Jan. 29, 2004
During a bitterly cold weekend in New York City, the Stanford fencing team participated in the toughest collegiate tournament in the nation on January 25. Competing against five schools, three of which (Notre Dame, St. John's and Ohio State) rank among the nations top four, Stanford fought hard but was unable to bring home many victories. At the tournament, freshman Curtis Andrus (sabre) led the men's team with an individual record of 14 wins and 1 loss, followed closely by senior Florian Reichling (foil) with 13-2, and sophomore Martin Lee (epee) with 12-3. The men's team beat NYU and Yale, but fell to the other three. For the women, senior Eva Petschnigg (foil) had the best record, coming in at 11 bouts won and 4 lost. Overall, the women's team was beaten by all five schools, though they barely lost to Yale with a bout total of 13-14.
Fencing Team Prepares for Western Regionals, NCAAs
This winter, Stanford fencers will travel to the United States Fencing Academy, attempting to claim the regional title as well as qualify individuals for the NCAA championships. The competition will be especially challenging for the Stanford team this year, as a few of their strongest teammates are red-shirting in order to train for this summer's Olympic Games in Athens. Furthermore, about twenty individuals from each weapon in the western region compete for only two places at the NCAA Championships, which will be held at Brandeis University at the end of March. Stanford will fight to qualify as many as possible, and holds high hopes for seniors Robert Owens (sabre), Florian Reichling (foil), and Eva Petschnigg (foil), sophomores ), Martin Lee (epee), Jonathan Pearlstein (sabre) and Aileen Maloney (sabre), and freshmen Curtis Andrus (sabre), Alex Stein (epee) and Heather Backman (epee).