Baltimore, Md. – Five Northwestern fencers competed at the April North American Cup this weekend in Baltimore, Md., against the top fencers in the country.
 
In individual competitions by weapon, Pauline Hamilton and Katie Van Riper represented the Wildcats in epee, Sharon Chen and Amy Jia in foil, and Maddy Curzon in sabre.
 
The format of the competition was a pool stage round-robin of six fencers followed by a direct elimination knockout round.
 
Hamilton led Northwester with a team-high 25th place finish on Friday in the epee competition. The freshman went 3-3 in pool bouts and knocked out Emma Zmkurk in the first round 15-12. Hamilton fell 15-8 in the second round to Joy Ma, the second-ranked fencer entering the direct elimination round.
 
Van Riper also competed in epee and ended the pool stage with a 2-4 record. Her first round matchup came against the 22nd ranked Anna Mangano which Van Riper dropped 15-7. She finished 45th in the final epee standings.
 
Chen started the foil competition on Saturday for the 'Cats with a 2-4 record in the pool stage. She rebounded with a massive 15-11 upset over Haley Koo, who was ranked 23rd after pools. Chen was downed 15-4 in the second round by the tenth ranked Delphine Devore, and finished 29th overall in the foil event.
 
Jia also went 2-4 in the pool portion of foil. The freshman fell 14-8 to the 24th ranked Zander Rhodes in the first round and ended in 45th place in the competition.
 
On Sunday in the sabre competition, Curzon got off to a 3-3 start in pool bouts. In her first elimination bout, she fell to Alexis Browne, 15-11. Curzon finished the event in 35th place.
 
The April NAC closed the 2016-17 season for Northwestern, where two fencers competed at the NCAA Championships. Zach Moss has already announced eight fencers to the class of 2021.
 
 
Epee
 
25. Pauline Hamilton (3-3,  1-1)
45. Katie Van Riper (2-4, 0-1)
 
Foil
 
29. Sharon Chen (2-4, 1-1)
45. Amy Jia (2-4, 0-1)
 
Sabre
 
36. Maddy Curzon (3-3, 0-1)
 

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