No. 7 Northwestern finished in third place this weekend at the Midwest Conference Championships in South Bend, Ind. The Wildcats finished out the weekend with a total of 610 points, just behind Notre Dame at 640 points. Ohio State won the conference crown with 650 points. This is the 16th season the Cats have placed in the top three, but they have not won a title since 2001.
The second-seeded epee team earned runner-up honors, defeating Iowa 5-0, Lawrence 5-1 and Ohio State 5-2. This is the third straight year the epeeists have finished in second place.
The foil team beat both Chicago and Michigan State 5-0 before losing to Notre Dame 5-3 in the quarterfinals, for an overall third place finish. The sabre squad also finished third, falling to Notre Dame 5-3 after defeating Iowa 5-0 and Michigan 5-2.
Senior Sam Nemecek posted a perfect 12-0 record during the individual competition, winning the women’s foil individual title. NU had four other top-10 foilists, including freshman Devynn Patterson at a tie for third, freshman Ariel Stein for seventh, junior Meredith Baskies for eighth and freshman Camille Provencal for ninth.
Junior Joanna Niklinska was runner up in the individual epee competition, followed by junior Christa French who tied for third and junior Kayley French who finished sixth.
Senior Adrienne Shon finished sixth for the sabre individual competition. Junior Whitney White followed close behind in seventh place.
NU will compete next at the NCAA Midwest Regionals in Columbus, Ohio this Saturday for a spot in the NCAA Championships March 19-22 in University Park, Pa.
– Sarah Kuta
