Fencing: Cats compete for Olympic spot at North American Cup

Though there may be bigger events for Northwestern as a team on the horizon, this weekend's USFA January North American Cup my have the most on the line for each NU fencer individually.

The Junior NAC offers the Wildcats an opportunity to compete for a spot on the 2012 London Olympic Games squad.

With big meets like the Philadelphia Invitational and the NYU Invitational next weekend, seven NU fencers will compete for an Olympic selection and tune up for those important NCAA duals by fencing this weekend at the January NAC.

The event, which will take place at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Ore., will feature more than 1,000 of the best fencers in the country, including several Olympic and Senior World Championship medalists. This event will also give the Cats a free preview of some of the fencers they will face at the Philadelphia and NYU invitationals.

"This tournament's going to have tougher competition as a whole," Coach Laurie Schiller said in comparison to last week's Western Invitational.

For NU, this weekend's event will feature several of the team's starters, with junior Dayana Sarkisova, senior Devynn Patterson and senior Camille Provencal participating in the foil competition; junior Kendrick Mooney in the epée competition and junior Chloe Grainger in the sabre competition. On top of these five individuals who will be competing in Division I, USFA's highest level of fencing, freshmen epeeists Rose Semmel and Courtney Dumas will be competing at the junior level.

"Everyone on the team wishes the best for everybody else," Dumas said. "I'm sure I'll be on the sideline cheering my teammates on when I am not fencing."

For Dumas, this event should be a way to continue a successful season.

After starting out her season with top 20 finishes in every event she competed in during the first half, Dumas was able to rebound from an 88th finish at the Junior World Cup in Laupheim, Germany, over winter break to go undefeated during the Western Invitational this past weekend.

"I know I am able to fence at a very high level," Dumas said. "My goal going into the tournament is to fence at that high level and win the competition."

Schiller expects just that out of his fencers, saying he hopes they will all be able to place high at the event in preparation for the tougher competition at the dual meets next weekend.

"I would like to see all our young fencers make it to the (round of remaining 32 fencers)," Schiller said. "And for most of them (not advancing further) is a disappointment."

benjamintaylor2015@u.northwestern.edu