St. John's University Athletics
Fencing Qualifies Maximum For 2007 NCAA Championships
3/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Fencing
The St. John???s men???s and women???s fencing teams qualified the maximum amount of athletes, 12, for this year???s NCAA Fencing Championships. The Red Storm was one of only three programs to accomplish the feat.
St. John???s earned the right to take its best fencers from each weapon to the 2007 Northeast Regionals this past weekend. NCAA Championship seeding is based upon Regional performance.
Women???s captain and foil fencer Monika Golebiewski, sabre fencer Olya Ovtchinnikova and epee fencer Tanya Novakovska will all head to the NCAA Championships as No. 1 seeds. Golebiewski led all St. John???s fencers with 46 wins this season while newcomer Novakovska worked towards a 37-9 record. Ovtchinnikova registered 30 wins with the sabre.
Freshman Dagmara Wozniak, who is ranked as the No. 1 Junior Women???s Sabre fencer in the world, earned the No. 2 seed in the women???s sabre. Locking up a No. 3 seed was Reka Szele, who competes with the epee. Katia Larchanka, who earned All-America honors a year ago, is the No. 4 seed in the women???s foil.
On the men???s team, both sophomore Stanley Vaksman and senior Henry Kennard will be headed to NCAA Championships as the No. 1 seed in their respective weapons. Kennard, a foil fencer, led the men???s squad with a 38-5 record while epee fencer Vaksman went 30-3. Senior co-captain Ben Bratton will also represent St. John???s in the men???s epee category and locked up the No. 2 spot.
Newcomer Alexis Landerville secured the No. 3 seed in the men???s foil competition and has been a dominant force for the Red Storm since transferring to the program in January. Men???s sabre fencers Luther Clement and Torian Brown earned the No. 4 and 5 seeds in the men???s sabre division. Clement has had an outstanding season with the sabre, posting 37 wins. Brown, a freshman on the team this season, recorded 19 victories.