Ferguson to foil at NCAA Division I Championship

The men and women's fencing teams have traveled a long, difficult road, crossing blades with some of the toughest Division I teams in the entire nation. Both the men and women's teams are relatively young underdog squads, but throughout the season, they fought on, defying the odds and toppling their opponents in upset after upset.

Their hard work paid off as the teams made the trip up to Teaneck, N.J. for the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional Championship. Sophomore David Ferguson, seeded eighteenth in the tournament, placed eighth in the men's foil competition. Ferguson was the only fencer of the men's and women's team to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championship, to be held this coming weekend. The men's team was also bolstered by the strong performances of sophomores Ben Dorfman, who placed fifteenth, and Jimmy Einsiedler, who finished twenty-second.

The five Hopkins women's team qualifiers also delivered at the tournament, led by sophomore foil Grace Fried, who finished twelfth in the competition. Fried was the only Division III fencer in the entire tournament to make it to the twelve-person finals. Senior sabre Sarah Smilow just missed the finals with a sixteenth place finish, toppling her seed of twenty-third. Freshman foil Katie Kim fenced well in her first Regional Championship, placing eighteenth overall.

When the final weapon was sheathed, it was only Ferguson who earned the right to wear the Hopkins blue and white in the NCAA championships. Ferguson will make the trip up to Drew University in Madison, N.J. this Wednesday, but he certainly will not make it alone. Following his exemplary performance in the Regional Championship, Ferguson has received the utmost praise and support from his teammates. Though their season has come to an end, they continue to suit up and hit the practice room, preparing their teammate for the difficult road ahead.

"We're all rooting for David to do well at NCAAs," senior foil Nick Marchuk said. "Every win he gets in the tournament raises our ranking as a team. We're all still in the practice room, trying to get him ready." Ferguson's qualification for the NCAA Championship awards the young fencer with the honor of top 24 in the nation, D-I fencers included.

Although the Hopkins women's team did not qualify any fencers for the NCAA tournament, the team's performance against some of the powerhouses of Division I was truly exemplary. The Lady Blue Jays qualified five fencers for the Regional Tournament, a feat that is accomplished based on a team's win percentage and the strength of its schedule. Throughout the regular season, Hopkins has faced some of the elite Division I teams such as University of North Carolina, Duke and Notre Dame, which was to the team's benefit when they reached the regional level. Many Division III schools with medium to low-strength schedules tend to fall short when the Regional Tournament comes around. The team fenced well as a whole, but the stand-out performance for the Lady Jays was indubitably that of sophomore foil Grace Fried. Fried was the only Division III fencer to make it through the brackets to the twelve-person finals, an accomplishment that landed her the honor of national-at-large candidate for selection, which is similar to a wildcard bout. When the judges reached their decision, Fried did not qualify for the National Tournament, but the young fencer still has a couple of years to make it to Madison.

The team was also supported by the strong performances of senior sabre Sarah Smilow, who just missed qualifying for the twelve-person finals, and freshman foil Katie Kim, whose underdog performance proved her to be a serious threat in years to come.

"It was a pretty difficult tournament," freshman foil Katie Kim said. "I think I was really nervous going in because it was my first tournament, but I think I did well and everyone else did really well. I thought it was just fun overall just because it was my first experience doing it."

Hopkins' other two qualifiers, freshman foil Samantha Dolan and sophomore sabre Erica Hartmann fenced well, but did not make it past the preliminary round.

"It was a very strong tournament," Murray said. "It's always a feather in the cap of the program to qualify so many fencers. A lot of the upper schools may get in a few more than we do, but we certainly had the highest Division III finish."