Two medalists at NCAAs

When the end of a season approaches, seniors start to get a little emotional about saying goodbye. When a coach's final season is winding down, the emotions can run even higher. But in spite of all that emotion, everyone is still focused on going out on top.

Princeton's fencing team did it in spades at the NCAA national championships over spring break. With two medalists and four All-America accolades, the small Tiger team took a real bite out of the competition.

Senior foil Jacqueline Leahy, who took gold at the regional, took second place at NCAAs. This came despite fencing "inconsistently" and losing some key bouts during the round-robin phase of the tournament.

"I initially didn't think that I had qualified for the final four direct-elimination round," Leahy said. "When I saw my draw for the semifinal bout — last year's winner [Harvard's Emily Cross] — I knew that the bout [would be] difficult and would require a lot of focus."

Whatever focusing technique Leahy used, it worked. With two losses in the previous round, she was skeptical if she would be able to pull off a victory over Cross, but when it came time to fence, however, Leahy destroyed her opponent, 15-5.

Junior epee Erin McGarry said the match was the most exciting of the team's bouts. "Usually the two go back and forth but when Leahy fenced her in the direct elimination to move up to top two, she dominated."

Leahy fell to St. John's Erszebet Garay in the gold medal match, 14-12, in the last 11 seconds of the match. Leahy's silver medal is her best finish at NCAAs. Her freshman year she placed seventh, fourth as a sophomore and third as a junior. She has been named an All-American all four years.

Leahy's fellow senior, epee Ben Solomon, earned a bronze medal and his third All-America accolade at the competition.

After falling to Ohio State's Denis Tolkachev in his first direct elimination bout, he defeated Stanford's Martin Lee, 15-8.

Harvard's Benji Ungar won the event. Harvard also won the team competition. Princeton took a contingent only half of the maximum size, however, so the Tigers' eighth place finish was quite an accomplishment.

McGarry joined Leahy and Solomon in their All-American status. Just missing the cut for the direct elimination round, she finished fifth, an improvement of one place over last year. The finish also marks McGarry's second straight season as an All-American.

After the first day of competition, McGarry was in tenth place. Like she has all season, McGarry fought hard for each point she won — including beating the eventual national champion — and ended up with a 15-8 record on the weekend.

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Rounding out Princeton's All-Americans is sophomore foil Douglas Hohensee. In his first NCAA appearance, Hohensee placed 12th, capturing the Tigers' final tournament accolade.

Princeton's six-member team was completed by sophomore Tommi Hurme who took a disappointing 15th place in the epee competion, and by junior epee Sara Jew-Lim who took 23rd in her second, but nonconsecutive appearance at the NCAAs. Hurme was an alternate at last year's NCAAs but did not compete.

The tournament was head coach Michel Sebastiani's final event with the team, and he will be missed next year.

"Everyone on our team loves [Sebastiani], and we will definitely be sad to see him go," McGarry said.

Sebastiani was honored with the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association's Schreff Sword, an award given annually to the top collegiate college fencing coach as voted by his peers.

He certainly deserves the award based on the individual attention he gives each fencer. He gave personal lessons and great in-tournament coaching, an important aspect of success in fencing.

Sebastiani will be succeeded by Zoltan Dudas, a five year assistant coach at Notre Dame. Dudas is a Hungarian native who coached two Irish sabruers to a national title and a silver medal. Saber is currently the Tigers' worst event, often hurting the team's ability to win team championships.

Leahy's and Solomon's excellence will certainly be missed, but next year's outlook is bright, with eight of the 13 Regional qualifiers returning.