St. John's University Athletics
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March 12, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - The Red Storm fencing team will compete in the NCAA National Championships Thursday through Sunday at the French Field House and St. John Arena on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. St. John's will be seeking the National Championship after finishing second in the nation in 2007.
The Red Storm enters the event as one of the four teams that qualified with 12 fencers, the maximum stipulated by NCAA rules. The other three schools include Ohio State, Columbia and Notre Dame. The defending national champions, Penn State, qualified 11, while Harvard, the 2006 National Champions, qualified 10.
After competing in the Northeast Regional Championships, the Red Storm earned twelve top 10 finishes in the epee, sabre and foil which qualify for the NCAA Championship this week. The Red Storm return four All-Americans that finished last season with a second place finish at the championship.
Luther Clement, a senior from Topeka, Kansas, returns to the NCAA's after earning first place in the sabre at the regional championship. Last year, he took fifth in the national championship. Fellow senior Henry Kennard placed sixth at regionals, and junior Stan Vaksman took fourth place at regionals. Freshman Charles Worsham enters the national competition as a third seed, along with sophomore Mykhaylo Mokretsov taking the fifth seed. Brendan Meyers, also a freshman, finished as a ninth seed at the Northeast Regionals.
For the women's fencing team, Monika Golebiewski finished with a No. 2 seed. The senior captain from Bonn, Germany, brought home a silver medal from the 2007 National Championship. Reka Szele, also a senior, enters the National Championship with a No. 3 seed in the epee. Senior Katia Larchanka and sophomore Tanya Novakovska claimed third and first at the Northeast Regionals, respectively. Larchanka finished 11th at the National Championship last season. Freshman Martyna Wieczorek placed third in the sabre and will compete in her first NCAA National Championship and joining the team will be freshman Tanya Dainoski in sabre.
Both the women, who will fence Thursday and Friday, and the men, who will fence Saturday and Sunday, will fence with three weapons - the sabre, foil and epee. A total of 24 fencers in each weapon have qualified for the championships and will fence against the other 23 competitors in their discipline. After those 23 bouts, the best four records will advance to the medal round. Those four top fencers will be seeded and placed into a four-team bracket, with the winners of the two semifinal bouts advancing to the gold medal round, and the two losers meeting for the bronze medal.
A total of six individual national champions will be crowned. All wins secured by an individual will go to its team total. The team with the most points following the men's gold medal matches on Sunday will be crowned team national champion.
For the most up-to-date information and statistics on St. John's fencing please visit www.RedStormSports.com or call our hotline at 1-888-GO-STORM.