teammates might not have been expecting first-place finishes against these fencing powerhouses, much of their regular season had been structured around preparing the players for the national tournament. Aside from the intense practice and competition schedules, Leahy sacrificed many international tournaments. Although they may have boosted her rankings and given her valuable experience, she instead chose to compete at Princeton against the opponents she knew she face at nationals.
"This year I bypassed some international events so I could attend all the NCAA meets," Leahy said. "So going into the tournament I was already experienced against the other fencers."
The same can be said for several other Princeton fencers who also had impressive finishes. Freshmen Nina Morova, Erin McGarry and Sara Jew-Lim finished 11th in saber, 14th in epee and 17th in foil, respectively. These results are especially striking because they speak to the depth and promising future of this young team.
"Our team put in a lot of practice hours and tried to fit in as much competition as possible to prepare," Leahy said.
The hard work and dedication certainly paid off for the team, which looks forward to next season when the talented freshman will older an more experienced. With the return of Olympians Soren Thompson and Kamara James, the Princeton squad should be able to take US fencing by storm, and, with a little luck, be even more successful than this season.
Still, the level-minded Leahy knows that she and her teammates cannot take too much for granted. Injuries are always a wild card, and the fencers never know what competition they might run into next year.
"The field is different every year, so it will really all depend on how much time we're able to spend practicing and competing," Leahy said.
On top of being humble about her expectations for next season, Leahy also stressed the importance of her academic experience at Old Nassau. With school as her primary focus, she is willing to take fencing one day at a time and do the best that she can with the time she has here as a part of the Princeton team.
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