March 11, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A combined 24 members of the Notre Dame men’s and women’s fencing teams will take part in the 2011 NCAA Midwest Fencing Regional this weekend in Detroit, Mich. Wayne State will serve as the host of the two-day event.
The Midwest Regional gets underway on Saturday, March 12 when the women take to the strips. Then on Sunday, March 13, the men will close out the event. The Fighting Irish are attempting to qualify the combined maximum of 12 fencers for the NCAA Championships, which will be hosted by Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, March 23-27.
Each team can qualify up to two men and two women per weapon for the NCAA Championships. The winner of each event at the Midwest Regional will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships and the Midwest region has five bids allocated to it for the NCAA Championships in each of the six events. The NCAA Midwest Committee nominates fencers on Tuesday, March 15.
Nominations are based on the pre-regional “Fencer Strength Factor” (40 percent) and Regional Placement (60 percent). Each region also nominates two fencers in each event as at-large candidates; the at-large bids go to the two fencers with the highest Fencer Strength Factor.
The competition at the Midwest Regional will feature preliminary pool rounds to reduce the field to 14 fencers, who will enter a double-elimination tournament, with the first twelve places being fenced out.
The Notre Dame men and women enter competition as the top-ranked teams in the latest United States Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA) poll. Other teams competing at the Midwest Regional Qualifier include host Wayne State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Lawrence, Detroit and Cleveland State.
Representing Notre Dame at the NCAA Midwest Regional in women’s epee are Courtney Hurley, Ewa Nelip and Diane Zielinski. On the men’s side, the Irish will send James Kaull, Jacob Osborne, Brent Kelly and Greg Schoolcraft.
Hurley, a junior, is going in search of her third consecutive gold medal at the Midwest Regionals, while Zielinski looks to improve on her 14th-place finish and Nelip returns after missing last year’s tournament while competing with the Polish National Team.
Meanwhile, Schoolcraft (second), Kaull (seventh) and Osborne (eighth) all placed within the top eight last year on the men’s side and look to post similar results this time around.
In women’s foil, the Irish will be led by Hayley Reese, who will be making her fourth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. The senior has captured the bronze in each of her first three tries. Also joining Reese will be Darsie Malynn, who finished sixth at last years Midwest Regionals, Grace Hartman (ninth), Radmila Sarkisova (11th) and freshman Rachel Beck.
Enzo Castellani leads the men’s side into competition in his third consecutive appearance, having captured silver last season and bronze in ’09. Reggie Bentley and freshman Ariel DeSmet join him.
Sabre looks to bring the most punch, all-around, of any of the weapons that the Irish are sending to competition. On the women’s side, the senior duo of Sarah Borrmann and Eileen Hassett will make their fourth appearances each and have finished one-two each of the past two seasons, with Borrmann edging Hassett in ’09 before Hassett topped Borrmann last year. Abigail Nichols, who finished ninth last season, and Lian Osier wrap up the women’s team.
Avery Zuck, who has finished with the silver medal at each of the last two Midwest Regionals, leads the men’s sabre. Barron Nydam, who will be making his fourth appearance after claiming the bronze in `08 along with a pair of fifth-place results the past two years, joins him. Jason Choy, who finished sixth last year, and freshmen Alexander Coccia and Kevin Hassett round out the men’s sabre unit.
The Irish fencers enter the regionals with confidence after capturing each of the six weapon team titles at the Midwest Fencing Conference (MFC) Championships this past weekend. It marked the first time in the conference’s 13-year existence that one team has captured all six titles.
For a look at all the results from the NCAA Midwest Regional be sure to visit wsuathletics.com and for a complete recap of how the Irish fared be sure to check back with und.com following each day’s action.
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