Blue Devil of the Week: Rachel Koo leads Duke women's fencing in major upsets

During the winter season, The Chronicle is polling its readers every week via its Sportswrap newsletter to highlight one Blue Devil athlete’s outstanding performance. This week, the spotlight is on Rachel Koo of Duke women's fencing:

In a massive upset, No. 6 Duke women’s fencing took down No. 1 Harvard Saturday behind a historic 15-12 performance. Leading the way was junior Rachel Koo, who tallied two foil wins to lift her team past the defending NCAA champions in her first outing of the new year.

“[It] felt awesome,” Koo said. “I’m hoping we can win ACCs this year.”

Following her heroics on Saturday, Koo helped her team sweep Sunday’s competition 5-0 at the Eric Sollee Invitational at MIT. Her 12-3 foil record on the day was a major factor in the Blue Devils’ victories against Boston College, Brown, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Stevens and No. 2 NYU. 

“While beating Harvard feels incredible, what’s most inspiring is how we learned to work together and maintain our focus — especially waking up the next day and continuing the streak,” head coach Omar Elgeziry said after the winning weekend. “This team has so much grit and potential.”

Since coming to Duke, Koo has made her presence on the NCAA fencing scene known. During the 2023 season, the Old Tappan, N.J., native put up a 41-11 record overall, which ranked second for women’s foil and third on the team. Her best performance as a freshman came during the Eric Sollee Invitational as well, where she went 10-1. Her success propelled her to greater heights in the postseason, where she placed sixth in the individual competition at the ACC Championships before posting a ninth-place finish at regionals. She even qualified for the NCAA Fencing Championships, ultimately coming in 18th. 

Building on her solid first-year performance, Koo once again excelled at the Eric Sollee Invitational as a sophomore, where she went 8-1 in what has become her signature competition. She achieved the same record in the ACC Championships team event before coming in 12th at regionals, earning her USFCA honorable mention All-Region for the second year.

As a junior, Koo is on pace to add more honors to her resume. She finished fifth in the Blue Devils’ first competition of the year at the Temple Open in October before notching eight wins in the Elite Invitational. The USA Fencing High School first team All-American will look to continue her success from this weekend as the Duke women’s fencing program vies for an ACC title at the end of February.

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