McGarry, Leahy golden at regionals

After making the long trip down to Durham, N.C., the fencing team proceeded to put on a skillful performance at the NCAA Regional Tournament at Duke held over the weekend.

Though both the men and the women had strong performances, it was the women who stole the show, winning two gold medals and advancing three fencers to the National tournament.

Senior foil Jacqueline Leahy and junior epee Erin McGarry took gold in their respective events. Leahy and McGarry are no strangers to success at the NCAA tournament; this year marks the fourth trip to nationals for Leahy and the third for McGarry. Last year, Leahy and McGarry took third and sixth respectively, both receiving All-America accolades.

But success at regionals does not always translate into easy wins the following year. McGarry had several hard-fought battles this time around, especially against Katarzyna Tropek of Penn State. Senior epee Ben Solomon was proud of McGarry's results in the match against Tropek.

"[McGarry] fenced a remarkably difficult fencer in the gold medal bout," Solomon said. "She was down a few touches and then staged a great comeback to win the tournament."

McGarry's performance at regionals was the culmination of the slow buildup of close matches she has fenced this season. Since her disappointing 11th-place finish at the Penn State Garret Open in the beginning of the season, McGarry has worked exceptionally hard to post as many 3-0 bouts as possible. As she has done throughout the season, McGarry dug deep and fought for every touch in the gold medal bout.

Leahy has had a tremendous season from the very start, finishing third at the Garret Open, completing an undefeated regular season and taking silver at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships. These successes paved the way for her gold in Durham.

The women's fencing team peaked at just the right time, winning key bouts at the back end of the season.

Rounding out the trio of Tiger women advancing to the national tournament is senior epee Kira Hohensee who placed seventh, just making the cut.

Junior foil Sara Jew-Lim placed 10th over the weekend and freshman epee Jasjit Bhinder, who has had several standout moments this season, placed 13th.

The men's team saw continued strong performances from the epee squad. Solomon placed second at the Regionals behind Penn State's Arthur Urmann, with whom he has traded wins all season.

"[Urmann's] a tremendous fencer," Solomon said. "Although I usually match up well against him, he was especially tough on Saturday. I fenced conservatively and ended up not being able to score enough touches at the end of the bout."

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Though Solomon blamed tactics for his loss in the gold-medal bout, he may have had to fence conservatively due to illness.

Sophomore teammate epee Tommi Hurme took fourth and qualified for the national championships next weekend. Urmann was Hurme's toughest competitor as well, winning the semifinal match.

"Fencing is such a difficult [sport] to remain consistent in," Hurme said. "Everything has to be just right that day or else you could go out in the first round."

Freshman epee Max Peck proved this sentiment by toppling last year's defending champion in the first round of the tournament. Peck, who placed 14th, has had a strong freshman year with several big wins that he can build on next year. Senior epee Fenil Ghodadra also fenced a fantastic final tournament, finishing 10th.

In men's foil, junior J.P. Mitchell fenced his absolute hardest and just missed qualifying for nationals, placing eighth. He was followed by sophomore teammate Douglas Hohensee who had a ninth-place finish.

The Tigers' lone men's saber was sophomore Jonathan Winnerman who finished 14th at the tournament.

The NCAA finals will be held at Rice University on March 16-19.