Sunday's action at the M.I.T./Brandeis Eric Sollee Invitational (held at M.I.T.) will feature a handful of elite collegiate fencers, plus 14 former All-Americans and 35 who have competed in previous NCAA Championships. We have not been able to locate a full schedule for this event, but several of the participating schools have posted their bouting order for the event at M.I.T.:
• Harvard (#7 men/#5 women) – vs. M.I.T., Yeshiva and #10 Duke (times not available).
• Princeton (#5 men/#7 women) – vs. NYU (8:30), Brandeis (10:00), M.I.T. (noon), Boston College (1:30) and Haverford (3:00).
• Pennsylvania (#6 men/#9 women) – schedule not available at this time
• Duke (#10 men/#10 women) – vs. Boston College (8:30), NYU (10:00), Brandeis (noon), #7/#5 Harvard (1:30), M.I.T. (3:00) and Haverford (4:30)
10-team field includes Boston College, Brandeis, Duke, Harvard, Haverford, M.I.T., NYU, Penn, Princeton and Yeshiva.
It appears that the only matchup at M.I.T. between top-10 teams will be Harvard versus Duke, so it will be interesting to see the results from bouts between top fencers from those teams.
Based on past NCAA Tournament performance, the top fencers to watch at M.I.T. include Harvard women's foilist Emily Cross (a 2008 U.S. Olympian who won the 2005 NCAA title and placed 3rd in'06), Harvard men's epeeist Benji Ungar ('06 NCAA champ; also 7th in '05) and Princeton men's epeeist Graham Wicas (3rd at the '08 NCAAs). Add Duke newcomer Becca Ward – the 2008 Olympic women's sabre bronze medalist – to that list of elite competitors set to compete at the Sollee Invite.
In addition to Cross, Ungar and Wicas, 11 other entrants at this event have posted All-America finishes (top-12) at previous NCAA Tournaments: the Harvard trio of men's foilist Kai Itameri-Kinter (6th in '06, 15th in '07, 19th in '08), women's epeeist Maria Larsson (9th in '06, 13th in '08), and women's foilist Misha Goldfeder (10th in '07); Duke men's foilist Dorian Cohen (6th in '08), men's sabreist Peter Truszkowski (8th in '08, 10th in '06); Penn men's sabreists Andrew Bielen (10th in '07) and Jon Berkowsky (11th in '08), women's foilist Ilana Sinkin (9th in '08, 13th in '07, 15th in '06) and sabreist Danielle Kamis (10th in '08); NYU men's sabreist Sam Roukas (7th in '08, 22nd in '07); and Brandeis men's foilist Will Friedman (7th in '08, 23rd in '07).
Here's a rundown of the 35 NCAA Tournament veterans whose teams are competing at M.I.T.:
• Six Men's Foilists – Harvard's Itameri-Kinter and Long Ouyang (23rd) ... Duke's Dorian and Eliot Cohen (24th in '07) ... Brandeis standout Friedman ... and NYU's Alexander Kao (17th in '05).
• Four Men's Epeeists – Harvard's Ungar ... Princeton's Wicas ... Penn's Ben Wieder (23rd in '08) ... and Haverford's Remy Olson (18th in '08).
• Ten Men's Sabreists – Penn's Bielen, Berkowsky, Andrew Kolasa (16th in '08, 13th in '07, 17th in '06) ... Duke's Truszkowski ... NYU's Roukas and Jared Hammond (17th in '08) ... Princeton's John Stogin (20th in '08) and Thomas Abend (19th in '07) ... Boston College's Malcolm Conley (20th in '08) ... and M.I.T.'s Igor Kopylov (20th in '06).
• Seven Women's Foilists – the Harvard quartet of Cross, Goldfeder, Anna Podolsky (15th in '08) and Arielle Pensler (18th in '08, 17th in '07) ... Penn's Sinkin ... NYU's Sophie Ciaravino (17th in '08) ... and M.I.T.'s Cordelia Link (18th in '07).
• Four Women's Epeeists – Harvard's Larsson ... M.I.T.'s Stephanie Shin (20th in '08) ... Emma Buckingham (15th in '08) ... Caitlin Kozel of Brandeis (24th in '08).
• Four Women's Sabreists – Penn's Kamis, Alexis Baran (14th in '07, 17th in '08) and Cassandra Partyka (20th in '07, 23rd in '06) ... and NYU's Alyxandra Mattison (19th in '08).