Once a month during the course of their season, the Wildcats take a break from their typical weekly schedule of dual meets against Division I opponents to take part in a United States Fencing Association tournament.
During this month’s tournament, the North American Cup in Dallas, freshman Dina Bazarbayeva took home a third-place finish and bronze medal in the junior women’s epée division. Her competition consisted of 151 of the most talented junior fencers in North America.
“We had one good result – Dina Bazarbayeva in the junior women’s epée,” coach Laurie Schiller said in an e-mail. “Other than that, we did okay.”
In addition to Bazarbayeva’s remarkable run, sophomores Kendrick Mooney and Kate Cavanaugh finished 24th and 31st in the junior division.
Rounding out the day for NU, sophomore Dayana Sarkisova placed 20th in the junior division and 39th in the Division I bracket. Fellow sophomore Chloe Grainger placed 21st in the junior division while securing 35th place among 112 fencers in the Division I competition.
Members of the team said they had hoped for a more successful showing at the tournament.
“Most of us were actually disappointed with our performance,” Grainger said. “We didn’t do as well as we hoped or expected.”
The events are open competition, meaning anyone on the continent who qualifies can enter and face off against some of the best athletes in fencing. The games have no impact on the Cats’ record, as they are individual events, but fencing against top competition without the added pressure of wins and losses can have excellent benefits, Grainger said. For NU, this means an opportunity to gain valuable practice for when the matches count toward the team’s standing.
“You get to fence as an individual and you can focus on yourself, on getting better,” Grainger said. “You do put pressure on yourself, but there’s more pressure to win when you’re with the entire team. It’s really good practice.”
Next week, the team heads to New York and Philadelphia as they return to dual meet action. The experience the Dallas tournament afforded the Wildcats can only help prepare them for the road ahead, Schiller said.
“I look at these meets as preparation for our duals, and we have a tough set of duals this next weekend,” Schiller said. “So, hopefully, we will learn from this past weekend and be ready to take on some of the top teams in the country.”
