Northwestern Dominates at Annual Remenyik Open

10/27/2015 1:05:00 PM | Women's Fencing

By: Carsten Parmenter

By Hayden King

EVANSTON, Ill. – The Northwestern fencing team had a very strong showing over the weekend in the annual Remenyik Open, held at the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion in Evanston, Ill. Northwestern had competitors in the women's epee, foil and saber in both the Junior and Senior divisions.

The Senior Women's Epee saw five Wildcats finish in the top ten: Courtney Dumas (2nd), Mandeep Bhinder (T-3rd), Katie Van Riper (5th), Ella Lombard (6th) and Helen Foster (10th). Bhinder and Dumas were both undefeated in pool play, but their weekends ended after tight losses in the final four and gold medal bout, respectively.

The Cats had another great team performance in the Senior Women's Foil. Four competitors made the final eight. The road ended there for Northwestern's Charlotte Sands and Jen Yamin, but Yvonne Chart and Kaila Budofsky advanced to face each other in the semifinals. Budofsky got the best of Chart in this dual, and she went on to finish second in the tournament.

There were no bad showings for Chicago's Big Ten Team in this tournament, but the Senior Women's Saber may have been the most impressive. Northwestern's Maddy Curzon got off to a hot start in pool play and earned the top seed, but she was eventually knocked out by fellow Wildcat Cindy Oh in the quaterfinals. Northwestern had three of the final four competitors (Julia Abelsky, Alisha Gomez-Shah and Cindy Oh), but only Oh was able to advance to the final bout. Oh, the No. 8 seed, was able to complete the run and won the gold medal bout by two hits. Emine Yücel also impressed in the event, placing seventh out of a group of 31 contestants. Yücel posted a 6-2 record, including a 4-1 mark in pool play.

Katie Van Riper was the star in the Junior Women's Epee, earning a victory in the gold medal bout. It was not an easy road for Van Riper, but it was highlighted by her nail-biting win over fellow Wildcat and No. 1 seed Ella Lombard in the final four. Lombard finished tied for third place.

The Junior Women's Foil again saw two Wildcats finish in the top four. Northwestern's Sharon Chen helped out the field by knocking out the top seed in the final eight, and she ended up finishing tied for third. Yvonne Chart lost one bout in pool play, but that ended up being her only loss of the weekend. She cruised to the gold medal bout and finished with a one-hit victory in the final.

Yücel and Maddy Curzon competed in the Junior Women's Saber for the Wildcats. Curzon went 5-0 in pool play, earning the top seed for the tournament and then went on to run the table in tournament play, winning first place and improving to 10-0 overall for the weekend. Yücel finished third in the competition after posting a perfect 5-0 record in pool play. She went on to win two more bouts in the tournament round.

For full statistics from the Remenyik Open please visit AskFred.net.