Last weekend was a fruitful one for the fencing team, as the Blue Devils traveled to Haverford, Pa., for the NCAA Regional Championships and came away with four likely bids to the NCAA Tournament, the most in recent memory for Duke.
"The most that we've sent to NCAAs since I've been here was two, so sending four is excellent," senior Jeremy Kahn said. "It really shows that we're starting to do a lot better in the national scope."
Kahn, the defending national champion in epee, showed signs of last year's brilliance, capturing the regional epee title. Kahn finished 9-2 in the final round-robin rotation, tying for first place with Penn State's Dean Jacobberger. The two then fought a direct match for the title, and Kahn came away with the win, 5-2.
"The thing that is great about the format is that consistency matters most," Kahn said. "There are people, even at regionals, that I have a lot of trouble beating-I just don't match up well with them. As it is, I don't necessarily have to beat them because somebody else is going to beat them."
With the win, Kahn automatically advances to the NCAAs, marking the third straight year he has reached the national finals.
"I was fencing very well," Kahn said. "If I keep fencing like I did at regionals, then I think that I should do pretty well at NCAAs."
Senior Paul Palmeri earned his second straight trip to the NCAAs in foil by taking fourth place in the 12-person final round-robin rotation. Palmeri finished fourth in regionals last year as well, and ended up 18th at the NCAAs.
Freshman Mike Baughman likely earned an NCAA bid as well by finishing seventh in saber.
"My goal was to make it to the finals, and in the finals to get myself a qualifying position, because I really wanted to go to NCAAs," Baughman said. "So it's really great to be able to fulfill that.
"It's great that so many of us are going because I'll be able to spend some time while I'm there cheering them on. It's also nice to see the improvement, mostly for the team as a whole, and also because I've been able to contribute to that."
Baughman dropped three of his final matches by scores of 5-4. A victory in any of those three bouts would have placed him even higher.
"As I was fencing, I realized I was fencing better than I thought I would," Baughman said. "Unfortunately, it was better than I had expected, but not quite to the level I would have wished for because I dropped in the finals."
Seventh is not strong enough to guarantee a bid, even though seven fencers in each weapon division from each region are invited to NCAAs. The NCAA does not follow the order of finish exactly in determining whom it invites; it also takes into consideration the fencer's regular-season bout record.
Baughman has another of the NCAAs rule quirks working in his favor, however, as only two fencers from each school in each weapon division are invited to the national tournament. Princeton and Penn State filled the six positions above Baughman at Haverford, leaving the Duke freshman in fifth place on the NCAAs list.
For the women's team, sophomore Sarah Hamilton finished ninth out of 16 final-round competitors in the foil division, one up from her 10th-place finish of last year. Because of the two-fencer limit and the top-heavy representation of powers Penn State and Rutgers, Hamilton will probably gain an NCAA bid.
Junior Jen Brockett also made the final round-robin rotation in foil, but finished out of contention for an NCAA bid.
Katherine Nichols, the lone women's representative in the epee division, advanced to the second round.
On the men's side, sophomore Brian Hartman also competed in the epee division, but was eliminated in the second round, as was fellow sophomore Robert Manchen, who competed in the foil division.
Jamal Middlebrooks contributed to this story.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.