Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Greg Howard and the Fighting Irish will compete at the Midwest Regional this Sunday.

 
Irish Travel To Detroit For NCAA Midwest Regional

Competition to take place on Sunday at the University of Detroit Mercy.

Feb. 29, 2008

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Notre Dame men's and women's fencing teams will travel to Detroit, Mich. to take part in the NCAA Midwest Regional this Sunday, March 2. The competition will be held at the University of Detroit Mercy. Both Fighting Irish teams will attempt to qualify the maximum 12 fencers for the NCAA Championship, which will be held in Columbus, Ohio March 13-16.

Each team at the Regional can qualify up to 12 athletes, with two from each weapon. Top-five finishers will receive automatic bids in sabre and epee and top-four finishers in foil will receive auto-bids. In addition to the automatic bids, several at-large bids will also be available. Selections for the NCAA Championship are based on two primary criteria: power ranking (40%) - which determines the regional seeding - and regional finish (60%).

The Regional features a direct-elimination stage following pool rounds. The competition will feature preliminary pool rounds (if needed) to seed for the 16-fencer double-elimination tournament, with the first eight spots being fenced out.

The Notre Dame women enter competition as the No. 2 team in the latest United States Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA) poll, while the Fighting Irish men are ranked third. Both Irish squads finished second at last weekend's Midwest Fencing Conference Championships, which were held at Notre Dame.

Freshman Ewa Nelip took the conference title in the epee, while she also helped the Irish capture the team epee crown. The Fighting Irish men had 12 all-conference honorees, while the women boasted seven.

Earning first-team all-MWFC honors for the Notre Dame women were Nelip (epee), Hayley Reese (foil), Eileen Hassett (sabre) and Sarah Borrmann (sabre). Copping similar accolades for the Irish men were Karol Kostka (epee), Mark Kubik (foil), Steve Kubik (foil), Bill Thanhouser (sabre) and Barron Nydam (sabre).

Ohio State, who will be competing at the Midwest Regional, took first at the conference meet in both the men's and women's action. The Buckeye women are ranked first and the men are second.

Here is a breakdown of the current Fighting Irish season records (career records in parenthesis):

Women's Epee
Kimberlee Montoya 71-15 (150-46), Kelley Hurley 47-1 (98-5), Ewa Nelip 45-6 (45-6), Vanessa Rosa 23-44 (23-44), Nichola Lubold 14-13 (14-13)

Women's Foil
Adrienne Nott 69-10 (170-22), Hayley Reese 69-12 (69-12), Emilie Prot 42-20 (138-48), Rachel Cota 40-17 (135-48)

Women's Sabre
Sarah Borrmann 73-7 (73-7), Eileen Hassett 67-12 (67-12), Ashley Serrette 66-25 (184-72), Christina Zoccoli 19-10 (40-30)

Men's Epee
Greg Howard 47-10 (174-44), Karol Kostka 46-16 (137-45), Greg Schoolcraft 38-19 (38-19), Andrew Seroff 34-5 (34-5), Chris Pfarr 24-4 (24-4), Conor Gettings 12-2 (12-2), Rich Molina 7-2 (7-2), Matt Gasperetti 5-3 (5-3), Bill Ehrlich 4-1 (11-7)

Men's Foil
Zach Schirtz 47-11 (47-11), Steve Kubik 42-9 (42-9), Teddy Hodges 37-10 (37-10), Mark Kubik 36-7 (118-45), Jakub Jedrkowiak 29-10 (157-45), Xavier Lebec 13-8 (21-10), Diego Silva 12-8 (20-11)

Men's Sabre
Bill Thanhouser 47-19 (139-41), Avery Zuck 39-8 (39-8), Barron Nydam 36-12 (36-12), Tom Horton 28-13 (72-34), Alex Buell 24-18 (24-18), Matt Pentz 11-10 (20-15), John Plunkett 5-9 (5-9)

For more information on the 2008 NCAA Midwest Regional log onto www.detroittitans.com.

2008 NCAA Midwest Fencing Regional Seedings
University of Detroit Mercy
March 2, 2008
Men's Epee
14 fencers. 2 pools of 7, top 12 advance to
Direct Elimination with repechage
(all places will be fenced out)

1. Greg Howard, Notre Dame
2. Slava Zingerman, Wayne State
3. Karol Kostka, Notre Dame
4. Mykhylo Mazur, Ohio State
5. Sean Harder, Ohio State
6. Greg Schoolcraft, Notre Dame
7. Jason Pryor, Ohio State
8. Bishara Korkor, Ohio State
9. Andrew Seroff, Notre Dame
10. Andy Snell, Cleveland State
11. Shawn Wright, Cleveland State
12. Alexander Kaeding, Lawrence
13. Jeff Tormey, Cleveland State
14. Joe Fresard, Wayne State
Men's Foil
14 fencers. 2 pools of 7, top 12 advance to
Direct Elimination with repechage
(all places will be fenced out)
1. Andras Horanyi, Ohio State
2. Ben Parkins, Ohio State
3. Mark Kubik, Notre Dame
4. Jakub Jedrkowiak, Notre Dame
5. Zach Schirtz, Notre Dame
6. Colin Sutter, Ohio State
7. Steve Kubik, Notre Dame
8. Joe Doherty, Ohio State
9. Liran Gross, Cleveland State
10. Craig Budzynski, Detroit
11. John Marshall, Cleveland State
12. Brad Coon, Detroit
13. Jamie Gawecki, Detroit
14. Steve Montgomery, Cleveland State
Men's Sabre
13 fencers. Preliminary round will consist of a pool between
fencers seeded 8-13, top five advance.
Second round will be two pools of 6.
All advance to Direct Elimination with repechage
(all places will be fenced out)
1. Mike Momtselidze, Ohio State
2. Avery Zuck, Notre Dame
3. Sergey Smirnov, Ohio State
4. Barron Nydam, Notre Dame
5. Robert Douville, Ohio State
6. Bill Thanhouser, Notre Dame
7. Jakub Gibczynski, Wayne State
8. Dexter Wilde, Ohio State
9. Tom Horton, Notre Dame
10. Nils Schaede, Lawrence
11. John Downey, Cleveland State
12. Alex Chee, Lawrence
13. Doug Sollman, Detroit

Women's Epee
20 fencers. First round will be pool of fencers seeded 15-20,
top 4 advance. Second round will be three pools of 6,
top 16 advance to a Direct Elimination with repechage
(places 1-12 will be fenced out)
1. Kaela Brendler, Ohio State
2. Alexandra Obrazcova, Ohio State
3. Kelley Hurley, Notre Dame
4. Ewa Nelip, Notre Dame
5. Kayley French, Northwestern
6. Christa French, Northwestern
7. Joanna Niklinska, Northwestern
8. Kimberlee Montoya, Notre Dame
9. Justyna Konczalska, Wayne State
10. Leslie Lampmann, Ohio State
11. Megan Ross, Northwestern
12. Elyse Gurnowski, Ohio State
13. Emanuela Bercea, Wayne State
14. Chira Terzuolo, Lawrence
15. Elise Pfaltzgraff, Lawrence
16. Courtney Zemkosky, Cleveland State
17. Ashley Colbert, Detroit
18. Brooke Snyder, Cleveland State
19. Vanessa Rosa, Notre Dame
20. Valerie Austin, Detroit

Women's Foil
14 fencers. 2 pools of 7, top 12 advance to
Direct Elimination with repechage
(all places will be fenced out)
1. Oksana Dmytruk, Ohio State
2. Lindsay Knauer, Ohio State
3. Samantha Nemecek, Northwestern
4. Julia Tichonova, Ohio State
5. Natalie Wang, Northwestern
6. Adrienne Nott, Notre Dame
7. Hayley Reese, Notre Dame
8. Meredith Baskies, Northwestern
9. Emilie Prot, Notre Dame
10. Emily Rames, Detroit
11. Rachel Cota, Notre Dame
12. Dorothea Schurr, Lawrence
13. Melanie Kathan, Lawrence
14. Samantha Strassburg, Wayne State

Women's Sabre
16 fencers. Two pools of 8.
All advance to Direct Elimination with repechage
(1-12 places will be fenced out)
1. Eileen Grench, Ohio State
2. Siobhan Byrne, Ohio State
3. Sarah Borrmann, Notre Dame
4. Eileen Hassett, Notre Dame
5. Karolina Budna, Wayne State
6. Falencia Miller, Ohio State
7. Ann Bartoszewicz, Wayne State
8. Ashley Serrette, Notre Dame
9. Allison Keller, Northwestern
10. Adrienne Shon, Northwestern
11. Whitney White, Northwestern
12. Roberta Sims, Detrot
13. Ashley McLemore, Detroit
14. Christina Bartell, Lawrence
15. Katie Smetana, Cleveland State
16. Anna Kotov, Wayne State