Slicing and dicing away the opponents, it was a successful week for the Jay fencers. The women participated at the Eastern Women's Fencing Conference (EWFC) individual championships on Sunday at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., while the men participated at the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association (MACFA) championships at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.
For the women, freshman Jen Hession starred for the Lady Jays. Hession did not lose a match, winning the title in the foil weapon and Fencer of the Year honors. She was one of four Jays who medaled and earned all-conference honors.
"This is only the second time I've ever come in first at an individual tournament and my first time ever going undefeated," Hession said. "It was my first big win in college fencing so I was really excited about that."
Hession won all 18 of her bouts in the foil to earn First Team All-EWFC honors, in addition to being named Fencer of the Year. Sophomore Sofia de Benedicts went 15-3 to finish second behind Hession, also earning a spot on the all-conference first team. In addition, freshman Colleen Stone finished 10th in the foil for the Lady Jays.
"Everyone was expecting us to do well as a team but I never expected to come in first," Hession said. "Still, it was not surprising to see so many of my teammates come back with medals."
In the epee, senior Ying Guo took sixth to earn Second Team All-EWFC honors. Freshman Katie Herman took eighth in the sabre for second team all-conference honors. Sophomore Rose Foran took 15th in the sabre for Hopkins.
Last weekend, the women had participated at the EWFC team championships in Philadelphia. Hopkins took second with a 5-1 record on Feb. 15. Hopkins picked up wins over Yeshiva (25-2), CCNY (22-5), Stevens Tech (21-6), Hunter (19-8) and Drew (16-11) before suffering a close 14-13 loss to Haverford. In those championships, the foil squad won 43 of 54 bouts, and the sabre squad went 39-15.
The men spent the weekend in Easton, and placed third overall at the MACFA championships. The Jays placed third overall out of 17 teams with 109 victories.
In the foil, the Jays placed third with 38 victories, one victory behind second place Stevens Institute of Technology and five victories behind overall champion University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Senior Ben Dorfman took second place in that event. In the sabre, the Jays placed fourth with 38 victories, equaling the total from the foil events. UNC took first place in the event, followed by Stevens in second and Rutgers in third. Sophomore Max Wieder, who spent the previous weekend at the Junior Olympics in New Mexico, placed third. Fellow sophomore Mike "Lumberjack" Fellows placed seventh. In the epee, the Jays placed fourth with 33 victories, placing behind UNC and Stevens. Sophomore Nick Krwyopusk placed third.
"It's always hard fencing UNC because they have a larger budget, and they can train longer than us," Wieder said. "They have more coaches and more fencers. I missed making the finals by one point, so it was tough. I definitely think the MACFA moustache gave us a lot of power."
Hopkins returns to action at the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association Championships on Saturday, in Piscataway, N.J. Both the men's and women's teams will begin preparing for the NCAA regionals in early March. Both squads will continue to train hard for these events.
"Those that are qualified for regionals have two weeks of practice. Coach is not going to let off. If we miss a practice we have to make up two miles," Fellows said. "Hopefully the hard work will pay off for us."
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