Fencing | Jumbos make strides with all weapons in top half at Regionals

    The Tufts fencing season that stretched eight weekends of meets over nearly five months came to an end March 8, when Tufts was sent home in the NCAA Regionals after two weeks of championship competition. All three Tufts weapons finished in the top half of their fields in the New England Championships to conclude the season, but 2008-09 saw even more impressive feats among the individual fencers.
    Senior foil captain Christine Lee finished off her accomplished career with a sparkling season. One of the highlights of her year came with winning two of her three bouts against one of the top teams in the nation in NYU. Lee defeated sophomore Amanda Rysling, who not only bested her last year, but performed well enough this year to earn a spot in Nationals.
    Lee's bid for her own Nationals spot was foiled at Regionals, however, when she went 1-4 in the first round, though two of her losses were decided by a single point. As a freshman, Lee advanced to Nationals and recognizes that as the best year of her collegiate career.
    Nevertheless, Lee went 30-6 in regular-season bouts this year, the top record for any Jumbo, and was named to the first-team All-Northeast Fencing Conference.  And while her senior year may not have been her strongest, it was still a memorable one for Lee.
    "I loved the team," Lee said. "Every year the dynamic changes, and people go away, so this year wasn't particularly better or worse, but it was definitely a fun year. I'm just going to look back at fencing as something I found that cemented me in college. Fencing gave me more of a sense of belonging to Tufts."
     The epee squad was also particularly strong for Tufts this year. Sophomore Coryn Wolk spearheaded the attack, as she started the season by winning two of her three bouts against nationally ranked No. 4 Harvard. Wolk also earned bronze at the annual fall individual tournament known as "The Big One," where the epee squad placed three fencers inside the top 20 at the event out of a field of 59 epeeists. Junior epee captain Amani Smathers went abroad following the winter break, and junior Rebecca Hughes returned to assume the captain's role, moving sophomore Georgia Ranes up a spot on the ladder.
    The trio of Wolk, Ranes and Hughes went on to trample NYU 8-1 as well as score victories over Brown and MIT, who have received national votes along the way. But as the weeks passed, the trio began to feel the toll of a long season — Wolk and Hughes both battled ailments with their knees and were forced to fence through injuries. Still, all three qualified for NCAA Regionals, with Wolk and Ranes making it to the second round and being named to the All-Conference second team.
    "I think I was more consistent this year," Ranes said. "I fulfilled my potential to a degree, but there's still room for improvement. It's a matter of figuring out what works well for me and staying focused. It's a good season, and I can't complain, though it would've been awesome if I could've gone to Nationals. We work hard to a degree, but compared to other teams, our team isn't as structured as Div. I squads. For Div. III we're one of the best, if not the best, so you can't complain when you have that standing."
    Wolk will spend the next year abroad, while Smathers will return for her senior season.
    Tufts' sabre squad was likely the weakest component of the team, though it made great strides from last year. Sabre jumped from 10th place in the 2008 conference championships to fourth place this year. Led by junior sabre captain Alexandra Cheetham and freshman Sarah Danly, sabre put up one of its strongest performances at Tufts' own home conference meet.
    With the season now over, Tufts will look forward to the growth of several fencers going into next year, particularly the freshmen.
    Danly fenced as the sabre squad's A fencer at the end of the year, while freshman Michaela Paulson performed admirably in her limited action as epee's fourth fencer. Freshman Meredith Paul also had a strong year as foil's next-best fencer behind Lee. All three can expect to play a bigger part on the team when next season rolls around.
    "I'd have to say Sarah Danly did a really good job this year," Ranes said. "She held her own. She lost a bit of steam toward the end of the season, but [she has] so much potential just waiting to be tapped into. [Paulson] showed a lot of potential, too."