(note: Several school websites are reporting that their fencers have received "automatic" or "qualifying" spots in the NCAAs, but the entire NCAA Championships field is not official until released by the NCAA on March 10. At present, the only information available (on some sites) reflects the formal entrant recommendations made by the four regional committees and presented to the NCAA for approval. The March 10 announcement also will reveal the two at-large entrants (selected from a national pool) in each weapon. It is conceivable – but unlikely – that a fencer thought to have qualified may not be confirmed by the NCAA as an official regional qualifier to the NCAAs ... of course, such a fencer then still could receive an at-large spot. At this time, it's more appropriate to use terminology such as "probable" or "tentative" qualifiers – as has been done on several school sites.)
This weekend's four NCAA Regionals produced mixed results for the top teams. Here are some of the more noteworthy end results (team details follow below):
• Notre Dame and Ohio State remained on track to qualify the maximum 12 fencers for the NCAA Championships.
• Penn State joined ND and PSU with 12 probable NCAA qualifiers, thanks to veteran James Moody's first-place finish in the men's epee bouting at the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (Moody was squarely on the qualification bubble, heading into the Regional).
• St. John's was hoping to secure 10 NCAA spots, and All-America women's epeeist Joanna Guy delivered a strong regional performance that appears too have yielded double-digit NCAA bids for the Red Storm. Ace men's epeeist Mykhaylo Mokretsov surprisingly was knocked out in the first round of pools (at the time leaving SJU with nine probable NCAA spots), but #10 seed Nicholas Vomero delivered some clutch wins to finish as the Regional runner-up and likely returned SJU to having 10 bids. Note that an earlier CF360 blog posting had SJU with 10 potential bids, but it should have been nine (1 each in m-foil, w-foil and – at the time – w-epee ... now m-epee).
• Columbia stumbled in several weapons (details below), entering the weekend in position to claim 11 bids (with an outside chance at 12) – but the Lions faced the possibility of receiving only eight bids, after Sunday's series of low finishes by key veterans. (Columbia's website is reporting, albeit unofficially, that the Lions have secured 10 bids.)
• Penn entered the Mid-Atlantic Regional with a trio of freshmen each ranked among the top men's foilists – but only one (the lowest-ranked of the three, Vidur Kapur) appears to have secured an NCAA spot.
Here's a look at nine top teams whose combined potential NCAA entrant totals comprise 60% of the 2009 NCAA field (86 of 144; prior to addition of 12 total at-large spots):
• NOTRE DAME (12 probable NCAA bids) – Most of the drama for the Irish centered more on what fencers they would select to take to the Midwest Regional (and, now, who to submit for the NCAAs). In most cases, ND and Ohio State's top fencers were followed in the pre-regional seedings by other ND/OSU fencers – leaving little chance for a fencer from another school (namely Northwesten or Wayne State) to "steal" one of the bids via the Regional phase.
Three fencers did pose a threat to the Irish (and Buckeyes): WSU men's epeeist Mykhaylo Mazur and the Northwestern women's foil pair of Devynn Patterson and Camille Provencal-Dayle – but all three finished lower than their respective seeds. Mazur, an All-American in '07 while at OSU, was the #7 seed but placed 11th, while Patterson (#6 seed) ended up ninth and Provencal-Dayle (#7) finished 11th.
• OHIO STATE (12) – OSU's lowest-seeded likely qualifier was women's epeeist Miriam Baranov, who entered the Regional as the #8 seed in that weapon. But Baranov and the Buckeyes benefitted from the fact that the Midwest has six allocation spots in women's epee (max. two per team), leaving no threat from Northwestern since their fencers already were part of the allocation group. Wayne State's Amanuel Bercera was within striking distance of Baranov, as the #10 seed, but she ended up 11th while Baranov placed eighth.
• PENN STATE (12) – The Nittany Lions flexed their muscles at the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional, solidifying their 11 probable bids while cheering on Moody to the men's epee title (and the accompanying automatic NCAA spot, awarded to each regional weapon champion). PSU's other men's epeeist, Maxwell Dettinger, entered the Regional on the allocation bubble (as the #6 seed, with six allocated spots) – but he rose to the occasion by placing fourth.
• COLUMBIA (10; one bid in w-foil & w-epee) – It was a wild day for the Lions at the Northeast Region, as the one weapon where they were likely not to receive two bids (men's sabre) ended up with two contenders for that spot: Alexander Rudnicki (#12 seed/placed 12th) and Trevis Joyner (#23 seed/placed 11th). Columbia's website is reporting that Joyner was submitted by the region as Columbia's second men's sabre entrant for the NCAAs (a significant jump from #23 seed to a spot in the eight-fencer allocation).
Things did not go as well for Columbia in three other weapons, as: All-America women's foilist Abby Caparros-Janto (#4) missed the final-12 pool, finishing 16th; All-America women's epeeist Tess Finkel (#3 seed) barely finished in the top-20 (19th); and All-America men's epeeist Max Czapanskiy ended up eight spots below his #6 seed (14th). Teammate Lorenzo Castertano (#11 see) bailed out Czapanskiy by finishing seventh, likely giving Columbia a second NCAA entrant in men's epee. The Lions nearly totaled only eight bids (without Joyner and Castertano), with the big drop by St. John's epee standout Mykhaylo Mokretsov (#2 seed; placed 23rd) helping boost Castertano into an allocation spot (Finkel failed to benefit from a similar factor, as #6 seed Katherine Thompson of Cornell ended up not fencing in the Regional).
• ST. JOHNS (10; one bid in m-foil & w-foil) – The Red Storm had to replace more than half of their NCAA entrants from a year ago, yet SJU steadily has emerged this season as a dangerous team. No question that the unexpected stumble by Mokretsov was a shock to the team, but that was countered by his teammate Vomero (#10 seed) finishing as runner-up. All-American Joanna Guy delivered more good news by solidifiying her return to the NCAAs (#9 seed; placed 6th). SJU had only one Northeast Regional entrant in men's foil, in addition to likely securing only one NCAA bid in women's foil (the team's second women's foilist, Alanna Dunn, was seeded 20th and placed 19th).
• HARVARD (9; one bid in m-foil, m-sabre & w-sabre) – The Crimson maintained their likely bid total that was projected prior to the Northeast Regional, as it looks like Harvard will have only one entrant in men's foil and sabre, and women's sabre. Eight of the nine likely qualifiers were virtually locked into an NCAA allocation spot, with the other – men's epeeist Karl Harmenberg – leaving no doubt for his selection, by winning the Regional title (and the corresponding NCAA automatic bid).
• PENN (8; one bid in m-foil, m-epee, w-foil & w-epee) – The Quakers entered the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional seemingly on track for nine NCAA bids, with that number possibly now being eight after major falloffs by rookie men's foilists Simmons (#4 seed; placed 19th) and Grodman (#5 seed; placed 12th). Their classmate Kapur (who matched his seed with a 7th-place finish) likely salvaged one NCAA spot for Penn, but All-America women's epeeist Ilana Sinkin (#6 seed; placed 14th) may have fallen out of the allocation. Still, women's epeeist Stephanie Wheeler (#8 seed) appears to have grabbed an NCAA spot, thanks to her 4th-place finish – leaving Penn's probable entrant total at eight (with several potential at-large additions, pending the NCAAA's March 10th announcement of the entire 144-fencer field.
• PRINCETON (7) – The Tigers had some solid results at the MA/S Regional, maintaining their likely two bids in three weapons (men's and women's epee, and women's foil), plus one in men's foil. Sabreist John Stogin could push that total to eight, as an at-large candidate.
• STANFORD (6) – It's hard to fully project Stanford's NCAA entrants, without detailed results from the NCAA West Regional. Stanford entered the Regional with five top seeds, four of whom won their respective weapons (all but men's epee and women's epee). Another Cardinal fencer, women's epeeist Kersten Schnurle, was a surprise winner as the #8 seed – and joined Standord's other four Regional champions as automatic qualifiers. Freshman epeeist Kevin Mo (#1 seed; runner-up) likely is the team's sixth NCAA entry . Stanford's NCAA qualifier total could rise to eight, but as of know we don't have the full results to handicap that likelihood. Men's sabreist Max Murphy was the #2 seed and finished outside the top-4 (unknown final placement). Murphy and Air Force's Michael O'Connor (#3 seed; placed 4th) are the likely fencers who will receive the West's second (and final) men's sabre bid. Finally, Stanford's Ashley Titan (#2 seed; runner-up) and Air Force's Sione Barrette (#1 seed; placed 3rd) would be in the running to join Schnurle as the West's two women's sabre entrants in the NCAAs.