Fencing seasons heat up at UPenn Invite

While many Hopkins
students were relaxing
at home enjoying a break
from studying and work
during intersession, the
Hopkins men's and women's
fencing teams were
hard at work, training and
participating in highly
competitive tournaments.
After a short break for
the holidays, the Blue Jays
opened up the second half
of their respective seasons
at the Philadelphia Invitational
on Sunday, Jan.
22nd. The meet was held at
the University of Pennsylvania
and boasted strong
competition from nationally
ranked teams such
as Duke, North Carolina,
Sacred Heart, NJIT and
Haverford.
Even going up against
such highly ranked Division
I and Division III
schools, the Blue Jays held
their own, fending off
some stiff competition.
On the men's side, the
day began with a disappointing
loss after a close
match with Duke. However,
the team rallied to crush
UNC, 20-7, with impressive
showings in the sabre from
both junior Nicolas Barbera
and freshman Aravind
Menon.
Another freshman, Robert
Goldhirsch, also helped
lead the team to victory
with an impressive win
in the foil. The win over
Chapel Hill was finally secured
by freshman Brian
Reddick, who posted a 6-3
win in the Epee.
The men then sliced
their way to victory
against the NJIT Highlanders.
The Highlanders
stood little chance against
the duo of Barbera and
Menon, who led team to
a 2-1 lead, sweeping the
team to victory. Despite
closing the day with a
loss to Penn, the men ended
up with an impressive
3-2 record for the meet, an
improvement from their
last meet at Haverford
in November when they
went 2-2.
On the women's side, the
Lady Jays opened the day
with a loss to Penn, but they
did put up a good fight.
Despite losing to three D-I
schools, the women's team
had a strong victory against
Haverford, the only other
D-III school in the meet.
Two standouts from the
Invitational were senior
Lauren Chinn and freshman
Rachel Kalina. Both
girls sliced their ways to
nine wins apiece, including
a clean sweep in the
epee against Haverford for
Chinn. The match against
Haverford was a tight one,
but the girls fought hard to
earn their victory.
After losing by a small
margin in the Sabre (5-
4), Hopkins responded
with a 5-4 win in the
foil. This success in the
foil was largely due to a
strong performance from
sophomore Jackie Heath,
who sealed the deal in
the ninth and last bout,
clinching the match.
The secret to the team's
success may have something
to do with the rigorous
practice regimens that
the teams followed over
winter break and during
intersession.
"Fencing is a year round
sport so there was little
transition from home to
training here at Hopkins,"
freshman Aravind Menon
said, not to be confused
with his older brother,
Sid, who is a junior on the
men's team.
With two practices a
day, including two hours of
technique based work and
two hours of lifting and
conditioning, the teams put
forth the effort and have
the work ethic to see great
results at bigger events as
they proved in the Philadelphia
Invitational.
Although the team is
very talented, it is a surprisingly
young team.
Coach Austin Young did
an excellent job of recruiting
a very talented group
of freshman this year, including
Paul Vitale, Alex
Szigeti, Brian Reddick,
Robert Goldhirsch and
Menon. On the women's
side, freshman Rachel Kalina
and Gianni Puzzo
have made huge contributions
to the team thus far.
These freshman have
been holding their own and
have shown great improvement
throughout the year.
In addition to these
newcomers, the men's
team is held together by
key returners such as
sophomore Jay Deyoung
and Barbera. The women
are led by seniors Chinn,
Jenn Hession and sophomore
Katherine Simeon.
With such young, talented
teams going up
against fierce competitors,
men's and women's fencing
are suiting up for an
excellent second semester
of matches.
This past weekend the
teams also competed in
the Stevens Tech Invitational.
The men blew away
the competition, beating
all five opposing schools.
One noteworthy performance
was sophomore
Evan Stafford, who went
13-0 at the meet.
For their next big meet,
the men's and women's
teams will be traveling to
Waltham, Massachusetts
for the Eric Sollee Invitational
on Saturday, Feb.
4th. The event will feature
more D-I schools who will
keep these Blue Jays on
their toes.