The regular dual-meet season may be over for the Penn women's fencing team, but for two of the Quakers' top fencers, there is still much left to be accomplished. Freshman epeeist Kim Linton and fellow freshman foilist Lauren Staudinger advanced to the NCAA Championships with strong performances at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Region Championships this past Sunday. Linton, seeded ninth going into the tournament based on her season performance, finished 11th in the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional on Sunday, making her the eighth-best epeeist in the region, based upon the NCAA's weighted rankings system. That result was good enough to make her one of the nine epeeists representing the Mid-Atlantic/South Region at the NCAA Championships this coming weekend at Stanford. Staudinger, who was seeded eighth, finished in seventh place in the region both for the tournament and overall on the season. She will also represent Penn at the NCAAs this weekend. "I'm glad that we have two [fencers] going," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "And the fact that they're freshmen gives them good experience for the future." Three other women also went to regionals, but were unable to qualify for the NCAAs. Sophomore sabre Abby Lifter made it to the final round but was stifled once she got there, finishing in 12th place. Freshman Christina Verigan, who was arguably Penn's top sabre fencer all year, went 1-4 in her pool and was knocked out in the first round, finishing in 19th place. Despite this poor result, Verigan remained optimistic for the future. "I have three more years to go -- I'll make it next year," she said. "Now I'm motivated to work over the summer and train harder in the off-season." Freshman foilist Stacey Wertlieb rounded out the field with a 13th-place finish for the Quakers. Seniors Amy Hozer and captain Heba Abdulla qualified for regionals, but they could not make it to State College, Pa., due to prior commitments. With the absence of these two upperclassmen, the weight was put on the shoulders of Penn's newcomers. Four freshmen and one sophomore represented the Quakers at regionals, forecasting a bright future for the Red and Blue. "I think that next year we will qualify more people for NCAAs," Verigan said. "Next season, I think that we'll be able to carry the team very well and uphold the tradition of high-quality fencing at Penn." Despite Penn's youth and inexperience, Micahnik was still unhappy with his team's results. The fact that the Quakers are only sending two fencers to the NCAAs gives them a handicap on coming away with a high finish at Stanford. Fencing powerhouses Penn State and Princeton are both sending the maximum of six fencers, giving them a sizeable advantage over Penn. "We needed to be a lot better," Micahnik said. "I was expecting much more." Staudinger, who was unhappy with a couple of her own losses, cited an extremely competitive field as the reason for the lack of Penn victories. "I think some more of our fencers deserved to go to NCAAs, but it was a really hard competition," she said. "It was too bad more of us didn't qualify." Nevertheless, Linton and Staudinger, the core of Penn's strong freshman class, will travel across the country and represent the Quakers, hoping to gain valuable experience for their next three years at Penn. "It's a reward for a good season, and it is a good steppingstone for the future," Micahnik said.
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