Contact: Pete LaFleur (editor@collegefencing360.com)
(Over the next few days, the CF360 blog again will be passing along a series of interesting lists and factoids – relating to the 2010 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 and include a link to this post).
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 2010 NCAAs commemorate the 11th year of the six-weapon NCAA Championships format, 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 Princeton, Penn, Harvard and Stanford). Here's a breakdown of which teams have sent the most fencers to the NCAAs over the past 11 seasons (2000-2010):
Most NCAA Fencing Championship Entrants (Six-Weapon Era; 2000-10)
129 – Notre Dame (11.73 per year ... 1 ME in 2004 .... 1 MF in '05 ... 1 WE in '07)
128 – Penn State (11.64 per year ... 1 WE in 2001 .... 1 ME in '03 ... 1 ME in '05 ... 1 WS in '08)
122 – St. John's (11.09 per year)
112 – Columbia (10.18 per year)
111 – Ohio State (10.09 per year)
91 – Princeton (8.27 per year)
86 – Pennsylvania (7.82 per year)
85 – Harvard (7.73 per year)
81 – Stanford (7.36 per year)
note: max. is 132 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 2000-10.
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 five years:
Most NCAA Fencing Championship Entrants (past five years; 2006-10)
59 – Notre Dame
59 – Penn State
56 – St. John's
55 – Ohio State
54 – Columbia
54 – Harvard
41 – Penn
39 – Princeton
34 – Stanford
maximum is 60 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 (2000-10)
8 – Notre Dame ............ 2000, 2001, 2002, *2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
7 – Penn State ............. *2000, *2002, 2004, 2006, *2007, *2009, 2010
4 – Ohio State ............... 2003, *2004, *2008, 2009
4 – St. John's ................. *2001, 2005, 2007, 2010
2 – Columbia ................. 2007, 2008
2 – Harvard ..................... *2006, 2010
2 – Princeton .................. 2000, 2010
1 – Stanford .................... 2000
* indicates that team won NCAA title (ND won in '05, with 11 entrants)
Notre Dame (2000-03; 2008-10), Penn State (2006-07; 2009-10), 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 in 2005 (St. John's) placed third.
Most 12-Entrant Teams at One NCAA Championships (2000-10)
5 – 2010 (HARV, ND, PSU, PRIN, SJU)
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 held with more than two 12-bid teams – but each of the past five years (2006-10) have featured an NCAA field with three or more 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)
2010 – Five (HARV, ND. PSU, PRIN, SJU)
Teams with Two Qualifiers in a Weapon Every Year (2000-10)
• Notre Dame (3) – Men's Sabre ... Women's Foil ... Women's Sabre
• St. John's (3) – Men's Epee ... Men's Sabre ... Women's Sabre
• Penn State (2) – Men's Sabre ... Women's Foil
Note: an upcoming blog post will have more details about these traditionally strong weapon groups ... above list includes men's sabre three times, women's foil twice, women's sabre twice and men's epee once ... longest active streak of two men's foil NCAA entrants is Ohio State (7 yrs; 2004-10) ... longest active streak of two women's epee entrants is Columbia and St. John's (6 yrs; 2005-10)
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 2010-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 others) that sponsor varsity fencing only on the women's side.