Falcons to host the NCAA Western Regional Fencing Championships
2/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Fencing
Feb. 28, 2011
The Air Force Academy will host the 2011 NCAA Western Regional Championships on Saturday, March 5. The competing schools are Air Force, CalTech, Stanford and UC San Diego. The regionals are the qualifying competitions for the NCAA Men's and Women's Fencing Championships, which will be held on March 23-27 in Columbus, Ohio.
The regionals will be held at the Air Force Academy Cadet Gymnasium East Gym and are open to the public. Admission is free. Event Schedule: Women - 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.; Men - 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
"Our team should do well on Saturday, we have the experience, talent and the will to put on a good show at regionals," said head coach Abdel Salem. "If we have a good day, I expect we can qualify at least six fencers."
Throughout the year, the fencing teams have competed in several North American Cup tournaments and several members of the men and women's teams have excelled at finishing in the top 10 of their respective weapon categories. While only competing in two collegiate competitions, the Western Invitational and the Notre Dame Dual Meet, the Falcons have earned a collective 18-8 season record.
In January, at the Notre Dame Dual Meets, the Air Force standouts were senior Daniel Trapani and freshman Chase Houser with 20-4 bout records in men's epee. Freshman Daniel Cohen had a 20-2 bout record in men's foil and both sophomore Scott Pippin and freshman Emerson Woerner with a 19-5 record in men's saber. Sophomore Heather Nelson was the team's top fencer with a 19-0 bout record in women's saber. Freshman Juli Nokleberg had a strong finish in the women's epee meet with a 19-3 bout record, while senior Simone Barrette had a 17-4 record. Going against one of the nation's top teams, Nokleberg went 2-1 in the bouts against her opponents from Notre Dame.
Also in January, at the Western Invitational at UC San Diego, the men's foil team had its best performance with an impressive 37-8 record against their opponents. The women's team scored a 22-5 victory against CalTech (22-5). Individually, Air Force's top performers were Cohen (14-1), senior Nicholas Stockdale (14-1), Nelson (13-2), Barrette (10-2), and Pippin (10-2).
Air Force Qualifiers:
Men's Saber:
So. Scott Pippin
Fr. Emerson Woerner
Men's Epee:
Sr. Daniel Trapani
Jr. Ben Rinaldi
Fr. Chase Houser
Men's Foil:
Fr. Daniel Cohen
Sr. Nick Stockdale
Fr. Travis Dyson
Women's Saber:
So. Heather Nelson
Jr. Saskia Hicks
Women's Epee:
Jr. Simone Barrette
Fr. Juli Nokleberg
Fr. Olivia Prosseda
