CollegeFencing360 is excited to have the insight of Wendell Kubik, the former fencing coach at Air Force and a former president of the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association (he also fenced four years at the NCAAs). Both of his college-aged sons – Notre Dame's Mark Kubik (a senior) and Steve Kubik (sophomore) – have earned All-America honors for the Irish at previous NCAAs (Mark in '07, Steve in '08), but both were victims of ND's tremendous men's foil depth this season and failed to qualify for the '09 NCAAs.
With both Kubik brothers not in the field, CF360 felt that their dad would be a perfect "non-attached" observer to provide his take on the 2009 NCAA men's foil competition.
First, here's a reminder of who is in the 2009 NCAA men's foil field: Brandeis (1) - Will Friedman ... Brown (2) - Adam Pantel and Jonathan Yu ... UC San Diego (2) - Ben Dorn and Michael Fong ... Columbia 2) - Sherif Farrag and Kurt Getz ... Duke (2) - Dan Cohen and Dorian Cohen ... Harvard (1) - Kai Itameri-Kinter ... NYU (1) - Alexander Kao ... Notre Dame (2) - Enzo Castellani and Gerek Meinhardt ... Ohio State (2) - Andras Horanyi and Collin Sutter ... Pennsylvania (2) - Zane Grodman and Vidur Kapur ... Penn State (2) - Miles Chamley-Watson and Nick Chinman ... Princeton (1) - Alexander Mills ... St. John's (1) - Alexis Landreville ... Stanford (1) - Alex Khoshnevissan ... Yale (2) - John Gurrieri and Shiv Kachru.
Key veterans (per Kubik) include Getz, Horanyi, Chinman, Friedman, Itameri-Kinter, Farrag and Landreville, while the top freshmen are Meinhardt, Chamley-Watson, Castellani, Dan Cohen and Mills.
Without further ado, here are the thoughts of Wendell Kubik, in relation to the NCAA men's foil competition:
"I am offering my perspective on the upcoming individual men’s foil competition at the 2009 NCAA Fencing Championships as a former head coach, fencing parent, and four-time NCAA participant. This year’s men’s foil competition is shaping up to be a classic confrontation between a group of wily veterans and a strong group of talented freshman.
"This year’s freshman entries appear to be some of the most accomplished foil fencers in NCAA history, headed up by Olympian Gerek Meinhardt of Notre Dame and another member of the 2008 Junior World Championship gold medal team, Miles Chamley-Watson of Penn State. Other members of this freshman class include Enzo Castellani (ND), Dan Cohen (Duke) and Princeton's Alexander Mills. These fencers have come up through a very strong junior foil competitive program in the USFA. They have a vast amount of national and international fencing experience and an arsenal of excellent technique, thanks to vastly improved foil coaching at the youth and junior club level in the USA. In the past, the top NCAA programs recruited internationally for top foilists – but this year there are few foreign foilists in this field, except for a couple Canadians.
"I think this championship will boil down to whether two-time NCAA Champion Andras Horanyi can three-peat against this talented field. Joining him on the veteran side is Columbia’s Kurt Getz – a tall lefthander who placed third in the past two NCAAs with a very clean, technical style and tons of senior and junior world championship/world cup experience. Getz's regular-season record was not as strong as Honrayi’s, but he can make a run for the championship if he can maintain focus and concentration throughout the two-day round-robin.
"Another experienced veteran is Nick Chinman of Penn State, who placed 5th in '07 and 4th in '08. He's always in great physical shape and is a strong, methodical attacker who does well in the round-robin format. Chinman will need to stay ahead in the 15-touch direct elimination bouts if he is going to make a run at his old Northern Colorado Fencers Club teammate, Horanyi, for the title. Chinman and Horanyi have practiced together since they were 10 years old and fenced against each other hundreds of times in competition. Anything could happen if they meet in the title bout.
"There are a few other notable veterans who could make a run for the final four. Kai Itameri-Kinter of Harvard is fencing in his fourth NCAAs and placed 6th in '06, he will be fencing alone without the benefits of another strong Harvard foilist in the field. Columbi's Sherif Farrag has been a top junior fencer for many years and had an excellent regular season this year. Since this is his final year of college fencing, he may pull out all the stops and make a run for it. Will Friedman of Brandeis and Alexis Landreville (St. John's) a member of the Canadian junior national team, can make it to the top four – but they will need some key wins against the favorites.
"The key to this year’s individual championship (as always) will be the seeding into the final four. This is based on the results from the two-day, 23-bout round-robin. Honranyi, Getz, and Chinman are well aware of this fact, having been through it several times. There are ups and downs during the foil rotations. It will be interesting to see if the freshman challengers can keep their focus through the round-robin. The top seeding into the semifinals can be claimed by the fencer who wins the majority of the bouts between the six or seven favorites. The first rotation, when they fence their own teammates, will be critical to a good start.
"If the challengers are to be successful, they must stop Honranyi from getting out in front both in the individual bouts, the round-robin bout total, and the 15-touch final bouts. Horanyi is a maneuvering, defensive fencer who presents difficult angles to his limited target area. His use of deceptive footwork is especially effective when fighting in a defensive mode with a lead. If he is forced to attack, there are small breaks in his approach or preparations where touches can be scored. If he gets out in front, in this competition, he knows what to do against most of the challengers and will be difficult to catch. His OSU teammate will be sophomore newcomer Colin Sutter. Sutter beat out his Houston-based club mate, Ben Parkins who placed 9th in ’08, to make his debut at the NCAAs. Sutter is an experienced righthander who has been particularly strong in 5-touch team bouts.
"Notre Dame freshman phenom Meinhardt saw limited action in his first NCAA regular season this year, because of knee surgery. He appears to be fully recovered and recently fenced well in the senior World Cup in Paris and the North American Cup in January, where he won both the senior and junior competitions. However, Gerek finished 5th at the Midwest Regional, which may indicate that he is having a little trouble adjusting to collegiate competition. He and his freshman teammate Castellani will make a strong pair during the team rotations. Meinhardt can score with a wide variety of seemingly effortless attacks and has an equally devastating defense. Castellani is a tall lefthander with a dominating, technical style. I have seen him come back against seemingly impossible odds. In Koblenz, Germany, in 2007, he sent a bout into overtime against a strong French opponent, scoring when :02 was put back on the clock – and he then went on to win the tournament. The challenge for this Notre Dame dynamic duo will be to maintain focus and fight hard during every 5-touch round-robin bout, in order to keep pressure on Horanyi for the lead in the total number of wins. Foil coach Gia Kvaratshelia will have his hands full keeping these two talented NCAA rookies on track. Their total number of victories is key to Notre Dame staying in the mix for the team championship (which would be ND's eighth overall team title).
"Chinman and Chamley-Watson will carry the fight for Penn State in a bid for PSU's 11th NCAA team championship, which would come in their home gym. This is probably the best combination in terms of an experienced veteran and a top-shelf freshman. They have widely different styles, which will pose a problem for opponents in the round-robin rotation. Chinman has an epee-like style, due to his early experience as one of the top youth and cadet epee fencers. He has competed at the Junior World Championships in both epee and foil in the past, before finally specializing in foil. Chamley-Watson has a wide open offensive foil style, with effective flicks to the shoulder and back. They fenced together on the gold-medal team at the 2008 Junior World Championship. Expect these two to combine for a large number of foil bouts in the team competition, but it may be difficult for either of them to get past Meinhardt in the final four without some tactical surprises.
"Look out for Duke’s combination of "Cohen, Cohen and Marx." These guys could be the darkhorse entry that may blow holes in the championship plans of the favorites. The Duke foilists had a very successful regular season. Dan Cohen, another talented lefthanded freshman, is a member of the Canadian junior national team and has a devastating flick from prime into a right-hander’s four line. If he gets this working effectively, it could be trouble for most opponents. He will be fencing with sophomore Dorian Cohen (6th at ’08 NCAAs), and both of them will be getting some excellent strip-side coaching from several-time Olympian, USFA national champion, and former ND assistant Michael Marx. Marx has made a return to college fencing and is in his first year as assistant coach at Duke. It is interesting to note that the Cohens did not face Meinhardt and Costellani at the Duke duals, because the Irish brought a completely different foil contingent to that regular-season meeting.
"As I said earlier, this year’s NCAA men’s foil competition may go down in history as one of the classics. There will be plenty of exciting showdowns and nailbiting bouts. Expect to see tactical adjustments between fencers who know each other very well, have fenced each other many times, and have practiced and trained together – but now will have the added pressure to win for their team and their universities."
– Wendell Kubik