Fencing ends on a high note at regionals

acked their bags and traveled down to Chapel Hill for the weekend as Duke University hosted the 2015 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional. With the majority of the athletes being D-I caliber, the field was stacked against the Blue Jays.

Despite being in a lower division, Hopkins was able to place five men and two women in the top 20 of their respective weapons.

Hopkins looks forward to this meet every year since they have no pressure and no expectations. These athletes are some of the best collegiate fencers in the country.

“In many ways it’s a lot less pressure than some of the other tournaments we go to throughout the year,” sophomore Patrick Rose said. “We have already finished with our conference championships the week before, and we are just there to fence as hard as we can against some of the best people in the country.

“It’s great to test ourselves against them, and it’s a great way to end the season by seeing how much better we have gotten,” he said.

On the men’s side, junior Jay Petrie was the top finisher, taking 12th place in the Foil. He was joined by three other Hopkins fencers in the weapon.

In the competitive field, Petrie placed higher than any other D-III athlete. Petrie repeated the past to make this his third consecutive 12th place finish at regionals.

Freshmen Foils Jared Lebron and Ian Maddox finished not too far behind, taking home 20th and 30th places, respectively, while junior Glenn Balbus finished 31st.

Another freshman made a name for himself in his first appearance at Regionals. Sabre Sandy Vingoe scored for Hopkins to capture a 15th place finish. Like Petrie, Vingoe was the leader among D-III athletes.

Sophomore Patrick Rose finished just behind him, taking home the 17th spot. As a freshman last year he finished 26th in the field.

Fellow sophomore Daniel Dembner placed 22nd. This was Dembner’s first trip to Regionals.

In the Epee, Hopkins placed three in the top 30, led by freshman Denis Routkevitch who finished 18th.

Freshman standout Matthias Philippine finished 28th, followed by sophomore Nathaniel Green in 30th.

Despite the not-so-stellar results, this was a strong showing from the Jays considering most of the other schools were D-I. When compared with their division, many Hopkins fencers finished at the top.

“I think our team did very well. We won MACFAs and had a lot of people do well in the individual competition,” Routkevitch said. “I think our team fit in well [against D-I competition], and we were able to beat several D-I schools such as Yale and UNC. We finished strong, and I think we are very well prepared going forward as most of our team will still be here next season.”

For the Lady Jays, Katherine Couch set the tone. After her 15th place finish at Regionals last year, Couch improved a spot to finish 14th. Joining teammates Petrie and Vingoe, she led the D-III athletes, placing eight spots ahead of the next D-III fencer.

In her first appearance, sophomore Charlotte Green finished in 27th, followed by senior Gianna Puzzo in 30th.

Junior Rachel Viqueira was all on her own in the Foil but was able to stand her ground as she finished in the top 20, improving upon her 28th place finish a year ago.

Senior Rachel Kalina and junior Isabella So finished within one spot of each other, taking home 21st and 22nd places, respectively, in the Sabre. They join the ranks of three of their teammates by being able to say that they finished first amongst D-III fencers.

The men finished their season with a 16-5 record, including a nine match win streak and a first place finish at the MACFA Championships. The women ended their season at 3-12, but boast a second place finish at EWFC Championships.

Couch will lead the Lady Jays again next year as she returns for her junior season. She will look to improve upon her 14th and 15th place finishes at Regionals the past two years as she strives to compete at Nationals. The men will be led by rising senior Jay Petrie.