Here's CF360's first look at the 2009 NCAA Regionals (more to come later today on the actual regional entrants, how they qualified for the regional, etc.).
The nation's top collegiate fencers will be competing this weekend at four NCAA regionals (official names of the events are included below – note that the words "qualifier" or "championship" should not be used when referencing an NCAA fencing regional).
The NCAA regional results factor into 60% of each fencers' qualification into the NCAA Championships field (which includes 24 fencers per weapon, with a maximum of two fencers from the same team in each weapon field).
The other 40% of NCAA Championships selection is based upon regular-season "FSF" (fencer strength factor), which comprises the following factors: power rating of opponents fencers faced (based on USFA and FIE rankings, plus previous NCAA Championship placement); season win pct. vs. varsity fencers (in formal dual-meet events); and two formulas that measure a fencer's schedule strength.
The FSF is a formula that can make one's head spin when reading it, but the basic selection process for the NCAA finals is a fairly simple concept: a fencer's regular-season performance (40%) and NCAA regional finish (60%) have nearly equal weight in determining entrants in the NCAA Championships.
Essentially, a fencer seeded low going into a regional can vault into contention for a spot in the NCAA finals – by posting a high finish at the regional. One aspect new this year is the fact that the six weapon champions at each regional site will become automatic qualifiers to the NCAA Championships (regardless of their seed position entering the regional competition).
Fencers seeded among the top spots in the larger two regions (Northeast and Mid-Atlantic/South) are virtually assured of a spot in the NCAA Championships – for example, the Northeast Region will be sending 10 women's sabre fencers to the NCAAs. Conversely, the smallest region (West) provides no guarantee for the higher seeds (most notably, the West has only one NCAA allocation in women's foil).
Each region's weapon allocations for the NCAAs are included below (sorted by region and weapon). Note that these allocations were tweaked recently, in partdue to Cal State Fullerton dropping the varsity status from its fencing programs on June 30, 2008 (after the allocations initially had been set for 2009). Note that since the West Region has only four fencing teams remaining, one of the West's women's foil allocation spots was shifted to the Midwest (from 4 to 5; West went from 2 to 1). Another recent shift (likewise enacted on Feb. 19) moved one of the women's sabre allocation spots from the Mid-Atlantic/South (went from 6 to 5) to the Northeast (from 9 to 10).
Finally, one more wrinkle to the NCAA entrant process is the fact that – at times – a head coach is given the option of selecting what fencers will represent his/her team at the NCAA Championships. The coach only has this option to choose from fencers that fall with the respective allocation numbers (beyond the regional champions, who are automatic qualifiers). So, for example, if a team from the Northeast has four women's sabreists finish within the allocation range (and not champion, i.e. #2-#10) – then that coach can select the two women's sabreists who will represent the team at the NCAA finals.
And, as a follow-up, when a team has more than two fencers falling in an allocation range for a weapon, then the allocated spots shift accordingly (in the above example, fencers in the #11 and #12 spots would be eligible for the NCAAs ... and so on, until the weapon allocation is filled with no more than two fencers per team).
Fencers have one final chance to make the NCAA Championships field, as two at-large spots are set aside for each weapon. Each region will nominate two fencers (per weapon) to the at-large pool. The fencers nominated are those that fell two spots out of the allocation. Per the NCAA Handbook, final selection of the at-large fencers (from the respective pools of eight) will be based on the regular-season FSF ... it appears that, in this instance, the FSF would trump Regional finish in the selection process (CF360 will attempt to clarify this factor, prior to next week's announcement of the NCAA field on March 10).
OK, now your head probably is spinning (we tried to simplify things/put it in layman's terms – hopefully it cleared things up for some of you). Anyway, here's a look at how the four regions will funnel into the NCAAs (again, we will break down the regional entrants later today and analyze where the key battles will take place):
2009 NCAA FENCING CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION (by region)
NCAA West Regional (4 teams)
3 – Men's Foil, Men's Epee
2 – Men's Sabre, Women's Epee, Women's Sabre
1 – Women's Foil
NCAA Midwest Regional (7 teams)
6 – Women's Epee
5 – Men's Epee, Men's Sabre, Women's Foil, Women's Sabre
4 – Men's Foil
NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (13 teams)
7 – Men's Sabre, Women's Foil
6 – Men's Foil, Men's Epee, Women's Epee
5 – Women's Sabre
NCAA Northeast Regional (18 teams)
10 – Women's Sabre
9 – Men's Foil, Women's Foil
8 – Men's Epee, Men's Sabre, Women's Epee
note: the NCAA Championships field (24 total fencers per weapon) also will include two "at-large" qualifiers, per weapon
2009 NCAA FENCING CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION (by weapon)
WEAPON ...... Region: ..... West ....... Midwest ...... Mid-Atlantic/South ...... Northeast
Men's Foil ........................... 3 ................. 4 ....................... 6 ........................... 9
Men's Epee ......................... 3 ................. 5 ....................... 6 ........................... 8
Men's Sabre ........................ 2 ................. 5 ....................... 7 ........................... 8
Women's Foil ....................... 1 ................. 5 ...................... 7 ............................ 9
Women's Epee ..................... 2 ................. 6 ...................... 6 ............................ 8
Women's Sabre .................... 2 ................. 5 ...................... 5 .......................... 10
note: the NCAA Championships field (24 total fencers per weapon) also will include two "at-large" qualifiers, per weapon