Following an almost perfect performance a week ago at the Remenyik Open, members of the Northwestern fencing team continued their success this Sunday at the USFA Illinois Junior Olympics Qualifier Competition by winning two of the three women’s events and qualifying five of six fencers for the Junior Olympic Fencing Championship.
“We set out to qualify as many (fencers) as we could,” coach Laurie Schiller said, “and I couldn’t be much happier.”
The qualifier, which was held in Patten Gymnasium, featured male and female junior fencers from around the Illinois division of USFA all competing for a spot in the USFA Junior Olympic Fencing Championship this February in Salt Lake City, Utah.
NU took on far fewer competitors Sunday than it faced at the Remenyik Open, with only 19 female fencers combined competing in the sabre, epée and foil events. Freshmen Rose Semmel and Sarah Bruhl won the epée and foil competitions respectively, while Sonali Patel (epée), Mary Spohn (foil) and Claire Carson (sabre) also qualified for the Junior Olympics by finishing in the top three of their respective weapons.
“I did pretty well today, ” said Semmel, who won four of her seven pool bouts before winning her final four bouts in direct elimination. “The pool play was a little shaky today, but I definitely warmed up as the day went on.”
The only NU fencer who did not qualify for the Junior Olympics was Tina Umanskiy, who finished fourth in the foil competition after losing to her teammate Bruhl in the semifinals 15-12 followed by a 15-5 loss to Auset Muhammad of RedStar Fencing in the third-place bout.
Umanskiy literally finished one bout short of qualifying for the Junior Olympics, and her loss to Bruhl was simply the latest example of the Cats being their own worst enemy. During the course of the event, NU fencers faced each other seven times, including three times in the direct elimination round.
“Teammate bouts are always the worst,” said Bruhl, who defeated Spohn in the finals after taking down Umanskiy. “You just have to clear your mind and remember it is only a bout. You’re still friends at the end of the day.”
However, Spohn said that her bout with Bruhl was not as hard as other teammate bouts because they had both qualified for the Junior Olympics prior to the bout.
“Today there was a lot less pressure to not do well and kill ourselves in the bout,” said Spohn. “It was more of a ‘just have fun’ sort of thing.”
Most of the NU fencers were pleased with their performances on Sunday, except for Carson who wanted to win the four-person sabre competition but lost in the finals to Cara Franke 15-8.
“Let’s just say I know what I need to work on,” Carson said.
Some of NU’s fencers will travel to Austin, Texas this weekend to compete in the 2011 November North American Cup, including Semmel and Carson who hope to place in the top 32 in their respective weapons. The remainder of the team will not return to action until the Penn State Open November 19th at University Park, Pa.
According to Schiller, the Penn State Open will represent the first big test against collegiate competition for his team.
