Epee and Foil Finish Second for Blue Fencing at NEIFCs, Xu Takes Gold in Epee
WELLESLEY, Mass. - First year Grace Xu (Toronto, Ontario) and Senior Kimberley Kimura (Los Angeles, Calif.) were first and second in the individual women's epee competition for Wellesley College fencing at the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC) Championship from the Dorothy Towne Fieldhouse and Multipurpose Gymnasium on Saturday.
Saturday's NEIFC Championships crowned team, squad and individual champions in foil, epee, and sabre, with team competition beginning in squad round robins before an elimination round that included a round robin pool and bracket determined the individual champion in each weapon.
Wellesley took second in the three-weapon team competition, trailing only Division I Brown, who won both the foil and sabre competitions.
The Blue took second overall in the foil and epee squad finals, while finishing fifth in sabre. Xu won the individual epee competition with a teammate versus teammate battle with Kimura in the finals to determine first and second. First year Sharon Huang (Toronto, Ontario) also took home the silver medal in sabre.
Foil
Wellesley's foil squad of seniors Alexia Gilioli (New York, N.Y.), Sejal Saxena (Chappaqua, N.Y.), and junior Edith Po (Bernardsville, N.J.) took second place in the team competition. The trio won 46 out of 48 matches with a +164 touch ratio, losing only to the winning team from Brown.
Saxena placed ninth in the individual competition, placing fifth in the B pool, while Po and Gilioli advanced to the knockout stage as the No. 3 and 8 seeds respectively. Gilioli fell to the top seed in the quarterfinals to finish eighth, while Po also fell in the quarterfinals and took fifth.
Epee
Wellesley was also the runner up in the epee squad competition, winning 40 bouts with a +89 touch ratio. Wellesley's epee team consisted of Kimura, Xu, and sophomore Elena Vona (Millstone, N.J.). Vassar won the epee team competition with 44 wins.
Kimura won the B pool to take the No. 2 seed in the knockout stage while Xu was seeded eighth. Both fencers surged all the way to the finals to battled one another. Ultimately, Xu earned the gold with a 15-11 win in the finals, while Kimura finished with the silver medal.
Sabre
Brown earned their second squad win of the day with the Blue taking fifth behind 39 bout wins from a team of senior Hunter Dodrill (Boca Raton, Fla.), sophomore Makana Burch (Portland, Ore.), and first year Sharon Huang (Toronto, Ontario).
Huang and Dodrill both advanced to the knockout stage with Huang seeded third and Dodrill seeded eighth. Huang advanced to the finals, falling 15-10 in the finale to take second. Dodrill made the quarterfinals, finishing eighth in the individual competition.
The Blue next compete at the NCAA Regionals at Harvard on March 12.