Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Sending Five Fencers to 2010 NCAA Championships
3/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Fencing
March 16, 2010
2010 NCAA Fencing Championships Live Results
2010 NCAA Fencing Championships Information
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Third-ranked Northwestern's impressive 2009-10 season looks to close out in impressive style as the Wildcats will send five fencers to the 2010 NCAA Championships in Cambridge, Mass., March 25-26. It marks the sixth time in the past seven years Northwestern will have five representatives at nationals.
Seniors Christa French and Kayley French (Southlake, Texas/Carroll), sophomore Devynn Patterson (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) and freshmen Alicia Gurrieri (Medford, N.J./Moorestown Friends) and Dayana Sarkisova (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) will represent Northwestern with the French twins and Patterson all making return trips to the NCAA Championships.
"We have a fantastic group going to nationals," said head coach Laurie Schiller. "All five have had great seasons and I think we will do very well at the finals. Christa, Kayley, and Devynn all were there last year and the two freshmen have been cool under pressure, so we expect good things."
Christa French, a three-time second team All-American, heads to Harvard looking to cap her Wildcat career with her fourth-straight All-America honor in women's epée. She has posted a team-best 81 victories on the year and has cemented herself as one of Northwestern's top epeeists as her 328 victories is tops in program history in the weapon. French's best performance at nationals was a sixth-place finish as a freshman, followed up by a seventh-place finish as a junior.
Kayley French will be making her third trip to the NCAA Championships, qualifying as a freshman and again as a junior. Second on the squad with 80 victories on the year, French has been fencing her best at the end of the year, recording a third-place finish at the Midwest Conference Championships and a runner-up finish at last weekend's NCAA Midwest Regional. Her 284 career wins ranks her fifth all-time among Northwestern epeeists.
Patterson heads back to nationals for the second-straight year where she just missed being named an All-American in the women's foil, finishing 13th as a freshman. She and Sarkisova have helped make the Wildcats' foil squad one of the top in the country, combining for 155 victories in 2009-10. Both were named to the All-Midwest Conference team, with Sarkisova garnering first-team honors, while Patterson was the runner-up in the foil at last weekend's Midwest Regional.
Gurrieri made an immediate impact in her freshman campaign, posting a sabre-best 77 victories en route to earning the individual gold medal at the Midwest Conference Championships. She also finished seventh at the Midwest Regional last weekend to earn her first career-trip to the NCAA Championships.
The 2010 Championships will be held at the Gordon Indoor Track facility on the campus of Harvard University. Women's competition gets underway at 9 a.m. CT on Thursday, March 25, with the championship bouts being held Friday evening, March 26.
