Nov. 15, 2001
DALLAS - Northwestern women's fencer Julia F?ldi (Budapest, Hungary/Szent Istv?n Gimn?zium) took first place in the Under-20 women's foil competition at the North American Cups Cadet/Junior tournament in Dallas, Texas last weekend.
F?ldi won 14 bouts to finish first among a field of 93, including a victory over Ohio State's Hanna Thompson.
"I wasn't that nervous," F?ldi said of her weekend performance. "I didn't start out too well, but I got warmed up and did much better."
Though not officially competing for NU, F?ldi didn't have as much riding on her finish as other fencers. American fencers were vying for an automatic bid to the 2002 Junior Olympics and F?ldi, a Hungarian, does not have to concern herself with a U.S. national point total.
Two other NU representatives did earn automatic bids to the 2002 Junior Olympics. Freshmen Lauren Dunn (Sacramento, Calif./Del Camp) and Lauren Van Gieson (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) made the cut in Under-20 women's sabre.
Dunn finished 15th and Van Gieson finsihed 26th among the field of 63 in women's sabre. Freshman foilist Kelsey Nencheck (Morristown, N.J./Morristown) finished 67th in women's foil.
Head fencing coach Laurie Schiller accompanied the group to Dallas and was very excited with their performance.
"The close bouts were driving me crazy," he said of the intense competition. "Julia fenced magnificently, and you just can't do much better than winning.
"Lauren Dunn was within a touch of moving up, and Lauren Van Gieson was ill and got knocked out way too soon.
"This was a good weekend for Kelsey," Schiller said of Nencheck. "She hasn't done a lot of national level fencing, and this is a good measure of where she wants to go."