Fencing: Veteran corps enhanced by rookie class

The men’s and women’s fencing teams may be two of Princeton’s best kept secrets.

With head coach Zoltan Dudas in his fourth season at Princeton, the teams have the potential to exceed their notable finishes last year. Under Dudas’ leadership, they qualified eight fencers for the national championships, and Princeton finished eighth at the competition. The teams hope to send more fencers to this year’s renewal, and they look to improve their performance significantly from last year.

Though the teams are technically separate, scores for the national team championship are combined and ranked by overall total points. It is important for both teams to be strong for Princeton to be competitive in the team competition.

Chandler Clay, the captain of the women’s team, recognized the strength of the squad’s freshman class. “We have five new women’s fencers, all of which are in the very top of their age groups nationally,” she said. “The freshmen will definitely be ones to look out for.”

Sophomore Susannah Scanlan will be a key returner for Princeton. She earned All-America honors last spring after a fifth-place finish at the national championships. Dudas said he is looking for strong performances again from Scanlan throughout the season and at the championship meet.

On the men’s side, junior Graham Wicas and sophomore Alex Mills are the squads’ returning All-Americans. Wicas earned the silver medal in the epee at Nationals, while Mills finished 12th.

The teams have very strong schedules this year. Dudas said their schedules will provide ample preparation for their fights for the Ivy League and national championships.

“Our ultimate goal is always to win the Ivy League, and I think we are more than able to accomplish this,” Clay said, “as long as we continue to work hard in practice, compete well and stay focused on the team result.”

Columbia, Harvard and Penn have been the strongest competitors in years past. The Tigers beat Penn for the first time in several years last season, and this year, the Tigers look to conquer Columbia.

“Columbia has been the powerhouse throughout the last decade,” Dudas said.

The Ivy League has historically produced very strong teams, and many of the top teams at the national championships hail from the Ancient Eight. This means that whoever wins the Ivy League championship has a very good chance to do well at Nationals. All the more reason, Dudas said, to build the strongest schedule he can for the regular season.

“It is important to build a strong schedule because the number of victories are important for NCAA rankings,” Dudas explained. “The more scores you have against the better teams in the league, the better it is for receiving a bid for [the national championships].”

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With that in mind, Dudas has set up a tournament in January in which the team will travel to Evanston, Ill., to compete against teams, such as Ohio State, Northwestern and Notre Dame.

“These are all strong teams that, because of geographical reasons, we do not normally compete against,” Dudas said. “Both Notre Dame and Ohio State were ranked nationally … last year.”

This weekend, the Tigers travel to College Station, Pa., to compete in the Penn State Invitational, the strongest individual competition in the fencing season. The meet will be a good indicator of who will perform well in the national championship.

Though the Tigers know they will face many strong teams this year, they are confident in their freshman class and are looking forward to a strong and competitive season.