W. Fencing stumbles against Blue Devils

Deep in the lower levels of the Hopkins Athletic Center, the clashing of steel rings in the air. In the fencing room, athletes draw their blades and for a few short hours, become warriors. Imagine the intensity of the final battle between The Bride and Oren-Ishii in the finale of Kill Bill. Then imagine living that fight each day, clashing blades in a frenzy for two grueling hours.

The women's fencing team has fought its way through some of the toughest battles of any D-III team in the country, facing several Division I teams throughout the course of their season. Several of the hardest came in one fell swoop this past weekend, as the Jays headed to Durham, N.C. for the Duke Invitational. Hopkins couldn't quite hold its own against some of the major programs, going down against Duke, Norte Dame and Univerisy of North Carolina. The Division III Jays have, however, tacked on several wins against the powerhouses of the fencing circuit over the course of the season, including the recent narrow victory over Air Force at the Invitational. The Lady Jays went 1-3 at the tournament.

Sophomore Grace Fried was the darling of the tournament, wielding her foil with gusto en route to a perfect 7-0 record. No other Jay came that close to matching her success; freshman foil Katie Kim had the next best mark with a 3-2 record for the tourney.

Though the fencing team is reaching the tail end of the season, it is far from over for the Blue Jays. On February 24, the girls head up to Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. for a two-day series of events, in which the team will compete in eighteen meets. Some of the strongest teams in the East, Midwest and West Coast will clash swords that weekend.

"JHU will fence as many meets in two days as some D3 schools will fence in their entire season," Coach Jim Murray said.

But Coach Murray has faith in his team. Murray was quick to praise two of his star freshmen, Katie Kim and Samantha Dolan. Samantha Dolan had competed in individual fencing throughout high school, and had never been a part of a team fencing program until she came to Hopkins. "Being on a team for the first time c9 It's a new experience for me," Dolan said. "We have a good group of girls, and we really get along."

Coach Murray also mentioned his three graduating seniors, nicknamed "The Three Musketeers" because of their friendship away from the sport: Sarah Smilow, Kim Strazbaf, and Joanna Kochaniak.

"You always miss the seniors," Murray said. "Parents hope they graduate; coaches hope they never do."