March 21, 2002

NCAA Results

MADISON, N.J. - The Notre Dame fencing team - led by freshman women's foilists Alicja Kryczalo and Andrea Ament - surged to a first-day lead at the NCAA Combined Fencing Championships, with the four-day event set to continue on Friday with the completion of the women's competition (the men will fence over the weekend at Drew University's Simon Center).

Notre Dame won 61 of its 81 bouts on Thursday to claim the day-one lead, followed by defending champion St. John's (57), Penn State (53), Ohio State (49) and Yale (37). The women's round-robin concludes on Friday with nine bouts for each fencer, with the top four fencers in each of the three weapons advancing to the individual semifinals (those bouts will expand from five to 15 touches and do not factor into the team score).

Kryczalo (Gdansk, Poland) - who posted eight 5-0 wins, including five straight - dominated in her 14 bouts, going unbeaten while rolling up a +60 in indicators by yielding just 10 touches in her 14 bouts. Three of those touches came versus her teammate Andrea Ament (Gates Mill, Ohio), who won all of her other 13 bouts to claim a tie for second place with Wayne State's Inga Wallrabenstein (Ament currently has the edge in indicators, +46 to +36).

Sophomore Kerry Walton (Londonderry, N.H.) also had an impressive NCAA debut for the Irish and will head into her final nine bouts in a three-way tie for second, after going 12-2 (+25). Penn State's Stephanie Eim - the third-place finisher at the 2001 NCAAs - sits atop the epee field at 14-0 (+31) while defending NCAA champion Emese Takacs of St. John's (+28) and Ohio State's Alexandra Shklar (+23) matched Walton's 12 wins.

Two of the biggest victories of the day came in the second of four rounds, as Walton and junior captain Anna Carnick (Mishawaka, Ind.) both posted one-touch wins over SJU's Arlene Stevens, the 2001 NCAA runner-up. The Walton-Stevens bout was tied 3-3 after the end of regulation time and Stevens won the coin flip, giving her priority (and the win) if neither fencer scored a touch in the one-minute overtime. But Walton scored the dramatic winning touch with just four seconds left in the bout.

Walton's bid to qualify for Friday's semifinals will include four more bouts versus All-Americans, including 2000 NCAA champion Jessica Burke of Penn State (currently 6th), Eim, Northwestern's Kate Rudkin (4th in the '01 NCAAs, also currently 5th) and two-time All-American Monica Conley of Columbia (currently 11th).

Kerry Walton (pictured) and Anna Carnick both posted key wins over Arlene Stevens of St. John's, with Walton posting a 12-2 record on the first day of the NCAAs.

Walton is virtually assured of earning All-America status (top-12), which would mark the first time in the storied history of the Notre Dame fencing program that a brother and sister each have earned All-America honors for the Irish fencing program. Her brother Forest was an All-America foilist at the 2001 NCAAs and currently is spending the third year of his five-year architecture curriculum studying in Rome. The Waltons already had become just the third Notre Dame brother-sister combination to compete in the NCAAs.

Walton's other top wins on Thursday included a 5-4 bout vs. Shklar (the 6th-place NCAA finisher in 2001) and a 5-2 win over over Princeton two-time All-American Maya Lawrence.

Carnick is in position to claim the third All-America finish of her career (top 12), standing in eighth after winning nine of her 14 bouts.

Fifth-year senior captain Carianne McCullough (Philadelphia, Pa.) - who posted a 5-4 win over 2000 NCAA champion Carolina Purcell of M.I.T. - likewise could end her career with All-America honors, with her 8-6 record good for ninth place heading into the final bouts. Sophomore Destanie Milo (Knox, Ind.) stands in 19th place after winning five bouts in Thursday's action.

Kryczalo or Ament could have the chance to join Magda Krol ('97 epee) as the only Notre Dame freshman women's fencers ever to win an NCAA individual title. Two previous Notre Dame men's fencers have been NCAA champs as freshmen: foilist Charles-Higgs Coulthard ('84) and epeeist Jubba Beshin ('90).

Notre Dame's nine remaining foil bouts include a matchup with the St. John's tandem of All-American Stephanie Thottham (10th in '01, currently 11th) and sophomore Irina Khouade (currently 4th, at 12-2, in her first NCAA Championship), who beat both Kryczalo and Ament earlier this season at the NYU Duals. The Irish tandem also still must face defending NCAA champion Iris Zimmerman of Stanford (currently 5th) and Wayne State's Inga Wallrabenstein (5th in '01 NCAAs, currently 3rd).

Notes: Notre Dame already has nearly doubled its number of foil wins from the 2001 NCAAs (16, compared to 27 on Thursday alone) ... Kryczalo's other noteworthy wins came vs. Ohio State freshman twins Hannah (5-2) and Metta (5-1) Thompson and 2001 NCAA runner-up Marta Grochal of Penn State (5-1) ... Ament beat Hannah Thompson 5-2 while rallying from a 4-1 deficit to beat Metta, followed by an impressive 5-0 win over Grochal ... Carnick's top wins also included a 4-3 win over Princeton All-American Lawrence ... McCullough turned around her 2-5 start by rallying from a 4-1 deficit to beat Yale's Helen Liu of - launching McCullough onto six wins in her final seven bouts of the day.

WOMEN'S SABRE - Standings After Round 4
Place Name School V Pct. TS TR Ind.
1. Sada Jacobson Yale 14 1.000 70 16 +54
2. Louise Bond-Williams Ohio State 12 0.857 67 32 +35
3. Julia Gelman St. John's 11 0.786 62 29 +33
4. Sakinah Shaahid Temple 10 0.714 58 41 +17
5. Lauren Dunn Northwestern 10 0.714 63 52 +11
6. Meghan Everett Stanford 9 0.643 61 52 +9
7. Caroline Purcell M.I.T. 9 0.643 59 50 +9
8. Christina Crane St. John's 8 0.571 52 42 +10
9. Carianne McCullough Notre Dame 8 0.571 56 49 +7
10. Aziza Hassan Temple 8 0.571 58 52 +6
11. Heather Brosnan Penn State 8 0.571 50 47 +3
12. Alexis Jemal Rutgers 7 0.500 52 48 +4
13. Stephanie Tam Penn State 7 0.500 55 54 +1
14. Heidi Tinter N.Y.U. 6 0.429 50 52 -2
15. Leah Tracy Ohio State 6 0.429 46 54 -8
16. Catherine Pack Princeton 6 0.429 49 58 -9
17. Helen Liu Yale 6 0.429 48 59 -11
18. Tracy Marien Brandeis 6 0.429 47 58 -11
19. Destanie Milo Notre Dame 5 0.357 47 56 -9
20. Sarah Walsh Johns Hopkins 4 0.286 41 57 -16
21. Sharon Sonenblum Brown 3 0.214 33 66 -33
22. Jennifer McKeehan M.I.T. 2 0.143 38 65 -27
23. Mindy Nguyen Pennsylvania 2 0.143 34 66 -32
24. Andrea Rix Air Force 1 0.071 26 67 -41



WOMEN'S FOIL - Standings After Round 4
Place Name School V Pct. TS TR Ind.
1. Alicja Krycza³o Notre Dame 14 1.000 70 10 +60
2. Andrea Ament Notre Dame 13 0.929 68 22 +46
3. Inga Wallrabenstein Wayne State 13 0.929 67 31 +36
4. Irina Khouade St. John's 12 0.857 67 27 +40
5. Iris Zimmermann Stanford 12 0.857 65 26 +39
6. Metta Thompson Ohio State 10 0.714 60 36 +24
7. Julia Földi Northwestern 10 0.714 56 37 +19
8. Hannah Thompson Ohio State 9 0.643 60 39 +21
9. Kathryn Cavan Columbia/Barnard 8 0.571 54 49 +5
10. Marta Grochal Penn State 8 0.571 50 46 +4
11. Elizabeth Thottam St. John's 8 0.571 49 48 +1
12. Meredith Chin Penn State 7 0.500 48 50 -2
13. Zane Selkirk Yale 7 0.500 48 52 -4
14. Ellen Blount Columbia/Barnard 6 0.429 47 48 -1
15. Stephanie Izzolino Temple 6 0.429 39 51 -12
16. Jennifer Joseph Yale 5 0.357 42 63 -21
17. Emmanuelle Humblet Pennsylvania 4 0.286 43 61 -18
18. Erin Black Duke 4 0.286 35 55 -20
19. Kristen Dorf Northwestern 4 0.286 32 61 -29
20. Lauren Staudinger Pennsylvania 2 0.143 39 67 -28
21. Ellen Schulz Harvard 2 0.143 26 66 -40
22. Keeley Vega U.C. San Diego 2 0.143 25 67 -42
23. Christy Stewart Cal State 1 0.071 31 68 -37
24. Jeanne Browne Temple 1 0.071 25 66 -41


WOMEN'S EPÉE - Standings After Round 4
Place Name School V Pct. TS TR Ind.
1. Stephanie Eim Penn State 14 1.000 66 35 +31
2. Emese Takács St. John's 12 0.857 66 38 +28
3. Kerry Walton Notre Dame 12 0.857 62 37 +25
4. Alexandra Shklar Ohio State 12 0.857 68 45 +23
5. Kate Rudkin Northwestern 11 0.786 66 45 +21
6. Jessica Burke Penn State 9 0.643 64 40 +24
7. Lindsay Campbell Princeton 9 0.643 61 48 +13
8. Anna Carnick Notre Dame 9 0.643 56 43 +13
9. Raelyn Jacobson U.C. San Diego 8 0.571 53 49 +4
10. Anna Vinnikov Wayne State 7 0.500 52 54 -2
11. Monica Conley Columbia/Barnard 7 0.500 47 51 -4
12. Maya Lawrence Princeton 6 0.429 53 55 -2
13. Arlene Stevens St. John's 6 0.429 51 54 -3
14. Tamara Knutsen Harvard 6 0.429 49 56 -7
15. Rebecca Kehoe Rutgers 6 0.429 49 58 -9
16. T Erica Korb Yale 5 0.357 47 57 -10
16. T Cassia Overk Rutgers 5 0.357 47 57 -10
18. Tiffany White Boston College 5 0.357 45 58 -13
19. Elia Burrill Air Force 4 0.286 53 54 -1
20. Sara Forsythe Temple 4 0.286 40 64 -24
21. Kimberly Linton Pennsylvania 3 0.214 39 63 -24
22. Jessica Lewis-Turner Brandeis 3 0.214 39 65 -26
23. Jo Roberts U.C. San Diego 3 0.214 37 64 -27
24. Kimberly Bush Columbia/Barnard 2 0.143 47 67 -20



TEAMS
Place School Total MS MF ME WS WF WE
1. Notre Dame 61 13 27 21
2. St. John's University 57 19 20 18
3. Pennsylvania State University 53 15 15 23
4. Ohio State University 49 18 19 12
5. Yale University 37 20 12 5
6. Northwestern University 35 10 14 11
7. Temple University 29 18 7 4
8. Columbia/Barnard 23 14 9
9. T Princeton University 21 6 15
9. T Stanford University 21 9 12
11. Wayne State University 20 13 7
12. Rutgers University 18 7 11
13. U.C. San Diego 13 2 11
14. T M.I.T. 11 11
14. T Pennsylvania, University of 11 2 6 3
16. Brandeis University 9 6 3
17. Harvard University 8 2 6
18. New York University 6 6
19. T Boston College 5 5
19. T U.S. Air Force Academy 5 1 4
21. T Duke University 4 4
21. T Johns Hopkins University 4 4
23. Brown University 3 3
24. Cal State, Fullerton 1 1