Women's Fencing | Fencing squad puts finishing touches on season at Northeast Regionals

This past weekend, Tufts sent seven fencers to the NCAA Northeast Fencing Regionals at Boston College, including all four of the team's sabre starters and all three of its epee starters. The individual tournament was the Jumbos' last of the season and provided an opportunity to receive a national ranking.
To qualify for the individual regionals, fencers needed to have fenced a certain number of bouts and to have won a certain percentage of those matches. Tufts' qualified fencers from the sabre squad were senior and overall team captain Sarah Danly, sophomore squad captain Julia Hisey, freshman Sarah Innes-Gold and senior Brianna Smith. From the epee squad, sophomore squad captain Laurel Hutchison, junior Abigail Hepworth and freshman Katharine Lynch met the requirements. Although only those seven were allowed to participate, most team members made the trip to support their fellow Jumbos.
Unlike previous conference events, the regional tournament was formatted as a succession of pool play. The first round consisted of pools of five fencers competing in inter-pool round-robin play, seeded according to the U.S. Fencing Association ratings and ending whenever a combatant scored five touches. Those with an existing national ranking were exempt from participating in the first round. The lowest two-fifths of each pool, as determined by their touches and indicator scores, were dropped from the first round. After being re-seeded, the remaining fencers then progressed to a second round of seven-person pools, again with the lower strata of fencers being dropped from the tournament.
All participants, regardless of when they dropped out of the standings, received a ranking for the regional tournament.
SabristsDanly, Hisey and Innes-Gold, as well as all three epee starters, advanced past the first round. Only Danly progressed further, entering the third round of pool play before being eliminated.
"I think, at least in the final round she was in, [Sarah] fenced the best she has all season," Hisey said of Danly's performance. "It's been a progression; every time she fences better. It was awesome for her."
"Sarah blossomed this year. She's been fencing stronger and stronger every meet," Hutchison added. "Sarah was a great captain - this was her last meet - and she's been very valuable for the team. She was always there, on top of everything, made sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing."
Out of a total of 45 competing sabres, Danly, Hisey, Innes-Gold and Smith placed 21st, 23rd, 30th and 41st, respectively. From the epee squad, Lynch, Hepworth and Hutchison placed 25th, 28th and 33rd, respctively, among 48 competitors.
"I was pretty pleased with epee as a squad," said Hutchison, who noted that she is likely fencing her last full season at Tufts due to plans to study abroad and then graduate early. "We worked hard to get the three of us to regionals, and we did pretty well. I'm hoping that the team will be able to drill a lot more in the future.
"There's always room for improvement, and I think we've been improving year by year," she continued. "We're building up a stronger team, a better-organized team, and we're building fencers."
Moving forward, the team is looking to add a large recruiting class. A number of incoming freshman have already contacted coach ArianaKlinkov, and in addition to the continued development of a young core, there is hope that the future of the team is in good hands wrapping up this season and heading into the next.
"I think we're trying to get more intense every year," Hisey said. "We want to be recognized as a real sport and really be a part of Tufts athletics."