Contact: Pete LaFleur (editor@collegefencing360.com) Feb. 5, 2011
Sunday's Eric Sollee Invitational at MIT will bring together some of the top teams and individuals in college fencing – led by two-time defending NCAA champions Penn State (#2-ranked women; #4 men), along with Harvard (#2 men; #3 women), the University of Pennsylvania (#7 men; #8 women), Duke (#9 men; #11 women) and seven other varsity squads. (Note: full bouting schedule listed at bottom of this blog post.)
The tournament will feature a collection of elite sabreists:
• Duke's Becca Ward (2008 Olympic bronze medalist; '09 NCAA champ/'10 runner-up)
• Harvard's Caroline Vloka (beat Ward for 2010 NCAA title, after losing to her in '09 final)
• Penn State's Aleksander Ochoki (2009 NCAA men's champ; '10 semifinalist)
• Harvard men's All-American Valentin Staller
• and the Penn duo of All-Americans Evan Prochniak and Danielle Kamis
Other top fencers to see on Sunday at MIT include the 2010 NCAA women's epee finalists: Penn State's Marg Guzzi (defending champ) and Harvard's Noam Mills (NCAA runner-up each of the past two season) ... Penn State's two-time NCAA women's foil champion Doris Willette ('10 runner-up; '08 Olympian) ... and the PSU men's foil duo of Miles Chamley-Watson (two-time NCAA semifnalist) and David Willette, who followed the lead of his sister Doris by reaching the 2010 NCAA final.
Harvard junior sabreist Carolina Vloka
The top team matchups will include Harvard's squads vs. Penn in round-3 (taking place approximately in the 11:00 hour) and then Harvard vs. Duke, in round-4 bouting that should start in the range of 12:15. Fans should be sure to check out the Vloka vs. Ward battle in that round, rematching the sabreists who have faced off in the past two NCAA finals.
TOP FENCERS TO WATCH ...
fifth-year senior foilist Doris Willette
#2 PENN STATE WOMEN ... Two-time NCAA foil champion Doris Willette ('07, '09) headlines the roster (she also was 2010 NCAA runner-up and fenced for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics), while 2010 NCAA epee champ Marg Guzzi is back for her second season of college fencing ... PSU also returns sophomore foilist Olga Ostatnigrosh (16th at '10 NCAAs) and junior sabreist Monica Aksamit (5th at '09 NCAAs; did not fence for PSU in '10) ... sabreist Olivia Benedek placed 15th at the NCAAs as a sophomore in 2010 but is not listed on the team's current roster ... top newcomers include sabreist Nicole Glon (member of U.S. Junior National Team and daughter of longtime PSU assistant Wes Glon) and epeeist Anne Stephenson (10th at PSU Open in fall of '10).
junior sabreist Aleksander Ochocki
#4 PENN STATE MEN ... The Nittany Lions men also feature a former NCAA champion, as junior Aleksander Ochocki won the title in 2009 and was a 2010 semifinalist ... with 2010 NCAA foil champ Gerek Meinhardt (ND) out due to a season-ending injury, Penn State clearly boasts the top men's foil duo in college fencing: junior Miles Chamley-Watson ('09 and '10 semifinalist) and freshman David Willette ('10 NCAA runner-up; brother of two-time women's foil champ Doris Willette) ... freshman sabreist Adrian Bak – brother of 2008-10 PSU All-American Daniel Bak (three-time NCAA semifinalist) – has compiled a solid rookie campaign, as has foilist Jeremy Goldstein ... another newcomer, Anthony Green, is looking to help replace PSU's pair of graduated epee participants in the 2010 NCAAs.
junior sabreist Valentin Staller
#2 HARVARD MEN ... The Crimson area a fairly young team, returning five competitors from the 2010 NCAAs (four of them juniors or sophomore) ... junior men's sabreist Valentin Staller (6th at '20 NCAAs; 15th in '09) could contend for the 2011 NCAA title, while the team's other top veterans will be looking to boost their NCAA finishes from a year ago: senior foilist Hao Meng (16th), junior epeeist James Hawrot (14th) and the promising sophomore duo of foil All-American Tomasso DiRobilant (12th in '10) and sabreist Michael Tom (21st) ... top newcomers include epeeist Michael Raynis (has held U.S. #1 ranking in Under-19s) and sabreist Eric Arzoian (3rd-place at 2010 Junior World Championships) – although Raynis likely won't be fencing Sunday at MIT (he was compting Saturday in Sweden, at a Jr. World Cup).
junior epeeist Noam Mills
#3 HARVARD WOMEN ... The Crimson women boast the defending NCAA sabre champ, junior Caroline Vloka ('09 runner-up) and a junior epeeist, Noam Mills, who finished as NCAA runner-up in each of the past two seasons ... junior foilist Shelby MacLeod is a two-time NCAA entrant (17th in '09; 11th in '10) ... two other current Harvard fencers competed in the 2010 NCAAs: sophomore sabreist Elena Helgu (21st) and sophomore epeeist Felicia Sun (22nd) ... freshman foilist Alex Kiefer impressively won the Penn State Garret Open (fall of '10) and went 15-0 vs. several top fencers at the recent St. John's Super Cup ... junior sabreist Hayley Levitt also could emerge as a key postseason contributor for the Crimson.
junior foilist Vidur Kapur
PENN ... The Quakers have fencers with NCAA Tournament experience at all six weapons, led by three-time NCAA women's sabre entrant Danielle Kamis (10th in '08; 14 in '09; 20th in '10) ... her teammate, sophomore Dominika Franciskowicz, placed 12th in the 2009 and '10 NCAA sabre standings ... senior women's epeeist Stephanie Wheeler has made two trips to the NCAAs (9th in '09; 17th in '10), while two Penn women's foilists have competed in the NCAAs: current junior Laura Paragano (15th in '09) and second-year fencer Aida Abdikulova (22nd in '10) ... the Quakers men's teams has a junior foil trio who all have advanced to the NCAAs during their careers: Vidur Kapur (9th in '10; 15th in '09), Alex Simmons (7th in '10) and Zane Grodman (17th, in '09) ... senior men's epeeist Jacob Wischnia (17th at 2010 NCAAs) and sophomore men's sabreist Evan Prochniak (11th in '10) round out Penn's veteran leaders ... freshman men's epeeist Clifford Fishler has posted several noteworthy wins this season, while the women's epee team also boasts a top newcomer in Gabby Foor.
junior sabreist Becca Ward
DUKE ... Junior women's sabreist Becca Ward already ranks as the most accomplished fencer in Duke history ('08 Olympic bronze medalist; 09 NCAA champ/'10 runner-up) ... her classmate Emily D'Agostino (12th at '10 NCAAs) is emerging as one of college fencing's top epeeists ... the Duke men's roster includes four fencers (spanning all three weapons with NCAA Tournament experience, led by two-time foil All-American Dorian Cohen (6th in '08; 8th in '10; 21st/injured in '09) ... the junior epee duo of Tristan Jones (23rd in '10) and Jonathan Parker (21st in '09) both have fenced in the NCAAs, while sabreist Anthony Lin earned a trip to the NCAAs a year ago to cap his freshman season (22nd).
sophomore foilist Phillip Jameson
NYU ... The Violets have three fencers who have previously competed in the NCAAs: sophomore men's foilist Phillip Jameson (13th in '10), senior men's epeeist Byron Neslund (15th in '10) and senior women's foilist Amanda Rysling (24th in '09).
BC junior sabreist Peter Souders
OTHERS OF NOTE ... Brandeis has a pair of senior sabreists with NCAA Tournament experience: Adam Austin (22nd) and Anna Hanley (17th), both in 2009 ... Boston College junior men's sabreist Peter Souders is a two-time NCAA participant (15th in '10; 18th in '09), while BC senior women's foilist Jennifer Colacino is looking for a return trip to the NCAAs (24th in '10) ... MIT junior women's sabreist Robin Shin placed 22nd at the 2009 NCAAs, which also saw current Brown senior Jonathan Yu place 23rd in men's foil.
ERIC SOLLEE INVITATIONAL
Sunday; Feb. 6, 2011
(at MIT; Cambridge, MA)
all matchups include men's and women bouts
... Notes: start times are approximate ... Harvard men are ranked #2, women #3 ...
Penn State men #4, women #2 ... Penn men #7, women #8 ... Duke men #9.
Round-1 (8:30 a.m.)
Penn State vs. MIT ... Penn vs. Brandeis ... Duke vs. NYU
Brown vs. Yeshiva ... Boston College vs. Hunter ... bye – Harvard
Round-2 (9:45 a.m.)
Penn State vs. Boston College ... Harvard vs. Hunter ... Duke vs. Brown
MIT vs. NYU ... Brandeis vs. Yeshiva ... bye – Penn
Round-3 (11:00 a.m.)
Penn State vs. Brown ... Harvard vs. Penn ... Duke vs. Boston College
Brandeis vs. NYU ... byes – MIT, Yeshiva and Hunter
Round-4 (12:15 p.m.)
Penn State vs. NYU ... Harvard vs. Duke ... Penn vs. MIT
Brown vs. Hunter ... Boston College vs. Yeshiva ... bye – Brandeis
Round-5 (1:30 p.m.)
Penn State vs. Brandeis ... Penn vs. NYU ... Duke vs. Hunter
MIT vs. Yeshiva ... byes – Harvard, Brown and Boston College
Round-6 (2:45 p.m.)
Penn vs. Boston College ... Duke vs. MIT ... Brown vs. NYU
Brandeis vs. Hunter ... byes – Penn State, Harvard, Yeshiva
Round-7 (4:00 p.m.)
Penn vs. Brown ... Duke vs. Brandeis ... NYU vs. Boston College
MIT vs. Hunter ... byes – Penn State, Harvard, Yeshiva