Four 'Cats Qualify For NCAA Championships at Midwest Regional

3/10/2018 6:28:00 PM | Women's Fencing

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Four Wildcats secured qualification for the NCAA Championships at the NCAA Midwest Regionals at Cleveland State on Saturday.

Emine Yücel, Yvonne Chart, Sarah Filby and Pauline Hamilton all finished in the allocation spots for the region, guaranteeing a trip to the national championships held at Penn State on Mar. 22-25. Katie Van Riper still remains in the pool of fencers eligible for an at-large selection, with decisions being released on Tuesday.

Yücel finished the sabre regional as the outright champion, marking the first time since that a Wildcat has won a regional since 2012, when Courtney Dumas did so in epee. Yücel became one of five fencers since 2000 in program history to win a regional, and the first to do so in sabre since Courtney Wells, who won her last of three titles as senior in 2001.

Yücel finished 9-2 in the sabre round-robin to match Tara Hassett of Notre Dame, but Yücel's indicator of +17 bested Hassett's total by four touches.

In foil, Chart finished fourth out of the field of 15 with an 11-3 record and a +31 indicator. After finishing eighth and tenth at the regional in the last two years, Chart will make her first appearance at the Championships this month.

First-year Sarah Filby kept her impressive rookie campaign going with a sixth-place finish in the foil event, going 10-4 with a +23 indicator. Filby is one of eight Wildcats since 2010 to reach the NCAA Championships as a first-year, a group that includes current sophomore Hamilton.

Hamilton finished fourth in epee with a 10-3 record. After qualifying last year, Hamilton becomes the the fifth fencer since 2010 to reach the Championships in her first two years as a Wildcat, joining Alisha Gomez-Shah, Courtney Dumas, Dayana Sarkisova and Devynn Patterson.

Van Riper finished seventh in epee with seven wins in the pool. The senior won 51 bouts in the regular season, which led the Wildcats and with her performance today put her in the 150-win club, where she joins Maddy Curzon and Chart as the only active members.

In sabre, Maddy Curzon, Abby Tartell and Alexis Browne represented the Wildcats admirably, finishing sixth, eighth and ninth respectively. Curzon finished 7-4 and ended the day with a positive indicator.

First year Justine Banbury took home seventh in foil while sophomore Amy Jia placed in ninth. Banbury went 9-5 with a +19 indicator and Jia tallied seven wins.

First years Marta Amador Molina and Anya Harkness collected six and five wins and finished eighth and ninth, respectively in epee.

CollegeFencing360.com also released its latest coaching poll today. Northwestern remained at No. 9 in the rankings for the second straight poll. Conference foes Ohio State improved one spot to No. 3. Northwestern took two out of three weapon group titles to take the overall title over the Buckeyes at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships two weeks ago.

After hearing the rest of the field on Tuesday, the #B1GCats will prepare for the NCAA Championships from Mar. 22-25 in State College, Pa.