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 Wayne State's Anna Garina is in first place after 14 bouts in the women's epee. |
March 16, 2006
Houston, Texas - The Wayne State University women's fencing team is in sixth place with 33 victories after day one of the 2006 NCAA Championship being held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Houston.
Penn State leads with 59 victories and is followed by Columbia (52), Notre Dame (50), St. John's (48) and Harvard (47). The Warriors lead Northwestern (32), Ohio State (28), Duke (25) and Penn (24) to round out the top 10. Twenty-three different schools recorded victories on the opening day of competition.
The final three rounds for each of the women's weapons (nine five-touch bouts for each fencer) will take place on Friday to complete the round-robin portion of the schedule. After the round-robin, the top four fencers in each event will fence direct elimination 15-touch bouts for first, second, third and fourth place. Absolute ties for the seeding will be broken as follows: for positions one through three, by a coin toss; for position four, by a fence-off.
WSU's Anna Garina (Kiev, Ukraine), the two-time defending national champion in the women's epee, is in first place in her weapon with 13 victories (13-1 record) and is +30 in touches (69-39).
Warrior newcomer Justyna Konczalska (Innsbruck, Austria) is fourth in the women's epee with a 10-4 mark. She is tied in victories with Ohio State's Kaela Brendler (+21), Penn State's Case Szarwark (+21) and U.C.-San Diego's Chelsea Ambort (+13). Konczalska is +17 in touches (61-44) and is ranked behind Brendler and Szarwark.
Kasia Kuzniak (Konin, Poland), another newcomer to the WSU lineup, compiled a 5-9 record in the women's sabre and sits in 14th place heading into Friday's competition.
Wayne State junior Lindsey Howard (Goshen, Ind./Mishawaka), making her inaugural appearance at the NCAA Championship, had a record of 5-9 but is in 19th place with a -17 in touches (40-57).
An institution's place finish in the championships will be based on points earned by each individual. A team will be awarded one point for each victory by its student-athletes for the duration of the championships.
