Northwestern University Athletics
Six Wildcats Begin Quest for NCAA National Championships
3/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Fencing
NCAA Fencing Championship Central
Live Coverage of Championship Bouts (Sunday only)
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Northwestern begins its quest for a 16th consecutive top-10 finish at the NCAA Fencing Championship this weekend at Ohio State. The Wildcats will be represented by six fencers on Saturday and Sunday with two each fencing foil, epée and sabre.
Two 'Cats will be making return trips to the national tournament. Junior Jen Yamin also qualified as a second-year foilist when she finished 23rd with four victories over two days. Sophomore sabre fencer Alisha Gomez-Shah won eight bouts in Columbus a year ago to place 18th at her inaugural NCAA Championship meet.
Joining Yamin and Gomez-Shah to comprise Northwestern's squad will be four first-time qualifiers. After claiming a bronze medal in epée at the NCAA Midwest Regional at the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion earlier this month, Helen Foster has earned her first shot at a national crown. Joining Foster from the epée unit will be junior Juliana Barrett.
A pair of talented sophomores, Cindy Oh (sabre) and Stephanie Chan (foil) also snagged at-large bids to round out NU's squad of six. Northwestern is only one of four teams this year to send the maximum number to the strips at the NCAA Championship.
The women will battle through three rounds on Saturday and two more on Sunday to set up the championship bouts. Women's foil will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, followed by epée at 10:30 a.m. and sabre at 1 p.m. All three weapons begin at 8 a.m. on Sunday with the championship bouts slated to begin at approximately 12:45 p.m. (in order of epee, foil and sabre).
Live coverage of the 2015 NCAA Fencing Championships will be available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. To watch the championship rounds, please click here. An hour-long special will be featured on ESPNU at 2 p.m. CT on April 8.
Links to live results and Ohio State's Tournament Central page are available above. All bouts will be held on strips at the French Field House.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter and Instagram, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
