At the 2010 NCAA Fencing regional held at Brown University on Sunday, March 14, the Brandeis University fencing team qualified one competitor for the NCAA championships. Senior epeeist Will Bedor (Rego Park, N.Y./Francis Lewis) will make his first trip to nationals, which will be held March 25 to 28 at Harvard University.
Seeded 13th headed into the regionals, Bedor went 15-8 overall at the meet - including a win over first-place winner James Hawrot of Harvard - to finish in sixth place and earn his first-ever berth at nationals.
Two Brandeis men also fell just shy of qualifying. In men's saber action, junior Adam Austin (Dix Hills, N.Y./Commack) finished in 12th place missing a second trip to nationals by two places. Austin was the 14th seed headed into the regional. He went 3-3 in both the opening round and the second round of competition, earning the last spot in the finals, but was unable to produce any victories in the last round to help improve his qualifying status.
In men's foil action, sophomore Sean Norton (Leonia, N.J./Dwight-Englewood) also had a pair of 3-3 rounds in the openers to finish at 6-6 and grab the final spot in the qualification round. Unfortunately, Norton, too, was unable to produce a victory in the final rounds.
On the women's side, the Brandeis saber squad had two top-20 finishes, but juniors Anna Hanley(Arlington, Mass./Lexington Christian) and Alex Turner (Lebanon, N.J./Hunterdon Central) missed out on the championship round. Turner went 3-1 in the opening round, while Hanley earned a bye into the second round. Hanley went 5-1 in that round to advance, while Turner was 3-3, just making it into the third. Unfortunately, Hanley went 2-4 and Turner 1-6 to miss out on the final round of action.
In the women's other weapons, rookie Vikki Nunley (Glen Cardner, N.J./Voorhees) placed 25th in the foil and junior Emma Larkin
(Image courtesy of SportsPix)