EVANSTON, Ill. — The No. 5 ranked Wildcats will aim to continue their successful postseason this weekend when they travel to Columbus, Ohio, for the NCAA Midwest Regionals.
Northwestern was just in Columbus two weeks ago when it won the Midwest Fencing Conference championship bolstered by weapon group gold for sabre and epee. The title was head coach Laurie Schiller's fourth, and it came in his last season in charge of the Wildcats.
Each team is able to enter a maximum of 12 fencers and no more than five in a particular weapon group. NU will send 11 fencers to the tournament with four in foil, four in epée and three in sabre.
The three fencers from the sabre team will be junior Alisha Gomez-Shah, freshman Maddy Curzon and junior Cindy Oh. Gomez-Shah is coming off a gold medal in the individual competition at the Midwest Fencing Conference championships and will try to better her fifth place finish last year at the Midwest Regionals. Oh will also try to improve on her sixth place finish in this event last year.
The four foil fencers representing the Wildcats will be freshman Yvonne Chart, junior Stephanie Chan, senior Jen Yamin and senior Charlotte Sands. Chart led the foil squad at the MFC championships with her third place individual finish, and the team overall picked up a bronze medal. Chan, Yamin and Sands have all had success at the Midwest Regionals previously with sixth, seventh and 12th places finishes last year, respectively.
The extremely successful epee group this season will be represented by junior Mandeep Bhinder and the three seniors: Courtney Dumas, Juliana Barrett and Helen Foster. The 45-3 epee team took home a gold medal at the MFC championships and all four fencers finished in the top five individually, with a first place finish from Dumas and a top-three sweep rounded out by Barrett and Bhinder. Foster finished third last year in the Midwest Regional and Dumas won the event in her freshman year in 2012.
Northwestern was just in Columbus two weeks ago when it won the Midwest Fencing Conference championship bolstered by weapon group gold for sabre and epee. The title was head coach Laurie Schiller's fourth, and it came in his last season in charge of the Wildcats.
Each team is able to enter a maximum of 12 fencers and no more than five in a particular weapon group. NU will send 11 fencers to the tournament with four in foil, four in epée and three in sabre.
The three fencers from the sabre team will be junior Alisha Gomez-Shah, freshman Maddy Curzon and junior Cindy Oh. Gomez-Shah is coming off a gold medal in the individual competition at the Midwest Fencing Conference championships and will try to better her fifth place finish last year at the Midwest Regionals. Oh will also try to improve on her sixth place finish in this event last year.
The four foil fencers representing the Wildcats will be freshman Yvonne Chart, junior Stephanie Chan, senior Jen Yamin and senior Charlotte Sands. Chart led the foil squad at the MFC championships with her third place individual finish, and the team overall picked up a bronze medal. Chan, Yamin and Sands have all had success at the Midwest Regionals previously with sixth, seventh and 12th places finishes last year, respectively.
The extremely successful epee group this season will be represented by junior Mandeep Bhinder and the three seniors: Courtney Dumas, Juliana Barrett and Helen Foster. The 45-3 epee team took home a gold medal at the MFC championships and all four fencers finished in the top five individually, with a first place finish from Dumas and a top-three sweep rounded out by Barrett and Bhinder. Foster finished third last year in the Midwest Regional and Dumas won the event in her freshman year in 2012.