For the second consecutive year, sophomore saber Christopher Monti will make one of his childhood dreams a reality. And this time, he will be joined by more of his teammates.
Monti is one of seven Blue Devils who will travel to Columbus, Ohio, Thursday for the four-day NCAA Fencing Championships. Duke's seven representatives at nationals are the most in the program's history, and the Blue Devil contingent will look to compete against 137 other top fencers to keep the program heading in the right direction this weekend.
“I’m really proud of everybody today, especially the freshmen like my squad mate Pascual Di Tella and Jennifer Ling,” Monti said after regionals March 7. “They are bringing the Duke saber team back up to where it was and I hope this achievement will make more freshman come to the program next year.”
For the men’s squad, the Chicago native joins Di Tella and another freshman, epee Dean Ischiropoulos as the Blue Devils' competitors this weekend. Monti recorded a standout 48-9 individual ledger this season and finished third in the regional meet, overcoming a slow start to gain momentum before his second tilt at nationals.
“In the beginning it was a bit rough as I wasn’t fencing my greatest,” Monti said. “But then I made it to the second round and something in my head switched. It was a good day at the end.”
Di Tella went 35-13 in his first year as a Blue Devil and Ischiropoulos totaled 37 bouts and 26 losses. Both freshmen finished seventh at regionals for their respective weapons and will look to follow in Monti's footsteps this weekend.
Five fencers on the women’s squad secured top-10 positions in the regional competition. Junior Isabella Barna, who went 30-18 this season, finished fifth in the epée competition and senior captain Sarah Collins (49-15) finished sixth in the same category. Freshmen Jennifer Ling, who registered a 51-16 individual ledger this year, and Haley Fisher, who notched 46 bouts and 12 losses, secured the fourth and ninth spots for the sabers, respectively.
Barna, Collins, Ling and Fisher will represent the women at nationals and look to capitalize on the opportunity that sophomore foil Julia Lee missed out on. Lee finished sixth at regionals and went 40-23 this season, but couldn’t secure a spot for nationals.
“Regionals are a team effort,” Ling said March 7. “I want all of my teammates to classify for the next championship but I could also support them by performing individually to my best.”
Head coach Alex Beguinet lauded his fencers’ performances after the regional competition for the record-number of nationals qualifiers. The coach said he was very pleased because the freshmen had grown up throughout the campaign and that he had to deal with the difficult task of comforting seniors who ended their careers without qualifying for nationals.
"One doesn’t realize how strong the relationship one develops with these kids is,” Beguinet said. “In the case of seniors who aren’t going to the nationals, it’s a sad story because for some of them this is the end. Some of them might not fence anymore in their entire lives."
Ischiropoulos will be the first Blue Devil to fence Thursday morning, with Monti and Di Tella opening competition in the afternoon. Collins and Barna will fence Saturday morning, with Ling and Fisher slated to start at 2 p.m. Despite not being favored to compete for national titles throughout the weekend, Duke still believes it has the toughness to surprise.
“Duke athletes have a lot of heart,” Monti said. “We might not have the glamour of other teams but we have soul, we have the fight and the drive to win. So realistically in the Nationals, if each of us make it to the top-12, that would be a great goal. But I really hope that we can all reach the top-eight or the top-four, and, why not, the top-two.”
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