March 9, 2007
The Notre Dame men’s and women’s fencing teams will attempt to qualify the maximum 12 fencers for the NCAA Championship during this Saturday’s annual Midwest Regional qualifier. The Irish will serve as host for the regional – which has existed in various forms for some 25 years – for the first time in recent memory, with action beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Joyce Center Fieldhouse.
Live results tentaitvely will be available via the following link, time permitting:
http://www.nd.edu/~fencing/results/ncaaqual07.htm
Fans also are reminded that the Irish Alert free text-message system will be providing multiple updates during the Regional and during the four-day NCAAs. The quick signup for Irish Alert is linked on the und.com fencing page, in the blue sidebar. Several updates from both the Regional and the NCAAs also will be posted on the ND Sports Hotline (574-613-3000, option 8 and then option 3). Time permitting, a PDF version of the 8-page Midwest Regional program – which includes brackets and competitor lists for all six weapons – will be posted on und.com Saturday morning and may be incorporated into the live stats.
Selections for the NCAA Championship are based on two primary criteria: power ranking (40%) – which determines the regional seeding – and regional finish (60%). Each school can qualify a maximum of two fencers per weapon, with the NCAA field including 24 in each weapon. The complete 144-fencer NCAA field officially will be announced later next week.
The Midwest Region has five automatic NCAA spots in five weapons, with men’s foil being the only weapon with four up for grabs. Along with the Irish, Ohio State also will be looking to qualify the maximum 12 fencers for the 2007 NCAAs (March 22-25, at Drew University in Madison, N.J.). Based on the pre-Regional seeding, Ohio State is in position to qualify 10 fencers (two in every weapon except for women’s epee and women’s foil), with Notre Dame one behind (two in every weapon except for women’s and men’s epee and women’s sabre). The Irish are in good position to land a second fencer in both epee groups, with the longest odds coming in women’s sabre.
The 2007 Regional will be the second year with a revised format, featuring a direct-elimination stage following pool rounds. Prior to 2006, the pool bouts were followed by a full round-robin and standings then were determined by those won-loss records. The 2007 competition will feature preliminary pool rounds (if needed) to seed for the 16-fencer double-elimination tournament, with the first eight spots being fenced out. The full schedule follows below:
NCAA FENCING 2007 MIDWEST REGIONAL SCHEDULE
9:00 a.m. – Women’s preliminary pools (if necessary) and full pools begin for all three weapons
10:00 a.m. – Direct-elimination phase for women’s weapons (fencers who go 0-2 are eliminated)
12:00 p.m. – Women’s final-8 brackets are contested (fence out for each place)
1:00 p.m. – Full pools begin for all three men’s weapons
2:00 p.m. – Direct-elimination phase for men’s weapons (fencers who go 0-2 are eliminated)
3:00 p.m. – Men’s final-8 brackets are contested (fence out for each place)
In addition to the qualifications out of the nation’s four regions, a handful of at-large NCAA spots (two per weapon) also exist to round out the 24 competitors in each weapon – thus providing one final chance for teams to quality the maximum 12-fencer contingent. In the 2006 season, Notre Dame qualified 10 directly via region’s spots while two more were added as at-large candidates. The 2005 Irish team sent 11 fencers to the NCAAs, with one of qualifying through the at-large route.
Notre Dame owns the top seeds in two weapons – women’s epee and women’s sabre – while also featuring top-5 seeds in men’s epee (#3), men’s foil (#4), (#2 and #4) and women’s foil (#2 and #3). Note that the final seedings still were subject to minor changes, as of Thursday afternoon.
Here’s a look at how the Regional seedings and matchups shape up, sorted by weapon:
MEN’S EPEE (16 entrants, 5 spots) — Wayne State owns the top two seeds with freshman Slava Zingerman and two-time All-American Marek Petraszek (the 2005 NCAA runner-up) … junior epee captain Greg Howard (#3) holds the highest seed for an ND fencer, with three Ohio State epeeists separating him from his ND teammates, sophomore Karol Kostka (#7) and senior Aaron Adjemian (#8), who both are hoping to jump a few spots in order to qualify … Adjemian has edged Howard for the final ND epee spot in the previous two Regionals … senior Patrick Gettings (#13) rounds out the ND contigent … Petraszek is the defending Regional champion.
Seeds (school and overall record in parentheses) – 1. Slava Zingerman (Wayne State; 42-5); 2. Marek Petraszek (Wayne State; 39-8); 3. Greg Howard (Notre Dame; 43-18); 4. Jason Pryor (Ohio State; 32-13); 5. Christian Rivera (Ohio State; 31-15); 6. Mykhaylo Mazur (Ohio State; 28-17); 7. Karol Kostka (Notre Dame; 42-20); 8. Aaron Adjemian (Notre Dame; 36-22); 9. Sean Harder (Ohio State; 17-8); 10. Jonathan Bibb (Cleveland State; 38-20); 11. Shaun Wright (Cleveland State; 37-18); 12. Andrew Snell (Cleveland State; 24-20); 13. Patrick Gettings (Notre Dame; 14-4); 14. Steve Znoy (Wayne State; 19-28); 15. Brian Jones (Detroit; 12-28); 16. Jeff Tormey (Cleveland State; 9-18).
Greg Howard (Jr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 15-9
Against Top-5 seeds (3-6): Petraszek (0-1), Pryor (1-3), Rivera (2-1), Zingerman (0-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 4th (2006), 7th (2005)
Karol Kostka (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 19-8
Against Top-5 seeds (2-7): Petraszek (0-1), Pryor (0-3), Rivera (2-1), Zingerman (0-2)
Aaron Adjemian (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 13-11
Against Top-5 seeds (3-6): Petraszek (0-1), Pryor (3-1), Rivera (0-2), Zingerman (0-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 2nd (2006), 6th (2005), 4th (2004)
Patrick Gettings (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants (3-1): Bibb (1-0); Harder (1-0); Jones (1-0); Snell (0-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 7th (2006)
MEN’S FOIL (14 entrants, 4 NCAA spots) – Though four of the top-5 spots are occupied by OSU foilists, Notre Dame is in good position to qualify two fencers as OSU will be able to take only the maximum two … ND junior Jakub Jedrkowiak (#4) is in the best position to qualify, with sophomore Mark Kubik (#5) and senior Frank Bontempo (#6) close behind … Jedrkowiak (6-5) and Kubik (4-5) both sport solid records against the OSU foil contingent … ND likely will face competition for the limited spots in men’s foil from the Cleveland State duo of Mike Merker (a 2005 NCAA participant) and Liran Gross, plus Detroit’s Craig Budzynski … OSU’s Boaz Ellis (now a student assistant for the Buckeyes) was the 2006 Regional champion and current OSU junior Will Jeter took the ’05 Regional title … ND sophomore Alex Grigorenko (#11) will make his debut at the Regional on Saturday.
Seeds (school and overall record in parentheses) – 1. Andras Horanyi (Ohio State; 43-3); 2. Dimitri Kirk-Gordon (Ohio State; 32-8); 3. William Jeter (Ohio State; 32-12); 4. Jakub Jedrkowiak (Notre Dame; 40-19); 5. Mark Kubik (Notre Dame, 39-23); 6. Frank Bontempo (Notre Dame; 39-21); 7. Craig Budzynski (Detroit; 31-11); 8. Liran Gross (Cleveland State; 42-17); 9. Mike Merker (Cleveland State; 41-18); 10. Joe Streb (Ohio State; 16-5); 11. Alex Grigorenko (Notre Dame; 10-8); 12. Jamie Gawecki (Detroit; 18-24); 13. Steve Montgomery (Cleveland State; 22-35); 14. Andrew Kerbrat (Detroit; 6-18).
Jakub Jedrkowiak (Jr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 14-7
Against Top-5 seeds (6-5): Horanyi (1-3), Jeter (3-1), Kirk-Gordon (2-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 5th (2006), 2nd (2005)
Mark Kubik (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 11-9
Against Top-5 seeds (3-5): Horanyi (0-3), Jeter (2-1), Kirk-Gordon (1-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 4th (2006)
Frank Bontempo (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 9-10
Against Top-5 seeds (1-7): Horanyi (0-3), Jeter (0-3), Kirk-Gordon (1-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 7th (2006), 5th (2005), 3rd (2004)
Alex Grigorenko (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 0-5
Against Top-5 seeds (0-1): Kirk-Gordon (0-1)
MEN’S SABRE (13 entrants, 5 NCAA spots) — Four of the five spots likely will be filled with two each from OSU and ND … senior Patrick Ghattas (#2) almost certainly will be one of the two Irish sabreists, with senior Matt Stearns (#7) attempting to jump sophomore Bill Thanhouser (#4) to book his fourth trip to the NCAAs … Ghattas won the Regional in 2005, the only fencer other than former OSU standout Adam Crompton (a three-time NCAA champion) to claim the men’s sabre Regional title from 2003-06 … OSU is in a similar situation to ND, with top-seeded Mike Momtselidze in good position to take one of the OSU spots, followed by newcomer Sergey Smirnov (#3) and veteran Jason Paul (#5) … the final spot likely will be contested between two-time NCAA participant Jarek Jelinek (#6) from Detroit and ’04 NCAA participant Bobby Smith (#8) of Wayne State … ND senior Ryan Bradley (#9) will compete in his first Regional.
Seeds (school and overall record in parentheses) – 1. Mike Momtselidze (Ohio State; 31-4); 2. Patrick Ghattas; (Notre Dame, 27-3); 3. Sergey Smirnov (Ohio State; 40-9); 4. Bill Thanhouser (Notre Dame; 48-12); 5. Jason Paul (Ohio State; 31-12); 6. Jarek Jelinek (Detroit; 30-8); 7. Matt Stearns (Notre Dame; 30-17); 8. Bobby Smith (Wayne State; 27-19); 9. Ryan Bradley (Notre Dame; 16-10); 10. Dexter Wilde (Ohio State; 18-3); 11. John Downey (Cleveland State; 29-27); 12. Doug Sollman (Detroit; 13-24); 13. Evangelos Foutris (Detroit; 8-33).
Patrick Ghattas (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 7-0
Against Top-5 seeds (3-0): Momtselidze (1-0), Paul (1-0), Smirnov (1-0)
Previous Regional Finishes – 3rd (2006), 1st (2005), 4th (2004)
Bill Thanhouser (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 11-6
Against Top-5 seeds (4-5): Momtselidze (0-3), Paul (3-1), Smirnov (1-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 8th (2006)
Matt Stearns (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 11-7
Against Top-5 seeds (3-6): Momtselidze (1-2), Paul (2-1), Smirnov (0-3)
Previous Regional Finishes – 6th (2006), 4th (2005), 4th (2004)
Ryan Bradley (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 4-9
Against Top-5 seeds (0-4): Momtselidze (0-2), Smirnov (0-2)
WOMEN’S EPEE (17 entrants, 5 NCAA spots) – The women’s epee portion of the Regional is likely to be the most hotly contested, with four teams – Northwestern and Wayne State, in addition to ND and OSU – all hoping to qualify two fencers … ND freshman Kelley Hurley holds down the top spot, with WSU occupying two of the other top-5 spots and OSU and Northwestern owning one each … ND senior Amy Orlando (#7) – the ’05 NCAA runner-up – will look to better her seed in hopes of leapfrogging into one of the five Midwest spots … ND sophomore Kim Montoya (#10) also will the running for an epee spot while senior Eleanor Leighton (#14) – a former NCAA participant while at Princeton – completes the ND epee quartet … Wayne State fencers have won the past three women’s epee Regionals titles, with Justyna Konczalska’s 1st-place finish in ’06 breaking teammate Anna Garina’s consecutive championship run (former WSU epeeist Anna Vinnikov finished in a three-way tie for the 2003 Regional title, with ND’s Kerry Walton and Meagan Call, and the rare three-way fenceoff produced Call as the champion).
Seeds (school and overall record in parentheses) – 1. Kelley Hurley (Notre Dame; 43-4); 2. Anna Garina (Wayne State; 45-5); 3. Alexandra Obrazcova (Ohio State; 43-10); 4. Christa French (Northwestern; 47-13); 5. Justyna Konczalska (Wayne State; 44-6); 6. Kayley French (Northwestern; 46-17); 7. Amy Orlando (Notre Dame; 38-20); 8. Leslie Lampman (Ohio State; 31-22); 9. Joanna Niklinska (Northwestern; 21-12); 10. Kim Montoya (Notre Dame; 34-24); 11. Elyse Gurnowski (Ohio State; 25-28); 12. Jessica Grasso (Lawrence; 25-15); 13. Courtney DuBois (Northwestern; 17-13); 14. Eleanor Leighton (Notre Dame; 21-7); 15. Pam Marvinney (Cleveland State; 19-38); 16. Alyse Schneider (Wayne State; 7-42); 17. Chiara Terzuolo (Lawrence; 12-28).
Kelley Hurley (Fr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 27-3
Against Top-5 seeds (10-1): C. French (2-0), Garina (3-0), Konczalska (1-1), Obrazcova (4-0)
Amy Orlando (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 16-11
Against Top-5 seeds (2-8): C. French (2-0), Garina (0-3), Konczalska (0-2), Obrazcova (0-3)
Eleanor Leighton (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 4-2
Kim Montoya (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 16-12
Against Top-5 seeds (1-9): C. French (0-2), Garina (0-2), Konczalska (0-3), Obrazcova (1-2)
Previous regional finishes – 9th (2006)
WOMEN’S FOIL (15 entrants, 5 NCAA spots) – Notre Dame holds two of the top-3 spots in this weapon, with sophomores Adi Nott and Emilie Prot checking in at #2 and #3, respectively … Nott was the 2006 Regional runner-up (behind Northwestern’s Samantha Nemecek) and went on to place 7th at the NCAAs, while Prot narrowly was edged by ND junior Melanie Bautista for the Irish’s final foil spot (Bautista will not fence in the 2007 Regional, due to illness) … OSU will be challenged to qualify a second women’s foilist, as a pair from both ND and Northwestern join OSU’s Julia Tikhonova in the top-5, with the next-highest ranking Buckeye checking in at #7 (Holly McKibben) … the final two ND foilists are a mix of experience, with junior foil co-captain Rachel Cota (#10) fencing in her first Regoinal while senior Colleen Walsh (#14) fences in her fourth Regional in five years … as a sophomore, Walsh placed 6th at the ’04 Regional and earned a spot as an NCAA alternate.
Seeds (school and overall record in parentheses) – 1. Julia Tikhonova (Ohio State; 44-10); 2. Adi Nott (Notre Dame; 53-7); 3. Emilie Prot (Notre Dame; 37-15); 4. Jessica Florendo (Northwestern; 51-12); 5. Samantha Nemecek (Northwestern; 70-9); 6. Natalie Wang (Northwestern; 55-17); 7. Holly McKibben (Ohio State; 28-26); 8. Courtney Streithorst (Ohio State; 25-28); 9. Lindsey Howard (Wayne State; 26-28); 10. Rachel Cota (Notre Dame; 17-8); 11. Meredith Baskies (Northwestern; 30-5); 12. Leigh Pendergrass (Cleveland State; 37-21); 13. Emily Rames (Detroit; 28-25); 14. Colleen Walsh (Notre Dame; 9-8); 15. Elise Pfaltzgraff (Lawrence; 6-16).
Adi Nott (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 20-4
Against Top-5 seeds (5-4): Florendo (2-1), Nemecek (1-2), Tikhonova (2-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 2nd (2006)
Emilie Prot (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 14-10
Against Top 5 seeds (1-7): Florendo (0-3), Nemecek (1-1), Tikhonova (0-3)
Previous Regional Finishes – 7th (2006)
Rachel Cota (Jr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 3-6
Against Top-5 seeds (0-4): Florendo (0-1), Nemecek (0-1), Nott (0-1), Tikhonova (0-2)
Colleen Walsh (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 2-6
Against Top-5 seeds: Nemecek (0-1), Tikhonova (0-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 12th (2006), 6th (2004), 8th (2003); studied overseas in 2005
WOMEN’S SABRE (16 entrants, 5 NCAA spots) – 2004 NCAA champion and three-time ND All-American Valerie Providenza owns the top spot in her weapon, with two fencers each from OSU and WSU rounding out the top-5 … ND sophomore Ashley Serrette (#8) must have a good showing at the Regional in order for the Irish to have a chance at qualifying the maximum two women’s sabreists … 2006 Regional champion Mariel Zagunis will not be present to defend her title, as she is taking a three-semester leave-of-absence to focus on qualification for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing … Regional rookies Erin Housing (#13) and Christina Zoccoli (#14) will complete ND’s entry in women’s sabre.
Seeds (school and overall record in parentheses) – 1. Valerie Providenza (Notre Dame; 47-7); 2. Siobhan Byrne (Ohio State; 51-3); 3. Kasia Kuzniak (Wayne State; 48-8); 4. Eileen Grench (Ohio State; 43-11); 5. Ann Bartoszewicz (Wayne State; 39-17); 6. Mai Vu (Northwestern; 44-22); 7. Syvenna Siebert (Ohio State; 37-17); 8. Ashley Serrette (Notre Dame; 48-22); 9. Gina Annunziato (Northwestern; 33-19); 10. Sophie Eustis (Northwestern; 27-27); 11. Roberta Sims; (Detroit, 31-19); 12. Adrienne Shon (Northwestern; 21-17); 13. Erin Housing (Notre Dame; 26-32); 14. Christina Zoccoli (Notre Dame; 13-17); 15. Andrea Hooper (Detroit; 23-27); 16. Alicia Chmielewski (Wayne State; 12-44).
Valerie Providenza (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 16-5
Against Top-5 seeds (7-2): Bartoszewicz (1-0), Byrne (1-2), Grench (3-0), Kuzniak (2-0)
Previous Regional Finishes – 3rd (2006), 2nd (2005), 5th (2004)
Ashley Serrette (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 10-14
Against Top-5 seeds (1-8): Bartoszewicz (0-1), Byrne (0-3), Grench (1-3), Kuzniak (0-1)
Previous Regional Finishes – 11th (2006)
Erin Housing (Sr.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 3-17
Against Top-5 seeds (0-6): Bartoszewicz (0-1), Byrne (0-3), Grench (0-2)
Christina Zoccoli (So.)
2007 Record against regional entrants – 1-10
Against Top-5 seeds (0-4): Bartoszewicz (0-1), Byrne (0-1), Grench (0-1), Kuzniak (0-1)
RECENT MIDWEST REGIONAL RESULTS
(note – a more in-depth historical listing – including winners dating back to the late 1990s and ND’s top finishers from each year in each weapon – will be included with the recap of the 2007 Regional on und.com)
Women’s Foil
2006 – Samantha Nemecek (NW)
2005 – Alicja Kryczalo (ND)
2004 – Alicja Kryczalo (ND)
2003 – Alicja Kryczalo (ND)
2002 – Alicja Kryczalo (ND)
Women’s Epee
2006 – Justyna Konczalska (WSU)
2005 – Anna Garina (WSU)
2004 – Anna Garina (WSU)
2003 – Meagan Call (ND)
Women’s Sabre
2006 – Mariel Zagunis (ND)
2005 – Amelia Gaillard (OSU)
2004 – Marguerite Plekhanov (OSU)
2003 – Louise Bond-Williams (OSU)
Men’s Foil 2006 – Boaz Ellis (OSU)
2005 – Will Jeter (OSU)
2004 – Derek Snyder (ND)
2003 – Derek Snyder (ND)
Men’s Epee 2006 – Marek Petraszek (WSU)
2005 – Wojciech Dudek (WSU)
2004 – Denis Tolkachev (OSU)
2003 – Jan Viviani (ND)
Men’s Sabre 2006 – Adam Crompton (OSU)
2005 – Patrick Ghattas (ND)
2004 – Adam Crompton (OSU)
2003 – Adam Crompton (OSU)
RECAPPING THE 2006 NCAA MIDWEST REGIONAL – Notre Dame had a strong showing at the 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional, held at Cleveland State’s Wolstein Center Annex Gym … based on pre-regional seedings and the Regional results, ND went on to qualify 10 of the maximum 12 fencers for the NCAAs (epeeist Amy Orlando and foilist Jakub Jedrkowiak later were selected as at-large entrants, due to their high power rankings) … the Midwest Region had a low number of automatic NCAA bids for men’s foil in 2006 (3; now 4) … ND sabre standout Mariel Zagunis breezed through her six pool bouts (outscoring her opponents 30-4) before adding three more wins in the direct-elimination phase to win the Regional title … ND’s contingent included two Regional runner-ups – epeeist Aaron Adjemian and foilist Adrienne Nott – plus four others who placed third at the Regional: sabreists Valerie Providenza and Patrick Ghattas and epeeists Karol Kostka (men) and Madeleine Stephan (a freshman in 2006 who did not fence for ND in 2007, due to a family illness in her native Germany) … foilists Mark Kubik (4th) and Melanie Bautista (5th) and sabre veteran Matt Stearns (6th) rounded out Notre Dame’s automatic qualifiers.
Here’s a weapon-by-weapon recap of the 2006 Regional results:
WOMEN’S SABRE – The top-seeded Zagunis swept her six pool bouts (allowing four total touches) and then was the #1 seed in the direct-elimination, beating Northwestern’s Emily Pasternak (#5 preliminary seed) in the quarterfinals (15-5), Providenza is a classic semifinal battle (15-13) and OSU’s Siobhan Byrne (#4 seed) in the 15-4 final … 2nd-seeded Providenza went 4-2 in her pools (dropping her into the 4-5 quarterfinal) – with a win over Northwestern’s Mai Vu (#7 seed) and losses to OSU’s Eileen Grench (#6 seed) and Wayne State’s Katarzyna Kuzniak (#3 seed) – before an impressive 15-3 quarterfinal vs. OSU’s Grench (highlighted by eight straight parry-riposte touches), the loss to Zagunis and a rematch win over Kuzniak in the 3rd-place bout … Byrne had defeated Kuzniak in the other semifinal … Grench beat her OSU teammate Syvenna Siebert (the #11 seed) for 5th place while Pasternak topped her teammate Vu for 7th place … ND freshman Ashley Serrette (#13 seed) registered a win in the pools to claim the final spot in the DE (#11), followed by losses vs. Siebert (15-8) and Northwestern’s Gina Annunziato (15-10) to finish 11th … ND junior Angela Vincent failed to reach the DE, finishing 12th … Providenza repeated as the Midwest Regional runner-up (she also was 5th at the ’04 Regional) … Zagunis did not fence in the ’05 Regional, due to a World Cup conflict.
MEN’S SABRE – Ghattas entered as the #1 seed and maintained that spot after going 6-0 in his pool bouts, with noteworthy wins over OSU’s Jason Rogers (5-3) and Adam Crompton (5-2), the #5 and #6 seeds, plus a 5-2 bout with Detroit’s Jarislaw Jelinek (a 2005 NCAA entrant) … Ghattas then beat the #4 seed Jelinek again in the quarterfinals (15-10) but lost the rematch vs. Crompton (15-6) before topping OSU’s Jason Paul (the #10 seed) in the 3rd-place bout (15-12) … Stearns headed to the Regional as the #2 seed while ND freshman Bill Thanhouser was the 3rd seed, meaning that the fencer that finished higher likely would earn the team’s second NCAA spot in men’s sabre (Thanhouser’s 8th-place finish was two spots behind Stearns) … Stearns opened 4-2 in the pools – with a 5-4 win over OSU’s Mike Momtselidze (#7 seed) and a 5-4 loss to Thanhouser – to earn the #6 seed in the DE … he then bested ND senior Nico Diacou in the first DE bout (15-7) and lost to Momtselidze in the quarterfinals (15-10) before edging Thanhouser (15-14) and losing to Rogers in the 5th-place bout … Thanhouser also went 4-2 in the pools – with losses to Paul (5-3) and Momtselidze (5-1) – and was seeded 7th into the DE, beating #12 seed John Downey of Cleveland State (15-8) and losing to Paul in the quarters (15-10), before the 15-14 loss to Stearns and a 15-12 loss to Jelinek in the 7th-place bout … the 13th-seeded Diacou went 1-5 in the pools to earn the final DE spot (11th), next losing to Stearns (15-7) but beating Downey (15-0) and then being edged by WSU’s Bobby Smith (#8 seed) to finish 10th … Crompton beat Momtselidze in the title bout … the strong showing by the 6th-seeded Crompton and #7 seed Momtselidze likely could result in Rogers (#5 seed, finished 5th) missing the NCAAs … Rogers is a three-time All-American and was a member of the U.S. 2004 Olympic team … Ghattas was the 2005 Regional champ, after finishing 4th in ’05 (Stearns was 4th in ’04 and ’05).
MEN’S EPEE – Adjemian had an adventurous showing at the previous two Regionals (narrowly missing an NCAA spot in ’04 and then edging teammate Greg Howard for a spot in the ’05 NCAA field) and the drama continued on Saturday, as the 4th-seeded Adjemian delivered his runner-up finish to apparently secure a return trip to the NCAAs … Adjemian’s 5-0 record in the pools included wins over his teammate Kostka (5-1), #7 seed Jason Pryor of OSU (5-3) and #5 seed Christian Rivera of OSU (5-4), earning him the #1 seed into the DE bracket … Adjemian then beat Pryor in the quarterfinals (15-11) and the 3rd-seeded Howard in a 15-6 semifinal (with the team’s second NCAA spot essentially on the line) … WSU’s Marek Petraszek (the #2 seed and ’05 NCAA runner-up) beat Adjemian in the title bout … Kostka entered the Regional as the #1 seed but struggled in his pool bouts (2-3), slipping to the #7 seed in the DE before a big win over OSU’s Denis Tolkachev (#6 pre-Regional seed) in the quarterfinals (15-13), a classic battle with fellow Poland native Petraszek in a 14-13 semifinal and a win over Howard in the 3rd-place bout … Howard’s 4-1 record in the pools included a split of 5-4 bouts with Petraszek (win) and Tolkachev (loss) … the sophomore captain then was the #4 seed in the DE, beating ND junior Patrick Gettings in the quarterfinals (15-9) before the semifinal loss to Adjemian and the 3rd-place bout vs. Kostka (completing his three straight bouts vs. ND fencers) … Gettings was seeded 10th but went 5-0 during the fence-in bouts and then 3-2 in the pools, topping Howard (5-3) with losses to Petraszek (5-4) and Tolkachev (5-1) … he was seeded 5th into the DE but lost to Howard and Pryor (15-12) before besting Rivera in the 7th-place bout (15-12) … Tolkachev (finished 5th) and Pryor (6th) are OSU’s apparent qualifiers, meaning that the All-American Rivera (8th) may not compete in the ’06 NCAAs … Adjemian previously was 4th at the ’04 Regional and 5th in ’05 (Howard was 7th in ’05).
WOMEN’S EPEE – This weapon also featured an impressive surge by an ND fencer, as Stephan was the #5 pre-Regional seed, then dropped to the #11 seed for the DE before rallying for her 3rd-place finish … Stephan beat her ND classmate Kim Montoya (#7 pre-Regional seed, #6 in DEs) in a 15-8 bout that opened the DEs, adding a 15-10 quarterfinal victory over OSU All-American Kaela Brendler (#6 seed) before losing to WSU’s Justyna Konczalska in the semifinals (15-10) and besting Northwestern’s Sharon Sullivan (#3 seed) in the 3rd-place bout (15-11) … Orlando entered as the #4 seed but slipped to a #9 seed in the DE … she then surged to a 7th-place finish, with a 15-10 win over Northwestern’s Sara Pecherek (#11 seed), another epic battle (15-14 loss) with top-seeded Anna Garina of WSU (the ’04 and ’05 NCAA champ) in the quarterfinals, a 15-11 loss to OSU’s Aleksandra Obrazcova (#8 seed) and a 15-11 win over Northwestern’s Courtney Dubois (#9 seed) … Montoya ended up 9th after her DE bouts vs. Stephan, #15 seed Pam Marvinney of CSU (15-14) and Pecherek (15-9) … ND fifth-year senior Becca Chimahusky was the #13 seed and went undefeated in her fence-in bouts before failing to advance from the pools to the DE (she ended up 14th) … Konczalska beat Garina in the title bout … other top finishers included Brendler (5th), Obrazcova (6th) and DuBois (8th) … Brendler likely secured one of the Region’s NCAA bids while Obrazcova probably will join Orlando as at-large hopefuls … Orlando was 7th at the ’04 Regional and 5th in ’05 (Chimahusky was 7th in ’04 and 3rd in ’05).
WOMEN’S FOIL – Nott was the #2 seed but dropped to the 6th seed for the DEs before matching her initial seed with a runner-up finish, beating #14 seed Marguerite Plekhanov of OSU (15-1) and then Northwestern’s Natalie Wang (#7 seed) in a 15-11 quarterfinal, followed by a 15-13 semifinal win over 2nd-seeded Jessica Florendo of Northwestern and a 15-7 loss to the top seed Sam Nemecek (also of Northwestern) in the title bout … her fellow ND freshman Emilie Prot was seeded 4th and Bautista 5th, with Bautista’s higher finish (5th, to Prot’s 7th) likely securing the team’s second NCAA spot … Bautista’s pool rounds landed her a #8 seed in the DEs but she then beat #9 seed Leigh Pendergrass of CSU (15-9), lost a 15-6 quarterfinal to Nemecek, bested #12 seed Amelia Galliard of OSU (15-11) and defeated Natalie Wang in the 5th-place bout (15-12) … Prot also dropped back after the pool bouts and was the #7 seed in the DE, beating #6 seed Lindsey Howard of WSU (15-12) before losing twice by that same score, vs. Florendo and Nemecek (she then finished 7th with a 14-11 win over Galliard) … ND senior Colleen Walsh was the #13 seed and finished 12th, narrowly missing a spot in the 11-fencer DE … Florendo beat her teammate Christina Wang (#11 seed) in the 3rd-place bout … Bautista placed 6th at the ’05 Regional and was an alternate for the ’05 NCAAs.
MEN’S FOIL – Kubik entered as the top seed and ended up 4th, with his DE bouts including a 15-11 quarterfinal vs. ND junior Frank Bontempo (#5 pre-Regional seed) and a 15-13 loss to 6th-seeded Dimitri Kirk-Gordon of OSU in the 3rd-place bout … Jedrkowiak came in as the 2-seed but placed 5th, dropping a 15-12 quarterfinal to Kirk-Gordon but topping Detroit’s Craig Budzynski (#7 seed) in the 5th-place bout … Bontempo completed his 7th-place finish with a 15-3 win over OSU’s Will Jeter (#9 seed) … ND sophomore Diego Quinonez (#11 seed) advanced through the fence-in bouts and pools, earning a #9 seed but losing to Budzynski (15-10) to finish 9th … OSU’s Boaz Ellis (#4 seed) beat his teammate Andras Horanyi (#3 seed) in the title bout … Bontempo placed 3rd at the ’04 Regional and 5th in ’05 (Jedrkowiak was 2nd in ’05).