Fencing: Cats crush competition at Western Invitational

Northwestern's first half cannot be described in any other way than dominant. With fencers winning events at the USFA Burton Open and USFA Remenyik Open as well as having top 16 finishes at the USFA November North American Cup and the Garrett Open, the Wildcats looked poised for a successful 2012.

After not competing in an official tournament for more than a month and a half, the fencers showed no rust and continued their first-half success by going undefeated at the Western Invitational on Saturday.

"For an entire full day of work, it was extremely good and one of the best efforts I've seen," coach Laurie Schiller said. "Four of the six teams were at the varsity level, and we really dominated each team."

The event, which was held at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., featured seven different collegiate fencing teams at the club or NCAA Division I level. For NU, this was the first team competition the fencers have partaken in this season, as opposed to their early individual competitions.

"We fenced fantastically. I mean we only had a total of nine losses (in individual bouts) on the day," freshman epeeist Courtney Dumas said. "It was a great performance and a great start to our season."

While the Wildcats' first win of the day came about when Cal Tech had to forfeit with only four fencers, the Cats simply outperformed their other competitors, only dropping three bouts to the UC San Diego, two bouts to Air Force, Stanford and Florida, and sweeping Swarthmore.

Schiller said the best victories of the day came against Stanford and Air Force because they are both strong teams with powerful epée squads.

"I didn't expect that," Schiller said of the Cats' dominance.

Schiller said he was very pleased with the individual performance of several of his fencers, including Dumas, junior Dayana Sarkisova (foil), and senior Devynn Patterson (foil), who all completed the tournament undefeated in their respective bouts. Along with Dumas, freshmen Rose Semmel (epée) and Claire Carson (sabre) all competed in their first NCAA Division I team tournaments, and each of them had a successful debut.

"Just all the way through, we had three freshmen, and they all competed well," Schiller said.

Dumas' strong performance at the event was a good way for her to bounce back from her 88th place finish a month ago at the Junior World Cup in Laupheim, Germany. Before the international competition, Dumas had been almost flawless in her first collegiate season, posting top 20 finishes in every event she competed in and winning the epée competition at the USFA Burton Open.

"It felt really good to compete at the level I knew I should be fencing at," Dumas said. "I felt my fencing in Germany was not a representation of the level of ability I have as a fencer."

Even though Schiller is pleased with the performance he saw from all of his fencers this weekend, he also said there is always room for improvement, especially when facing tougher competition.

Schiller specifically pointed out the Philadelphia Invitational and the NYU Invitational as two tough tournaments for the Cats given that teams such as Temple, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Notre Dame and Ohio State — all teams that are usually in the top 5 nationally — will be attending.

"This gives us a lot of confidence," Schiller said. "But we also know we're really going to have to compete in New York and Philadelphia."

But before the Cats return to team competition, a few of the NU fencers will travel to the 2012 January North American Cup this coming weekend at the Portland Convention Center in Portland, Ore.

benjamintaylor2015@u.northwestern.edu