Fencing: 12 qualify for NCAA national championship

For the first time since the NCAA introduced the new qualification system for national championships in 2001, the men’s and women’s fencing teams received the maximum number of bids for the NCAA finals, sending 12 fencers to compete.

“I was expecting a two digit number to be sent, but more like 10 [fencers],” head coach Zoltan Dudas said. “It was a very positive surprise for me. Last year we qualified eight fencers, so it was a very big jump.”

Fencers receive bids to the final tournament based on their performance during the season and their performance at the regional tournaments. In deciding bids, the overall strength of fencers’ opponents is also calculated and considered.

Of the 12 Tiger fencers to qualify for the tournament, 11 did so at the NCAA regional tournament on Saturday, March 13, at Drew University. They competed against Drew, Duke, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Penn State, North Carolina, Penn, Stevens Institute of Technology, Lafayette (men only), Fairleigh Dickinson (women only) and Temple (women only).

Forty fencers in the Mid-Atlantic regional tournament receive an automatic bid to the NCAA finals, including seven from each of men’s and women’s foil, men’s saber, and women’s epee, and six from men’s epee and women’s saber. After the regional competition, junior epeeist Graham Wicas, sophomore epeeist Susannah Scanlan, freshman epeeists Jonathan Yergler and Phoebe Caldwell, sophomore foilists Alexander Mills and Rocky Rothenberg, freshman foilist Brianna Martin, senior sabrist Thomas Abend, junior sabrist John Stogin, and freshmen sabrists Joanna Cichomski and Eliza Stone earned automatic bids to the national championship. Later, it was announced that sophomore foilist David Mandle would receive an at-large bid for the national tournament.

At the NCAA finals, there are 24 fencers per gender for each weapon, and each school can send a total of 12 fencers, only two per weapon and gender. Each match that fencers win earns their team a point. Therefore, having the maximum number of competitors is paramount to having a good chance in the final championships.

The Princeton teams have shown tremendous improvement over last season, when eight Tigers received bids for the final competition. Last season, the Orange and Black finished eighth in the NCAA championship and placed fourth among Ivy League teams in the finals. Besides increasing the number of fencers attending the final championship, both the men’s and women’s teams took first place and went undefeated in the Ivy League this year. In the most recent United States Fencing Coaches Association Poll, both Princeton squads were ranked No. 4 the nation.

Furthermore, 10 fencers were named to All-Ivy teams. First-team All-Ivy honorees include Martin, Yergler, Mills, sophomore foilist Lucile Jarry, Scanlan and Wicas. Second team All-Ivy honorees include Caldwell, Abend, Stone and Mandle.