As a point of clarification, today's tournaments (the IFAs and MFCs) essentially are postseason exhibition events, in relation to the qualification process for the NCAA Championships. Final NCAA qualification data was submitted earlier this week, with only bouts versus varsity-level fencers (in dual-meet formats) counting in the qualification formula. Earlier "open" individual tournaments and last week's New England Championships (which is contested in a pools/DE format) also do not factor into NCAA qualification – but results from the recent Ivy League Championships are used to determine NCAA entrants (due to the fact that the Ivy League uses a dual-meet format).
Despite the absence of "countable bouts," the IFAs and MFCs still can prove to be valuable to coaches, who may have to make some tough choices in terms of choosing (when applicable) which fencers from their respective teams to send to the NCAA Regionals and/or Finals (championship) – more on this process will be upcoming in the CF360 blog.