Women’s fencing finishes fourth at NIWFA championship

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The Haverford College women’s fencing team took fourth overall at the National Intercollegiate Women’s Fencing Association (NIWFA) championship at Rutgers University on Saturday. Emma Buckingham won the individual bronze medal and the epee squad was second behind Temple University while the foil finished third and a young sabre squad finished 12th.

The Fords were unable to defend their overall Division III crown, losing it to Johns Hopkins by three bouts on the 18-round grueling day. Strong performances in the individual rounds indicated that Haverford’s top fencers are ready for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional next Saturday at Drew University.

Five Haverford fencers qualified for the individual rounds, including the entire starting epee squad of Emma Buckingham, Melanie Preston and Vanessa Pena, as well as foilists Amanda Levinson and Alice Clark. Buckingham, Levinson and Clark all made it to the final round of eight, finishing third, sixth and seventh, respectively. All three fencers fell to the eventual champions of their respective weapons, all who happened to be from Temple University.

Overall the women’s epee squad has won every match against D-III opponents this year, with the exception of Brandeis. At the NIWFA’s, the Fords’ epeeists finished ahead of rivals Johns Hopkins, Drew, Tufts, Stevens Tech, and Division I Farleigh Dickinson. 

Buckingham and Clark are both the highest seeds of any D-III team going into this Saturday's NCAA Regional.

The competition gets underway at 9 a.m. on Saturday.