2014 NCAA Fencing Championship Quick Hits (Day 1)

Women’s Saber

• You’re on fire when you’re 13-2 with a +45 indicator, but that’s Adrienne Jarocki’s start. Jarocki, my pick to win has been unstoppable today, dropping only a 5-4 bout to teammate Aliya Itkowitz (also in my top 4) and to Joanna Lew of Yale. Despite her hot start, Jarocki has a few difficult bouts ahead of her with Rohan (Stanford), Litynski (UNC), Stone (PRI), and Wheeler (PRI), but I expect Jarocki to finish with the one spot into the finals.
• If the Women’s Saber event were to go into finals this evening, I’d be 4/4 on my top 4 picks. Which leads me to believe I’ll be in for a sour surprise tomorrow. Or not.
• This event is still anyone’s game. Outside of the top four, you have Alexa Antipas  (OSU) knocking on the door with a 10-5 record, and Teodora Kakhiani (PSU) knocking on the door of the finals too. Kakhiani’s remaining opponents each have losing records. Should she maintain her focus and finish strong, she will sneak into the top four.

Women’s Foil

• Lee Kiefer is in first place with a 13-2 record and a +41 indicator. That’s all. No surprise here. Nothing to see here. Move on.
• Jackie Dubrovich is Dubrovichslapping people too. 13-2 with a +30 indicator. When you’re about 6’2 and have the strength of an Amazonian warrior, you go far in NCAA’s.
• Shaito, Zeiss, Luminet, Alex Kiefer are all knocking on the finals door too. When I look at the top eight in Women’s Foil, I think: “Why don’t they do finals for the top 8?” It’s a shame, because if the tournament closed today, I think I’d love to see fifteen touch bouts between L. Kiefer, Dubrovich, Shaito, Luminet, Zeiss, A. Kiefer, Singh, and Goldie. Would be one of the most entertaining events at  NCAA’s.
• Jackie Dubrovich, Sara Taffel, Nzingha Prescod, Margaret Lu, Jessie Laffey. The amount of depth on the Columbia Women’s Foil squad is unprecedented. Any of them could win NCAA championships in their careers, and yet one can only send two competitors. Someone should sue Aufrichtig for a monopoly.

Women’s Epee

• Biggest shocker so far is Kat Holmes sitting at 7^th place with a 9-6 record. Holmes dropped some decisive bouts to Montrose (TEM), Collins (Duke), and Edwards (PENN), and Ferdman (SJU), Scanlan, (PRI), and Radaonvich (PSU). Holmes will have a difficult day 2, where she trails behind Bassa, Ferdman, and Ameli to break into the top. But with Holmes’ resolve, she could still rebound to the top four.
• I took a lot of heat for putting Radanovich in my top four and keeping Scanlan out. I’m a genius and an idiot, all at the same time.
• My silver medalist pick, Isabel DiTella is sitting at 8^th place with a 7-8 record. Going to be real tough to break back into the top, but anything can happen in this tournament.

I’ll be writing more in the coming days, but I’ve been traveling for work, so my blogging time is limited. Best of luck to all the women. I look forward to the televised finals.