After back-to-back dominant performances at the Reminyik Open and the USFA Junior Olympic Qualifier, members of Northwestern's fencing squad posted mixed results this weekend at the USFA November North American Cup.
While freshman Courtney Dumas placed third out of 165 fencers in the epée competition, two of her teammates were unable to make it past their early bouts in the direct elimination round and two others didn't even make it out of pool play.
"Courtney Dumas did excellently, two others did satisfactory and two others did not make it out of the pools which was a little disappointing," coach Laurie Schiller said.
The tournament, which was held at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, featured more than 2,000 USFA junior and cadet fencers from around the country competing for national ranking points to qualify for the 2012 Junior and Cadet World Championships in Moscow.
The Cats' struggles can partly be explained by an enhanced level of competition. Twenty fencers from the 2011 Junior and Cadet World Team took part in the event.
Epéeist Sonali Patel and sabreist Claire Carson combined to win just one bout in pool play and neither received a high enough seed to make it to the direct elimination round.
But the Cats clearly had some success over the weekend, highlighted by Dumas' bronze medal finish.
"Courtney did really, really well," said Schiller, who also said Dumas has a good opportunity to make the Junior World Team this year given her consistent excellent play.
Dumas previously took the top spot in her weapon at the USFA Burton Open and finished fifth at the Reminyik Open.
"I was just able to go out and keep winning bouts," she said of her third-place finish at the North American Cup.
Freshman Mary Regan, who has not fenced very much this season due to an inflamed MCL, also seemed somewhat satisfied with her performance after finishing 52nd in the sabre competition.
"I did better than I thought considering I hadn't fenced for the majority of the year," said Regan, who did express some disappointment in her performance.
Freshman Rose Semmel had tremendous success in pool competition, winning five of her six bouts and earning a bye, before losing in her first direct elimination bout and finishing 66th in the epée competition.
One of the biggest problems for the Cats this weekend, according to Schiller, was their inability to relax and control their emotions during the competition. This was even the case for Dumas, who said she had some difficulty controlling her frustrations during the semifinal bout of the epée competition, which she lost 15-7 to Jessica O'Neill-Lyublinsky.
"For most of them, they need to learn to relax a little bit and not put so much pressure on themselves so they can fence the way they are capable of," Schiller said.
Schiller also mentioned that part of NU's problem might have been its fencers' lack of experience. All of the Cats' participants from this weekend are freshmen..
"It's just stuff we're going to build on and move along," said Schiller.
This weekend the entire NU fencing squad will return to the strip as it takes part in the Penn State Open at University Park, Pa.
According to Schiller, several of his fencers should finish in the top 16 or above at the tournament.
benjamintaylor2015@u.northwestern.edu
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