Northwestern University Athletics
Five Wildcats to Compete at NCAA Championships
3/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Fencing
March 8, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - Five Wildcats have been selected to compete in Houston, Texas at the NCAA Championships, set for March 17-20. Senior Julia Foldi (Budapest, Hungary/Szent Istavan Gimnazium) leads the group, having earned all-America status each of her three previous seasons. She will attempt to become Northwestern's first four-time all-American.
Kate Rudkin is NU's only other three-time all-American.
In Houston, Foldi will compete alongside sophomore Jessica Florendo (Forest Hills, N.Y./The Dwight School) at foil.
The sabre competition will feature senior Lauren Dunn (Sacramento, Calif./Del Campo) and sophomore Mai Vu (New York, N.Y./Bronx Science. Dunn will attempt to recreate the magic of her freshman season, when she earned all-America status by placing eighth. She has not been back to the Championships until now.
Sophomore Courtney DuBois (Chatham, N.J./Oak Knoll) will be the Wildcats' lone representative at epee. This will be Dubois' first trip to the NCAA's.
Florendo, Foldi and Vu all competed at last year's NCAA Championships, aiding Northwestern in finishing sixth -- the team's best showing since 2000.
Rules of NCAA Championships
Fencers will compete in a round-robin of 24 fencers in five-touch bouts. After the round-robin, the top four fencers in each event will fence direct elimination 15-touch bouts for first, second, third and fourth place.
An institution's place finish in the championships will be based on points earned by each individual. A team will be awarded one point for each victory by its student-athletes for the duration of the championships.
A Quick Recap Of How The 'Cats Did At Last Year's Championships
In Waltham, Mass. last year, Foldi took eighth to lead Northwestern to a sixth-place finish.
Fellow foilist Florendo placed 13th and missed all-America honors (12th place or higher) by just five touches. In sabre, Lauren Van Gieson (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) was one win away from 12th place; she ended up 14th.
Van Gieson was followed by fellow sabreist Vu, who nabbed 19th. Closing out competition for NU was Sharon Sullivan (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport), who placed 21st.
