NU fencers to face nation’s top competition in California

This weekend’s tournament won’t be a cakewalk for the Northwestern fencing team. The foil and epee squads will face-off against 2004 Olympic hopefuls and other top-ranked fencers in the second part of the United States Fencing Association North American Cup.

The tournament, which NU coach Laurie Schiller called “a harder (competition) than any collegiate competition,” will be held in San Jose, Calif., today through Sunday.

Schiller said he anticipates that these two teams will finish better than the sabre squad did in the tournament’s first part last weekend.

He said he thinks that junior Julie Foldi, who snagged 10th place in the senior division last year, and freshman Jessica Florendo both have a chance to place in the top tier of the Division I foil competition. Last year, Florendo finished 38th as a high school student in this field.

Schiller named sophomore Sharon Sullivan as the team’s best bet in the senior and junior divisions of the epee competition. Sullivan’s record of 96-34 is the best among NU’s epeeists.

“Our team usually does pretty well in this event, which says a lot because the best fencers in North America compete in it,” Schiller said.

— Lily Leung