(Over the next few days, the CF360 blog will be passing along a series of interesting lists and factoids – relating to the 2009 NCAA field and the history of the NCAA Fencing Championship. We kindly ask that any media, SIDs or internet posters who reference such information please credit CollegeFencing360.com with the research.)
It's hard to believe that we are in the midst of the 10th year since the dawning of "Y2K" (in many ways, doesn't that seem like it was yesterday?). The 2000 NCAA Fencing Championships – held that year at Stanford – marked the first season that women's sabre was an officially-contested weapon in NCAA fencing. Thus, the 2009 NCAAs commemorate the 10th year of the six-weapon NCAA Championships formay, with schools that sponsor both men's and women's varsity teams having the chance to send a maximum of 12 fencers to the NCAAs.
Nine teams – led by a core group of Notre Dame, Penn State, St. John's, Columbia and Ohio State – have combined to have the most total NCAA Fencing Championship entrants during the six-weapon era (the others include Penn, Princeton, Stanford and Harvard). Here's a breakdown of which teams have sent the most fencers to the NCAAs over the past 10 seasons (2000-09):
Most NCAA Fencing Championship Entrants (Six-Weapon Era; 2000-09)
117 – Notre Dame
116 – Penn State
110 – St. John's
104 – Columbia
100 – Ohio State
79 – Princeton
78 – Penn
75 – Stanford
73 – Harvard
note: max. is 120 per team ... during the six-weapon era, only a handful of other teams (Rutgers, the Northwestern women, NYU, Wayne State and Yale) have finished among the top-9 during at least one of the NCAA Championships held from 2000-09.
Two of the nine schools listed above (Ohio State and Harvard) took a few years in the current six-weapon format before they started qualifying nine-plus fencers to the NCAAs with regularity. So, here's a look at how many fencers each of the top-9 teams have sent to the NCAAs over the past four years (spanning the careers of most of the teams' seniors):
Most NCAA Fencing Championship Entrants (past four years; 2006-09)
47 – Notre Dame
47 – Penn State
46 – Columbia
44 – Ohio State
44 – St. John's
42 – Harvard
33 – Penn
28 – Stanford
27 – Princeton
maximum is 48 per team
Finally (as the last few lists in this post, with more posts to come), here's a look at teams that have sent the maximum 12 fencers to the NCAAs the most times:
Most Seasons with 12-Fencer NCAA Contingents (2000-09)
7 – Notre Dame ............ 2000, 2001, 2002, *2003, 2006, 2008, 2009
6 – Penn State ............. *2000, *2002, 2004, 2006, *2007, 2009
4 – Ohio State ............... 2003, *2004, *2008, 2009
3 – St. John's ................. *2001, 2005, 2007
2 – Columbia ................. 2007, 2008
1 – Harvard ..................... *2006
1 – Princeton .................. 2000
1 – Stanford .................... 2000
* indicates that team won NCAA title (ND won in '05, with 11 entrants)
Notre Dame (2000-03; 2008-09), Ohio State (2003-04; 2008-09) and Columbia (2007-08) are the only teams ever to qualify 12 fencers in consecutive years (ND is the only one to do so in three or more successive seasons). There has been only one season, 2005, when a team with fewer than 12 entrants won the NCAA title; in fact, 11-bid teams ND and OSU finished 1-2 that season, while the only 12-entrant team (St. John's) placed third.
Most 12-Entrant Teams at One NCAA Championships (2000-09)
4 – 2000 (ND, PSU, STAN, PRIN )
3 – 2006 (ND, PSU, HARV)
3 – 2007 (PSU, SJU, COL)
3 – 2008 (ND, OSU, COL)
3 – 2009 (ND, PSU, OSU)
2 – 2001 (ND, SJU)
2 – 2002 (ND, PSU)
2 – 2003 (ND, OSU)
2 – 2004 (PSU, OSU)
1 – 2005 (SJU)
In the five-year span of 2001-05, there were no NCAA Championships with more than two 12-bid teams – but each of the past four years (2006-09) have featured NCAA field withs three 12-entrant teams.
NCAA Year-by-Year 12-Entrant Teams (2000-09)
2000 – Four (ND, PSU, STAN, PRIN)
2001 – Two (ND, SJU)
2002 – Two (ND, PSU)
2003 – Two (ND, OSU)
2004 – Two (PSU, OSU)
2005 –One (SJU)
2006 – Three (ND, PSU, HARV)
2007 – Three (PSU, SJU, COL)
2008 – Three (ND, OSU, COL)
2009 – Three (ND, PSU, OSU)
Check back to the blog over the next few days for similar lists and breakdowns (feel free to send your suggestions to: editor@collegefencing360.com). We already have some more data ready to pass on (some of it relating to the content above), along with some other topics (both historical and 2009-based) that you may find interesting. At times, CF360 also will be sure to break down the data looking solely at the women's teams – in order to better recognize programs such as Cornell, Northwestern and Temple (along with five others) that sponsor varsity fencing only on the women's side.