WALTHAM, Mass. – Brandeis University junior Maggie Shealy (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) was nearly perfect today en route to the sabre title at the 2022 New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference Championships. She helped the Brandeis women to a fourth-place finish in the standings, while the men finished sixth. The Judges were fourth in the overall six-weapon combined championships.
Shealy went 14-0 in the team competition, helping the Brandeis women's sabre squad finish in third place, just two wins behind MIT and Tufts. In the individual competition, she was 4-1 in pool play, earning the third seeded, then won her elimination bout 15-4, 15-12 and 15-11 to claim gold.
In the team competition, Brandeis's best squad performance came from the women's epee squad, who tied for first with Brown and Vassar going 32-for-40. Brown came out just on top on indicator. Sophomore Angela Shi (Plainsboro, N.J. / West Windsor/Plainsboro South) placed second in her pool with 12 wins and first-year Calla Lee (Duluth, Ga. / Lambert) was third in hers with 11 to help bolster the Judges. Junior Paula Thornton (Marietta, Ga. / Campbell) was fifth in her pool with nine wins to advance to the individual competition. None of the three were able to advance to the elimination bracket, however.
The women's foil squad finished sixth overall, with first-year Alex McKee (Nyack, N.Y. / Nyack High School) placing sixth in her pool to grab a spot in the individual competition. Wicket went 10-4 in the team competition, then was 3-2 in individual pool play, which was good enough to make it to the elimination bracket, where she lost in the opening round, 15-8.
On the men's side, both the sabre and epee squad finished in fourth place, while foil was in sixth place. Saber had the most wins with 24, while foil had 21 and epee 19. Seniors Garrett Tordo (Framingham, Mass./Framingham) and Harrison Kaish (West Windsor, N.J. / West Windsor-Plainsboro North) both posted seven wins in the team competition for the epee squad to reach the individual competition. Tordo reach the knockout stage, falling in the first round, 15-10.
For the men's sabre squad, first-year Joy Qui (Guangzhou City, China / Roselle Catholic (N.J.)) was the top performer, going 10-1 in the team competion. Senior Lucas Lin (Plano, Texas/Plano East) was 7-4. Both made the individual round, with Lin as the fifth seed and Qui seventh. Lin went 5-0 in individual pool play to get the top seed into the elimination, but he was upset in the first round, 15-13. Qui managed just one win in the individual competition.
For men's foil, sophomore Chaemin Daniel Lee (Jericho, N.Y. / Jericho) and junior Drew Miller (Seymour, Conn. / Metropolitan Business Academy) each went 7-4 in team competition, but only Lee made it to the individuals. He was winless in individual pool play missing out on the bracket.
This was the last competition for the Judges before NCAA regionals, with the exception of a dual match between the women and Drew University on March 5. Before the meet, Brandeis honored its seven seniors: Jada Harrison (Jericho, N.Y./Jericho) for the women; and Kaish, Tordon, Lin, Elliott Morgenstern (Boca Raton, Fla. / Rosenblatt), Paul Sablone (North Reading, Mass. / St. John's Prep) and Zachary Zhang (Weston, Mass. / The Rivers School) for the men.